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 York State Thruway Spur Routes.map
, map_custom = yes
, map_notes = Map of New York with the Thruway mainline in red; other components of the Thruway system are in blue
, length_mi = 496.00
, length_ref =
, length_notes = Mainline only
, established = {{Start date, June 24, 1954
, restrictions = No explosives (including in cargo) between exits 9 and 11
No commercial vehicles allowed on the Garden State Parkway Connector
, allocation = {{plainlist, 1=
* {{jct, state=NY, I-Toll, 87 between The Bronx and Albany
* {{jct, state=NY, I-Toll, 287 between Elmsford and Suffern
* {{jct, state=NY, I-Toll, 90 between Albany and Ripley and the Berkshire Connector
* {{jct, state=NY, I-Toll, 95 on the New England Thruway

, direction_a = South
, terminus_a = {{Jct, state=NY, I, 95 at the Bronx–Yonkers, New York City line
, junction = {{plainlist,
* {{jct, state=NY, I, 287, Parkway, Saw Mill, NY, 119 in Elmsford
* {{jct, state=NY, Parkway, Garden State in Spring Valley
* {{jct, state=NJ, I, 287, NJ, 17 in Suffern
* {{Jct, state=NY, I-Future, 86, US, 6, NY, 17, NY, 32 in Harriman
* {{Jct, state=NY, I, 84, NY, 300, NY, 17K in Newburgh, New York, Newburgh
* {{Jct, state=NY, I, 87, I, 90, US, 20 in Albany
* {{Jct, state=NY, I, 88, NY, 7 in Rotterdam
* {{Jct, state=NY, I, 81 in Syracuse
* {{jct, state=NY, I, 390, NY, 253, NY, 15 in Henrietta
* {{jct, state=NY, I, 190 near Buffalo

, direction_b = West
, terminus_b = {{Jct, state=PA, I, 90 at the New York–Pennsylvania state line in Ripley
, counties = Westchester, Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Greene, Albany, Schenectady, Montgomery, Herkimer, Oneida, Madison, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, Monroe, Genesee, Erie, Chautauqua

The New York State Thruway (officially the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway and colloquially "the Thruway") is a system of controlled-access highways spanning {{convert, 569.83, mi, 2 within the U.S. state of New York. It is operated by the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA), a New York State public-benefit corporation. The {{convert, 496.00, mi, adj=on mainline is a toll road that extends from the New York City line at Yonkers to the Pennsylvania state line at Ripley by way of I-87 and I-90 through Albany, Syracuse, and Buffalo. According to the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, the Thruway is the fifth-busiest toll road in the United States. The toll road is also a major route for long distance travelers linking the cities of Toronto and Buffalo with Boston and New York City.

A tolled highway connecting the major cities of New York was first proposed in 1949. The first section of the Thruway, between Utica and Rochester, opened on June 24, 1954. The remainder of the mainline was opened in 1955, and many of its spurs connecting to highways in other states and the Canadian province of Ontario were built in the 1950s. In 1957, much of the Thruway system was included as portions of Interstate 87 (I-87), I-90, and I-95. Other segments became part of I-190 and I-287 shortly afterward. Today, the system comprises six highways: the New York–Ripley mainline, the Berkshire Connector, the Garden State Parkway Connector, the New England Thruway (I-95), the Niagara Thruway (I-190), and the Cross-Westchester Expressway (I-287). The portion of I-84 in New York was maintained by the Thruway Authority from 1991 to 2010, but it was never part of the Thruway system and is currently maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT).

The Thruway formerly utilized a combination of closed ( ticket-based), and open ( barrier-based) tolling. From 2016 to 2018, all flat-rate barriers on the Thruway system transitioned to open road tolling, which replaced cash payment with an all-electronic tolling system using E-ZPass and toll by mail. On November 13, 2020, both ticket systems on the Thruway were converted to open road tolling. The Garden State Parkway Connector, the Cross-Westchester Expressway and the section of the mainline in and around Buffalo are toll-free. Motorists with E-ZPasses receive a greater discount on the toll-by-mail rate than out-of-state E-ZPass members do. The Thruway is partly subsidized by the tolls, whereas other parts are subsidized by NYSDOT, a 50/50 for the toll-free areas, and cashless/tolled areas.

