Interstate 890
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Interstate 890 (I-890) is a
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 ...
in the vicinity of
Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, in the United States. The highway runs southeast–northwest from an interchange with 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 ...
(
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 ...
) northwest of Schenectady to another junction with the thruway south of the city and passes through
Downtown Schenectady Downtown Schenectady is the central business district for the city of Schenectady, New York. It originated in the 1820s with the moving of the commercial and industrial interests east from the original 17th and 18th century settlement, spurred o ...
along the way. Most of I-890 is six lanes wide, including a section that runs above an industrial section of Schenectady on an elevated highway. I-890 is a local, toll-free alternative to the thruway, which bypasses the city and its suburbs to the southwest. The section of I-890 west of Downtown Schenectady was mostly built over what was once part of
New York State Route 5S New York State Route 5S (NY 5S) is a east–west state highway located in the Mohawk Valley of New York in the United States. It extends from a continuation of NY 5A at an interchange with NY 5, NY 8, NY 12, an ...
(NY 5S). I-890 was constructed in stages during the 1960s and 1970s, and NY 5S was gradually cut back to its current terminus west of Schenectady as more pieces of I-890 were completed. The highway is one of four
Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
s in New York to use
distance-based exit numbering An exit number is a number assigned to a road junction, usually an exit from a freeway. It is usually marked on the same sign as the destinations of the exit. In some countries, such as the United States, it is also marked on a sign in the gor ...
, the result of a
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 ...
(NYSDOT) experiment from the 1970s. In Schenectady County, I-890 is designated as the Schenectady County Veterans Memorial Highway.


