Interstate 690 (I-690) is an

auxiliary Interstate Highway Auxiliary Interstate Highways (also called three-digit Interstate Highways) are a supplemental subset of the freeways within the Interstate Highway System of the United States. Auxiliary routes are generally classified as spur routes, which con ...

that extends for through the vicinity of

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

, in the United States. It is a spur of

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...

(here part of the

New York State Thruway {{Infobox road , state = NY , type = NYST , alternate_name = Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway , maint = NYSTA , map = {{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, type=line, stroke-width=2, type2=line, from2=New Yor ...

) that travels southeast from Thruway exit 39 in Van Buren to I-481 in DeWitt. In between, I-690 passes through the western suburbs of Syracuse before heading east through the city itself, where it meets

I-81 Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Isla ...

Downtown Syracuse Downtown Syracuse is the economic center of Syracuse, New York, and Central New York, employing over 30,000 people, and housing over 4,300. It is also one of the 26 officially recognized neighborhoods of Syracuse. History Downtown Syracus ...

. The expressway continues northwest of the thruway as

New York State Route 690 New York State Route 690 (NY 690) is a state highway in Central New York in the United States. NY 690's southern terminus is at an interchange with the New York State Thruway ( Interstate 90 or I-90) and I-690 in Van Buren ...

(NY 690).

Route description

I-690 begins at a double

trumpet interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

with the

(

) in the town of Van Buren. The six-lane, fully-shouldered

limited-access highway A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

continues north toward Baldwinsville as NY 690 while I-690 travels east from the junction. Even though I-690 continues north of the thruway as NY 690, the numbering system on I-690 does not continue with the route. The interchange with the thruway is labeled as exit 1, leaving exits on NY 690 without numbers. Additionally, NY 690 is signed north–south while I-690 is signed east–west. Before physically crossing I-90, it features a partial interchange with John Glenn Boulevard and turns southeast. Syracuse Interstates

After crossing and connecting with State Fair Boulevard at exit 5, I-690 runs along the western shore of

Onondaga Lake Onondaga Lake is a lake in Central New York, immediately northwest of and adjacent to Syracuse, New York. The southeastern end of the lake and the southwestern shore abut industrial areas and expressways; the northeastern shore and northwestern e ...

, passing under many pedestrian bridges. The highway serves the

New York State Fair The New York State Fair, also known as the Great New York State Fair, is a 13-day showcase of agriculture, entertainment, education, and technology. With midway rides, concessionaires, exhibits, and concerts, it has become New York's largest a ...

grounds by way of exits 6 and 7, the former a large

directional T interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

with NY 695. Within this interchange was a signalized,

at-grade intersection An intersection or an at-grade junction is a junction where two or more roads converge, diverge, meet or cross at the same height, as opposed to an interchange, which uses bridges or tunnels to separate different roads. Major intersections a ...

that connected I-690 to a parking area. For 12 days each year, the light was used to allow buses to carry New York State Fair attendees from the parking area across the road to the fair. I-690 was one of only a few Interstate Highways to feature a traffic light. Construction began in 2019 and finished in 2020 of a bridge overpass to this parking area, eliminating the need for a traffic signal. The freeway continues along the shore and bears toward the downtown area, where the shoulders frequently disappear and the buildings are often situated close to the freeway. It passes over a railroad grade and Hiawatha Boulevard before meeting

NY 298 New York State Route 298 (NY 298) is an east–west state highway located entirely within Onondaga County, New York, in the United States. It runs in a generally northeast direction for from an interchange with Interstate 690 (I-6 ...

(Bear Street) at exit 9. In the interchange with

NY 5 New York State Route 5 (NY 5) is a state highway that extends for across the state of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley and passes through Buffalo, Sy ...

to the east, two lanes of I-690 disappear, and

follows directly after in the center of the city with an incomplete interchange. There is no direct freeway ramp from I-690 east to I-81 north and I-81 south to I-690 west. NY 298, which connects to I-81 at exit 22 west of the I-81/I-690 interchange, must be used to make these connections. I-690 rewidens to six lanes as it proceeds eastward out of Downtown Syracuse. from downtown, it connects to Burnet and Midler avenues by way of exit 15. The latter is designated as NY 598; however, it is not signed as such from I-690. After a curve to the southeast, NY 635 meets the route at a

cloverleaf interchange A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passes over or under the ...