Route description

The New York State Thruway system is a collection of six individual components across the state of New York that connect the state to four neighboring states (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania) as well as the Canadian province of Ontario. Together, the highways extend for {{convert, 569.83, mi, 2, making the Thruway system one of the largest toll highway systems in the United States. The longest of the six components is the {{convert, 496, mi, 0, adj=on mainline. Of the 570 miles in the Thruway system, {{convert, 560.85, mi, 2 (98.4%) carries at least one Interstate Highway designation. Only three sections of the system are not part of the Interstate Highway System; these are the Garden State Parkway Connector in Rockland County, a {{convert, 6, mi, 0, adj=on portion of the Berkshire Connector between its western terminus at exit 21A on the mainline near Selkirk and where it joins up with Interstate 90 at exit B1 near Castleton-on-Hudson, and a short section of the mainline within exit 24 in Albany that is located between where I-87 departs the roadway and I-90 enters it. They are designated as New York State Route 982L (NY 982L), NY 912M, and NY 915H, respectively, all unsigned reference routes. The speed limit, enforced by the New York State Police, is 65 miles per hour along most of the Thruway. The main exceptions to this are in the densely-populated northern suburbs of New York City; the suburbs and city of Buffalo; in Westchester and Rockland counties. There, the speed limit is 55 miles per hour.{{cite web , title = History of NY Thruway 1991–2000 , url = http://www.upstatenyroads.com/thruway-history6.shtml , work = Upstate NY Roads , access-date = June 30, 2016 , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160815074637/http://www.upstatenyroads.com/thruway-history6.shtml , archive-date = August 15, 2016 , url-status = dead {{sps, certain=yes, date=October 2018

I-90, which comprises the bulk of the mainline and the Berkshire Connector, runs for {{convert, 365.55, mi, 2 along the Thruway: {{convert, 17.70, mi, 2 as part of the Berkshire Connector and {{convert, 347.85, mi, 2 on the mainline. I-87 comprises the remaining {{convert, 148.15, mi, 2 of the mainline, including an {{convert, 18.86, mi, 2, adj=on concurrency with I-287 north of New York City. I-287 covers another {{convert, 29.76, mi, 2 (including the {{convert, 18.86, mi, 2 shared with I-87), while I-190 spans {{convert, 21.24, mi, 2 and I-95 covers {{convert, 15.01, mi, 2.

All highways maintained by the New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) lack the reference markers that exist on all New York State Department of Transportation-maintained roads, as would be expected. In their place, NYSTA-controlled roadways use small, square tenth-mile markers with a white background and blue numbering. These markers differ from the white-on-green reference markers used by NYSDOT on state-maintained highways, which are {{convert, 10, in, 0 high and {{convert, 8, in, 0 wide and display a limited amount of mileage information on their third row.

Mainline

{{See also, Interstate 87 (New York), Interstate 90 in New York

South of Albany

The mainline of the Thruway begins, both in terms of exit numbers and mileposts, at the boundary between the New York City borough of the Bronx and the Westchester County city of Yonkers. Here, I-87 changes from the Major Deegan Expressway to the Thruway as the mainline proceeds northward through Yonkers and southern Westchester County. It connects with Central Park Avenue ( NY 100) at exit 1, the first of 12 exits within the county. The first few exits serve various local streets, with exit 2 providing access to Yonkers Raceway and exit 3 serving the Cross County Shopping Center. At exit 4, I-87 connects to the Cross County Parkway, an east-west parkway providing access to the Saw Mill River, Bronx River, and Hutchinson River parkways, all of which run parallel to the Thruway through Yonkers. The Hutchinson River and Bronx River parkways leave to the northeast midway through Yonkers, while the Saw Mill and Sprain Brook parkways follow the Thruway out of the city.{{cn, date=May 2021 Exit 5 connects to Central Park Avenue which connects towards White Plains. After that, exit 6 connects to Tuckahoe Road, connecting towards Yonkers and Bronxville. The last free exit heading northbound is at Ridge Hill Boulevard and Stew Leonard Drive (exit 6A). Travel farther north from there requires a toll payment at the Yonkers toll gantry.{{Citation needed, date=January 2020

