The most important highway in New York is the New York State Thruway, which runs on I-90 from the Pennsylvania border in the west, northeast to Buffalo, then east past Rochester, through Syracuse, and to Albany. I-90 continues to Boston while the Thruway picks up I-87 south to New York City. The Thruway, a toll road for most of its length, is the primary route between the major upstate cities and is often used to get to and from New York. Expect to pay about four cents a mile ($13.10 from Downtown Buffalo to Downtown Albany for a car with no trailer, for example). Most New Yorkers grumble at the price but pay it anyway for the efficiency the route offers.
To allow travelers to avoid leaving the highway (and paying a toll) before they reach their destinations, the Thruway is dotted with large service plazas every 35?50 miles or so. Each contains two or three restaurants/snack stands (at least one restaurant will be open all night) and a gift shop/convenience store. Burger King, Tim Horton's, Roy Rogers, and TCBY are among the more common vendors. Vending machines, free wi-fi, and of course gas pumps are available as well. Gas prices are high, but such are the benefits of having a "captive audience".
A cheaper but slightly slower route to New York City from the west is along I-86, the Southern Tier Expressway. State Route 17, which I-86 is supplanting, is still in the process of being upgraded to Interstate standards; east of Corning you'll encounter a few at-grade intersections, but it's still a quick route, and it's toll-free.
The slowest but most "interesting" route across the state is U.S. Route 20. As a route stretching coast-to-coast across the northern U.S., it covers much of the same ground as Interstate 90 does today. U.S. 20 is much older, though, traveling right through the middle of countless old villages that lie south of the Thruway. It's a simple two-lane highway for most of its length in New York, but if you have the time and the patience, it can be more interesting than the long stretches of nothingness along the Thruway or the Southern Tier Expressway.
I-81 and I-87 are the major north-south routes. I-81 travels south from the Thousand Islands at the Canadian border through Syracuse and Binghamton into Pennsylvania. I-87 (known as the Northway north of Albany) connects Montreal in Quebec with Albany and New York City. I-88 travels diagonally northeast-southwest, providing a connection between Binghamton and Albany. The only significant east-west route across the top of the state is U.S. 11, which diverges from I-81 in Watertown and heads northeast, then east.
In Western New York, Rochester is connected to points south via I-390 to Corning. From Buffalo, travelers can head southwest along I-90 or south along U.S. Route 219, which is currently being upgraded to expressway. (Those heading southeast will take the Thruway to I-390.)
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about New York (state)
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in New York (state) - updated Apr 2024
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New York (state) Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
