New York Roads - I-86/NY 17 - Horseheads Bypass

I-86/NY 17: Horseheads Bypass

The Horseheads Bypass project is turning four lanes (with median) of surface NY 17 highway to four lanes of elevated I-86 freeway with four lanes of frontage road. Its completion removes one of the last major roadblocks to getting all of the Erie-Harriman freeway designated I-86. Almost all of the photos on this page were taken 9/30/06 as part of the Elmira Meet.
NY 17/I-86 Eastbound


Coming down the eastbound side of NY 17, which will become the eastbound frontage road soon.


Taken in October 2008 after all of the work is done. Traffic now flies right above the city without even seeing it. As an added bonus, the completion of the bypass got I-86 extended along it to the eastern end (NY 352). You may be able to see that the reference marker in the last photo is for NY 14, not 86 or even 17, and that's because the bypass was originally constructed only around the east side of Elmira as a north-south freeway for 14.
NY 17/I-86 Westbound


Heading west from the NY 13 interchange toward the westbound frontage road.


Past the unopened bypass and back up onto NY 17. Traffic from Horseheads merging onto NY 17 and traffic exiting 17 here at NY 14 must weave, so there will probably be some sort of C-D setup here, or else six lanes with full shoulders to replace the current four-lane setup.
Surface photos


Fat and incorrect school sign, on Center St. NB. I'm standing on the northeast corner of the western NY 17 signalized intersection; Grand Central Ave. is the other road that crosses 17 at-grade. What's incorrect is that school speed limit restrictions only go into effect at 7 AM, not 6, and the regular-looking speed limit sign in the background has that right.

Old McDonald's had a... Chemung St. location.


From the road meet walking tour, looking west up current NY 17 eastbound/the future exit for the eastbound frontage road.

Design detail.






Walking eastward to Center St., whose bridge is still clearly under construction but nearing completion. Signage is exemplary, but the ONLY below the I-86 shield needs an arrow to make it feel less lonely. I'd rather have seen the arrow than the TO plate, since I-86 begins just west of Horseheads, and I'd really rather have seen the 17 shield next to the 86 shield.




Now walking toward Grand Central Ave., with pure incorrectness. Once the Bypass (more of an Overpass) is complete, I-86 will run across it, but for now the next section of actual I-86 is east of Binghamton. The shield should be covered up for the time being.


Looking back at the Center St. intersection.

Another intersection, another ONLY.


The rebar (steel reinforcement) is already in place for the wall parapet, so it just needs to be poured.




Walking under the Grand Central Ave. overpass, and seeing concrete being made to look like stone.


In this direction (Grand Central SB), I-86 doesn't exist and this is a temporary sign, so the NY 17 shield stands in instead. In fact, it stands on top of a left arrow that will be the permanent sign, and that's why the EAST banner doesn't fit.


A greenout of a temporary sign has to be pretty rare - my guess is Long John Silver's relocated or closed down after the sign was made but before it was erected. Ever been to the town of Motel?


The cornerstone of the Grand Central overpass anticipates everything going as scheduled, and we look west from there at the WB frontage road with a slip ramp to be constructed from the freeway to Grand Central Ave./Center St.


Sadly, this isn't old NY 17. This is just the EB half of a temporary roadway used while the western frontage road and part of the freeway was being constructed. As far as I know, the westbound half, used as the frontage road during construction, won't be touched, but this piece of eastbound roadway will likely be torn up and grassed over.


More of Grand Central Ave. SB, showing I-86 shields that are partially jumping the gun. The TO's above NY 17 are also jumping the gun, as right now these frontage roads still are NY 17.


They picked the wrong side to cover the Interstate shield... see the 7th photo above (it's horse7.jpg if you want to make it easy).






Walking toward Center St., crossing NY 17 WB, and ending with a bridge detail where the rest of the westbound side still needs to be set in place.
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