After the toll, the thruway continues to exit 7, which grants access to Ardsley and Saw Mill River Road. All three highways take generally parallel tracks to Elmsford, where I-87 directly intersects the Saw Mill River Parkway at exit 7A. Not far to the north is exit 8, a semi-directional T interchange with I-287 (the Cross-Westchester Expressway). I-287 joins the Thruway here, following I-87 west across the Hudson River into Rockland County on the Tappan Zee Bridge. I-87 and I-287 remain overlapped for {{convert, 15, mi through the densely-populated southern portion of Rockland County, meeting the Palisades Interstate Parkway (exit 13) and the Garden State Parkway Connector, the latter of which provides access to the Garden State Parkway (exit 14A) in New Jersey. The Thruway continues generally westward to Suffern, where I-87 and I-287 split at a large semi-directional T interchange (exit 15) near the New Jersey border. At this point, I-287 heads south into New Jersey while I-87 and the Thruway turn northward into the valley of the Ramapo River. NY 17 northbound briefly joins the Thruway at the interchange with I-287 in Suffern, and leaves the Thruway a half-mile north at exit 15A in Hillburn.{{cn, date=May 2021

The Thruway continues north through the river valley toward Harriman, where it encounters the Woodbury toll barrier, the southeastern end of the mainline's major closed ticket system. The barrier is located on the mainline within exit 16 ( NY 17), a trumpet interchange. Along with the mainline barrier in Harriman, an electronic toll plaza exists on the exit 16 ramp midway between the Thruway and NY 17 exit 131 ( NY 32). Now a completely tolled highway, the Thruway heads northward, roughly paralleling the Hudson River to the river's west as it serves the city of Newburgh, the village of New Paltz, and the city of Kingston, indirectly connecting to the short I-587 in the latter.{{cn, date=May 2021

Past Kingston, the highway runs closer to the river as it parallels U.S. Route 9W (US 9W) through the towns of Saugerties, Catskill, Coxsackie, and Ravena. Just north of Ravena, the Thruway meets the west end of the Berkshire Connector, a spur linking the Thruway mainline to the Massachusetts Turnpike {{convert, 25, mi, 0 to the east. The highway continues into Albany, where it connects to Troy via I-787 at exit 23 and intersects I-90 at exit 24.{{cn, date=May 2021 The latter of the two junctions is the busiest of the Thruway's exits, serving an estimated 27 million vehicles a year. I-87 leaves the Thruway mainline here, and the Thruway briefly becomes the unsigned reference route NY 915H, before I-90 merges into it, following the Thruway northwestward toward Schenectady.{{cn, date=May 2021

Albany to Syracuse

South of Schenectady, but still in Albany County, the Thruway and I-90 meet I-890, a loop route of I-90 that directly serves the downtown district of Schenectady, at exit 25. The Thruway, meanwhile, bypasses the city to the south and west, intersecting I-88 at exit 25A in Rotterdam before reuniting with I-890 at exit 26 west of Scotia. Travel between I-88 (Exit 25A) and exits 24, 25 and 26 in either direction is toll-free. From exit 26 west to Utica, the mainline of the Thruway parallels the Erie Canal and the Mohawk River, crossing over the water-bodies at Mohawk. In between Schenectady and Utica, I-90 and the Thruway serve several riverside communities, including the cities of Amsterdam (exit 27 via NY 30) and Little Falls (exit 29A, NY 169) and the villages of Fonda (exit 28, NY 30A), Canajoharie (exit 29, NY 5S and NY 10), and Herkimer (exit 30, NY 28).{{cn, date=May 2021

Like Schenectady before it, the Thruway bypasses downtown Utica, following an alignment north of the city while I-790 serves it directly. I-790 breaks from the Thruway at exit 31 and runs along two carriageways flanking the mainline on both sides for {{convert, 1.5, mi, 1 before turning southward onto the North-South Arterial. The adjacent highways become NY 49, which parallels the Thruway for another {{convert, 2, mi, 1 northwestward. At the end of this stretch, the Thruway turns slightly southwestward, crossing over the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal while NY 49 continues northwestward along the northern bank of the water-bodies toward Rome. On the other side of the river, the Thruway curves back to the west, proceeding to exit 32 in Westmoreland.{{cn, date=May 2021