Route description

I-890 begins at the toll booth for exit 26 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 ...
in the Schenectady County town of
Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
. It initially heads to the east, connecting to NY 890 and NY 5S by way of a modified
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 ...
that directly feeds into the thruway junction. At this point, I-890 takes over the four-lane
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 ...
established by NY 890 to the north and follows the
Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...
(
Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...
) and
CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
's
Selkirk Subdivision The Selkirk Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs from Selkirk northwest to Amsterdam along a former New York Central Railroad line. At its southeast end, at Selkirk Yard, the Se ...
rail line southeast toward
Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
. The first of I-890 passes through mostly undeveloped, wooded areas, a trend that finally ends as the highway curves east to meet the north end of
NY 337 New York State Route 337 (NY 337) is a short state highway located entirely within the Town of Rotterdam in Schenectady County, New York. It forms a connection from NY 7 to Interstate 890 along the western edge of the ci ...
at exit 2 near the
Via Port Rotterdam Via Port Rotterdam, formerly Rotterdam Square, is a shopping mall located in Rotterdam, New York, United States. When it opened, the mall was originally called Rotterdam Square and owned by Wilmorite Properties (who also owned Wilton Mall in Wilt ...
shopping mall. Continuing on, I-890 follows the Mohawk River along the northern edge of
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
's Schenectady plant, connecting to the facility by way of two separate exits serving different parts of the complex. Not far from the General Electric plant is
Downtown Schenectady Downtown Schenectady is the central business district for the city of Schenectady, New York. It originated in the 1820s with the moving of the commercial and industrial interests east from the original 17th and 18th century settlement, spurred o ...
, which the now six-lane I-890 largely bypasses to the south and west on an elevated highway passing over a mostly industrial section of the city. The section closest to the city center runs past by the campus of
Schenectady County Community College SUNY Schenectady is a public community college in Schenectady, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It was established in 1967 in the Van Curler Hotel in Downtown Schenectady and has undergone multiple expansi ...
and provides panoramic views of Downtown Schenectady. I-890 heads south from downtown, crossing over the
Delaware and Hudson Railway The Delaware and Hudson Railway (D&H) is a railroad that operates in the Northeastern United States. In 1991, after more than 150 years as an independent railroad, the D&H was purchased by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP). CP operates D&H ...
and CSX Transportation's
Hudson Subdivision The Amtrak Hudson Line, also known as the CSX Hudson Subdivision, is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation and leased by Amtrak in the U.S. state of New York. The line runs from Poughkeepsie north along the east shore of the Hudson River ...
before finally connecting to downtown by way of Broadway at exit 5. Past Broadway, the elevated highway comes to an end as I-890 heads southeastward into a dense residential area on a plateau overlooking the city. The homes are not visible from I-890, however, as the freeway is lined on both sides by a thick line of trees serving as
noise barrier A noise barrier (also called a soundwall, noise wall, sound berm, sound barrier, or acoustical barrier) is an exterior structure designed to protect inhabitants of sensitive land use areas from noise pollution. Noise barriers are the most effecti ...
s. The residential section of Schenectady is served by a single exit for Michigan Avenue, a local street that connects to NY 146 at a junction two blocks north of I-890. From here, the freeway passes under NY 146 before curving to the south and exiting the city limits. Now back in the town of Rotterdam, I-890 runs parallel to NY 146 to an interchange with NY 7. The state route joins I-890, following the highway as it narrows to four lanes and crosses back over the Hudson Subdivision rail line. I-890 and NY 7 connect to High Bridge Road ( County Route 48) at exit 8, the last junction in a residential area and the last in Schenectady County. Exit 9, located just south of the Albany County line in a lightly developed commercial area, serves as the end of NY 7's its
wrong-way concurrency A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concurre ...
with I-890; the southbound exit also links to NY 146 by way of a long ramp connecting to the state route. I-890 ends a short distance south of the exit at the toll booths for exit 25 of the New York State Thruway. The section of I-890 in Schenectady County is designated as the Schenectady County Veterans Memorial Highway.
Exit number An exit number is a number assigned to a road junction, usually an exit from a freeway. It is usually marked on the same sign as the destinations of the exit. In some countries, such as the United States, it is also marked on a sign in the gor ...
ing on I-890 is distance-based, a holdover from a
NYSDOT The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, Rail transport, railroads, mass transit systems ...
experiment during the early 1970s. However, because of how the exits are spaced along I-890, the exit numbers end up being mostly sequential anyway, with the only evidence of distance-based numbering being the existence of exit 4C. I-890 is one of four Interstate Highways in New York that first utilized milepost-based exit numbering in contrast to the
sequential exit numbering An exit number is a number assigned to a road junction, usually an exit from a freeway. It is usually marked on the same sign as the destinations of the exit. In some countries, such as the United States, it is also marked on a sign in the gor ...
used elsewhere in New York.


History

The original riverside roadway along the southern bank of the
Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...
in western
Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
was designated as part of NY 5S in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. NY 5S entered the Schenectady area on River Road and followed River and Rice roads and Erie Boulevard into Downtown Schenectady, where it ended at
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, Syrac ...
. In the initial plans for the
Interstate Highway System The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
, outlined by the
Bureau of Public Roads The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...
in the 1955 '' Yellow Book'', the city of Schenectady would be served by two highways: one bypassing the city to the southwest (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 ...
) and another that would loop north of the bypass route to serve Downtown Schenectady. The western portion of the loop route would run through the NY 5S corridor. The first section of I-890 to be completed was the portion from
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 ...
exit 25 southeast of
Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
to Altamont Avenue ( NY 146), which opened to traffic as I-890 . A short extension to Brandywine Avenue was completed by 1964. By 1968, all of I-890 west to modern exit 3 was complete and open to traffic. As planned, I-890 replaced NY 5S from Downtown Schenectady to exit 3, where NY 5S now terminated. The remainder of the expressway was built . NY 5S was cut back to I-890 exit 2 in the mid-1970s, then to its modern eastern terminus in the late 1980s following a reconfiguration of the interchange linking I-890 to New York State Thruway exit 26.


Exit list


See also

*


References


External links

{{3di, 90 90-8 90-8 8 Transportation in Albany County, New York Transportation in Schenectady County, New York