, utilizing collector–distributor roads to do so. The collector–distributor roads continue to a

partial cloverleaf interchange A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange. The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial interchange designs in North America. It has also bee ...

(parclo) with Bridge Street, where they end. Shortly after this interchange, I-690 terminates at I-481.

History

The portion of the modern I-690 corridor west of

was originally served by NY 48, a route assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. NY 48 followed the length of State Fair Boulevard from Van Buren to Downtown Syracuse, where it followed several local streets to reach

. In the early 1960s, work began on a new freeway extending from the

to Syracuse by way of the western shoreline of

. The new road, designated as I-690, was completed from the thruway to

by 1962. I-690 supplanted State Fair Boulevard as the primary highway through the area, and, from NY 297 southeast, State Fair Boulevard was upgraded on the spot. As a result, NY 48 was truncated to its current southern terminus in Van Buren. The section of I-690 near the

grounds was originally a surface highway. When I-690 was extended eastward through downtown to Midler Avenue (now NY 598) in the mid-1960s, I-690 was moved onto its current, limited-access routing. State Fair Boulevard runs on the former I-690 eastbound

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

, while a service road occupies the westbound right of way. State Fair Boulevard continues east along this right-of-way onto a ramp to I-690. The section of I-690 between Midler Avenue and I-481 was completed in the early 1970s. I-690 gained when its western terminus was relocated in 1987. The interchange with the thruway was relocated and completely rebuilt, forcing a complete renumbering of all the exits on the highway. I-690 follows the former

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

(NYC) roadbed through a portion of Downtown Syracuse and actually cuts through the site of the former Syracuse station. A remnant of the former railroad station platforms is visible to the north of the freeway, with plaster statues of people waiting for trains, who are occasionally dressed up for winter by area residents with scarves and other winter apparel.

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

, which restored the building as the base of its

Central New York Central New York is the central region of New York State, including the following counties and cities: With a population of about 773,606 (2009) and an area of , the region includes the Syracuse metropolitan area. Definitions The New York ...

operations and

Spectrum News 1 Central New York Spectrum News 1 Central New York (formerly Spectrum News Central New York and Time Warner Cable News Central New York) is an American United States cable news, cable news television channel owned by Charter Communications, as an affiliate of its S ...

, also has a rail-focussed mural along the back of that building fronting I-690. In mid-2009, the

New York State Department of Transportation The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and aviation facilities in ...

posted new milemarkers on both NY 690 and I-690. The mileposts treat the entire length of both routes as a single entity, with mile 0 being at the northern terminus of NY 690 at NY 48 and mile 20 being near the eastern terminus of I-690 at I-481. There have been plans for decades to extend I-690 eastward from I-481 to

Manlius The gens Manlia () was one of the oldest and noblest patrician houses at Rome, from the earliest days of the Republic until imperial times. The first of the gens to obtain the consulship was Gnaeus Manlius Cincinnatus, consul in 480 BC, and for ...

or to the far east suburb of

Chittenango Chittenango is a village located in Madison County, New York, United States. The village is in the southern part of the Town of Sullivan. The population was 5,081 at the 2010 census. Chittenango is the birthplace of L. Frank Baum, author of '' ...

; however, these plans have yet to become a reality. Several unused ramps exist at the interchange between I-481 and I-690, intended to connect to an extended I-690.

Future

As part of the community grid solution for I-81 in Downtown Syracuse, a section of I-690 around the intersection with I-81 will be rebuilt. Bridges along this section will be replaced, and the rebuilt highway will feature wider lanes and bigger shoulders. The state is also proposing the elimination of exit 13 (Townsend Street), the restructuring of exits 11 (West Street) and 12 (West Genesee Street), and the addition of an exit at Crouse Avenue and Irving Avenue to provide better access to

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

. Construction along I-690 is part of Phase Two of the community grid project, which would take approximately three years. The entire project is expected to start mid-2020 and take five years. Also, the existing exit numbers along I-690 will be renumbered to reflect the mile-based exit numbers.

Exit list

References

External links