Not far to the west, the Thruway has a junction with NY 365 at exit 33 in Verona. Here, the Thruway connects to the cities of Rome and Oneida and serves the Turning Stone Resort & Casino via NY 365. The highway continues onward through a sparsely-populated area between Verona and Syracuse, passing roughly {{convert, 5, mi, 0 south of Oneida Lake as it connects to the village of Canastota by way of NY 13 at exit 34. As the highway approaches exit 34A ( I-481) outside of Syracuse, the surroundings become more developed. The level of development rises sharply west of I-481 as the Thruway enters Salina, a northern suburb of Syracuse. Within Salina, I-90 and the Thruway intersect I-81, which connects the Thruway to both downtown Syracuse and Syracuse Hancock International Airport.{{cn, date=May 2021

Syracuse to Buffalo

West of Salina, the Thruway passes north of Liverpool and Onondaga Lake before intersecting I-690 and its northern continuation, NY 690, at exit 39 in Van Buren. At this point, the amount of development along the Thruway sharply declines as it heads generally westward through a marshy area of Onondaga County. I-90 and the Thruway reconnect to the Erie Canal (here part of the Seneca River) at the western county line. Now in Cayuga County, the highway serves Weedsport via exit 40 and NY 34, exit 41 serving Del Lago Resort and Casino in Tyre, New York and passes north of Port Byron prior to entering Seneca County and the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. Here, the canal leaves the Thruway for good, turning northwestward to follow the NY 31 corridor to Rochester and beyond.{{cn, date=May 2021

The portion of the Thruway between Montezuma and the Rochester area is one of mostly rural nature, with the highway passing through remote, open fields, and for the most part avoiding highly populated areas. Along this stretch, it connects to two cities, both located well to the south of the Thruway: Geneva by way of exit 42 for NY 14 and Canandaigua by way of exit 43 via NY 21. The next exit along the highway, exit 44 for NY 332, also serves Canandaigua; the junction is the primary exit for Canandaigua-bound travelers from the Rochester area. Here, the Thruway temporarily widens from four to six lanes as it continues generally westward to meet I-490 at exit 45 near Victor. As in the vicinity of Schenectady and Utica, an auxiliary route of I-90—here I-490—directly serves a city (Rochester) while the Thruway bypasses it.{{cn, date=May 2021

It heads northwestward through the city's southern, mostly rural suburbs to Henrietta, where it meets I-390 at exit 46. Henrietta is as close as the Thruway gets to downtown as it proceeds west to Le Roy, where I-490 reconnects to I-90 at exit 47. I-90 continues onward into Genesee County, intersecting with NY 98 at exit 48 north of Batavia and NY 77 at exit 48A in Pembroke. The latter exit provides access to Six Flags Darien Lake, a large amusement park located in the town of Darien. I-90 and the Thruway continue into Erie County and the Buffalo area. It meets NY 78 at exit 49 near Depew before passing through the Williamsville toll barrier, the northwestern end of the major closed ticket system.{{cn, date=May 2021

West of Buffalo

Just west of the toll barrier, I-90 and the Thruway—now toll-free—connect to I-290 via exit 50, a semi-directional T interchange. At this point, the Thruway turns southward, passing through the immediate eastern suburbs of Buffalo. As it heads south, it meets the Kensington Expressway ( NY 33) at exit 51 and Walden Avenue at exit 52, both cloverleaf interchanges. At exit 52, it passes to the west of the Walden Galleria, a shopping mall situated at the nearby junction of Walden Avenue and NY 277. Two exits later in southern Cheektowaga, I-90 meets I-190, a spur route leading to downtown Buffalo and Niagara Falls, at exit 53.{{cn, date=May 2021

South of the city, the Thruway meets the Aurora Expressway ( NY 400) and the Southern Expressway ( US 219) at exits 54 and 55, respectively, in West Seneca. Just southwest of exit 55, I-90 and the Thruway pass through the Lackawanna toll barrier, which serves as the northeast end of the minor closed ticket system. Once again a toll road, the Thruway heads southwestward, roughly paralleling the shoreline of Lake Erie to Blasdell, where it connects to NY 179 (the Milestrip Expressway). Farther southwestward, the Thruway is joined by US 20, which follows a parallel routing to that of the Thruway to the Pennsylvania state line.{{cn, date=May 2021

As the route passes from Erie County to Chautauqua County, the last on its routing, it cuts through the northwestern portion of the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation, situated on Cattaraugus Creek

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