New York Roads - US 9 - Albany and N.

, Albany and north


Courtesy Matt Kleiman, the cracked shield above lies at the western stub end of the aborted Mid-Crosstown Arterial, which you'll see shortly on this page. The MCA is now a short segment of US 9 that has a very high-powered stack interchange with I-90, and the freeway quickly ends to the north. The full MCA would have carried US 9 and US 20 on a depressed freeway through the heart of Albany, interchanging with the also-aborted South Mall Expressway (also would have been 9/20) at an interchange either stacked over or else depressed entirely beneath a park, and ultimately running to I-87 on the Thruway.


Northbound by the short free part of I-90 east of Albany. There's another free piece from the western border of New York into Cleveland, and then nothing till Chicago. This is the only New York example of cobblestone gore I've seen (for I-90 East); it's much more common in Massachusetts.

Now southbound, state-name goodness.


Looking down at the SB/WB stub of the MCA freeway, which would have been three lanes wide (plus an asphalt shoulder, not constructed).


A view of the EB/NB lanes from the current US 9 NB onramp, also showing the SB/WB stub, courtesy Matt Kleiman. You can see that the SB/WB side has two full lanes striped off entirely; since the two lanes that are there are all you get at the traffic light at the top of the ramp you're forced off, there's no reason to allow any more than that.


The MCA/I-90 interchange from the I-90 EB offramp for US 9, courtesy Matt Kleiman.


The MCA/I-90 interchange and signage from NB US 9 (EB MCA), courtesy Matt Kleiman. There are three EB/NB lanes on the MCA, and the merging US 9 ramp makes four; if US 9 SB carried the two lanes it has in width instead of the one lane it has by the striping as you can see, and if that lane didn't proceed to merge into the I-90 onramp lanes, then the WB/SB side would be four lanes wide as well, with one exiting and three continuing straight ahead, as was originally planned.


Traveling southbound, affording you the viewer a better look at the left shoulder striping.


Surface shot of the southbound stub.


Faded Capital Buildings sign southbound across Livingston Ave.,just after the MCA ramps take US 9 back onto the surface.


Heading south for a moment, this old-font painted US shield treasure is northbound on Clinton Ave. near Swan St. Click for different-angle closeup.


In Colonie between the beginning of Albany CR 152 (NB) and US 9 (SB). This was taken from the NB side of 152.


Northbound button copy. Those are birds in late December; it was still 60 degrees, but soon would snow.


Now southbound, and then underneath the cool interchange. There are three overpasses, two for a circle around which NY 2 runs, and one for the Latham Circle Mall's access to the frontage roads. Guess what the circle is called. Then guess what town we're in.


Northbound scratchy signs. 9R is a short and useless route; follow the link below to hear me rant a little more.


NB from Halfmoon (first two photos) into Saratoga Springs. The old Interstate shield is at Saratoga CR 91, Grooms Rd, and the second photo was a circa 1790 hotel according to the blue sign. Old 146 is cut off in the middle by the Northway, I-87. There are more NY shields hanging around the Saratoga area.


NY 9P, courtesy John Krakoff.


When I got to NY 9P, the sign was repainted in traditional colors.


Progress on the Round Lake Bypass, which links I-87 at Exit 11 to US 9W without the trouble of going directly through Round Lake. Currently, traffic uses George Ave., Saratoga CR 80 through the center of town and hastily upgraded to NY 911U in order to get state maintenance for the link traffic. In fact, it has been state maintained for so long that it had a number under the original reference route system, 823, still posted on its reference markers (because NYSDOT is lazy and doesn't update the numbers even when they replace the signs). As long as it took to get a bypass, once it's finally in I expect 911U to drop from the system and revert to county maintenance.


Two roundabouts up from Round Lake, SB at a road with one roundabout to the east and four (!) more to the west. Malta and NYSDOT went a little crazy together, and formerly high-speed traffic on US 9 and NY 67 (assuming reasonable signal progression) suffers greatly as a result.


An old guide sign at the north end of Saratoga Springs, courtesy John Krakoff. This is on Marion Ave. at current US 9/NY 50. 50 goes left and right, while 9 now goes left and straight. NY 50 was once a block behind, and US 9 used Maple Ave. (which connects to the current alignment a bit to the north).


At the five points of Glens Falls, where US 9 follows Glen St. past the beginning of NY 9L (town-maintained for a few blocks, curiously) on Ridge St., and NY 32 leaves the US 9 duplex via Warren St. These are on the far right corner of the intersection heading northbound (the street signs are tacked up to the right of the shield assembly); click the first photo for a closeup of the shield that explains why I took the photo. Visit the NY 9L link at the bottom of this page and the 32 link in this paragraph to see more photos from this intersection.


Washington St. WB, still in Glens Falls, which becomes Sherman Ave. on the other side of this intersection. US 9 leads to the Adirondack Trail, which is shielded by the funny brown sign with no words. Once it enters the Adirondack Park, US 9 switches entirely to gold-on-brown signs instead of the white-on-green, even for simple street signs. In the second photo, the shield is mounted on a traffic signal mast arm.


I return in 2007 and suddenly this has been converted to a roundabout. Not only that, but large trucks have to circle the entire thing just to make a right turn. This probably manages traffic better, but I miss all the old signs.


North to Lake George, and living a lie. I-87 interchanges with NY 9N, which has a short duplex with US 9 before leaving to follow the western shore of Lake George. Along that duplex, NY 9L leaves to follow the south shore and then curves southward to Glens Falls and the previous photos. In other words, this should be TO 9L.


NB at the I-87 Exit 22 mini-freeway, which I describe more completely on the I-87 Northway page linked below. A-15 doesn't get signed much further south than this, although Montréal appears as a control city back in Albany.


As I said, all the signs are brown inside the state park, even the radar warning signs. Adirondack Park is unusual in that all of the villages in the area (the largest or at least most famous being Lake George, Lake Placid, and Saranac Lake) are part of the Park, even though that includes people's houses, lawns, and corner markets. That must complicate town zoning codes just a little. These photos are NB and SB over the Schroon River. By the way, not only is Adirondack Park the largest state park in the nation, it's also the largest park of any type, at least in the Lower 49 (I suspect some in Alaska are just a tad bigger).


Find this lodge just south of NY 418.


NB through the park; the first photo is at NY 73 and the third is immediately before the fourth.


SB at the breakup of a multiplex at I-87 Exit 33.


On through Plattsburgh, where the US 9 shield unduly influences what should be a NY 3 shield pointing on Broad St., to Chazy and NY 191 (I brightened half the photo, but there's no cutline).


US 9 crosses US 11 in Champlain, the last town before the border. For New York, gas prices are reasonable, but heading a few miles into Vermont on US 2 is even better.


The end of US 9 is signed several hundred feet before it actually ends, approaching the final onramp to I-87 NB into Canada. The end is signed so far back because US 9 dead-ends precisely at the border (obviously, it used to be the crossing here instead). The second picture is the first SB reassurance, on the dead-end portion and only visible to people visiting that gray shed, roadgeeks clinching US 9, and drivers who are very lost.

Continue south on US 9/20
South of there on US 9 alone
Back to US 9 main page


Onto I-90
Onto US 20
To the Albany Roadmeet page
Onto NY 2
Onto NY 7
Onto I-87
Onto NY 9R
To current NY 146
More Round Lake Bypass photos
Onto NY 67
Onto NY 9N
Onto NY 9L
To Autoroute 15
Onto NY 22
Onto NY 3
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