Scale is approximately 1 km per grid square. I-87 (the New York State Thruway) is across the top, I-287 comes in from the southwest and goes out northeast on the Thruway and NJ 17 goes out to the southeast. US 202 also has a presence, snaking through here via local surface roads/streets.
Interchange 15 in the New York State Thruway was originally a fairly standard 'trumpet' (the elevation contours of that interchange are visible at the top of the map) with a ticket tollgate allowing access between the Thruway and NJ 17, an old 'Jersey' freeway.
A 'Jersey' freeway is a sort of a cross between a regular interstate and a local surface street. It allows for unimpeeded traffic with gobs and gobs of access to sideroads and adjacent private properties.
More recently, after much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the environmental and NIMBY crowds, NJDOT was able to complete the I-287 outer beltway around the New Jersey portion of the NYC Metro area. This required substantial upgrades to the Thruway interchange along with a way to tie it into NJ 17. This was accomplished with an interesting interchange that maintains the 'interstate' standards for I-287 while keeping the ready access to adjoining developing commercial properties, including what appears to be a developing office area between the highway and the Ramapo River that NJ 17 allowed. The 'loop' ramp bridge over I-287 (less than 10 meters inside New Jersey) allows access between I-287 and NJ 17 to and from the south (yes, that sideroad connection just south of the 'loop' is there).
On the New York side, the 'trumpet' (the tollgate was removed long before when the end of the 'Ticket' section of the Thruway was moved north to Harriman) was replaced with a directional 'Y'. What appears to be an old routing of NY 17 curving off to the west from the interchange area now has a southbound I-287 'on' connection only, the main road previously continuing south as a local road to connect to the main NJ/NY 17 roadway south of the old tollgate.
Overall, an neat little 'gateway' connection.
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This page © Michael G. Koerner |
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