Interstate 86 (I-86) is an interstate highway that extends for through northwestern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier region of New York, in the United States. The highway has two segments: the longer of the two begins at an interchange with I-90 east of Erie, Pennsylvania, and ends at New York State Route 26 (NY 26) in Vestal, New York, in Broome County, while the second extends from I-81 east of Binghamton to NY 79 in Windsor. When projects to upgrade the existing NY 17 to Interstate Highway standards are completed, I-86 will extend from I-90 near Erie to the New York State Thruway (I-87) in Woodbury. The portion in Erie County, Pennsylvania, is known as the Hopkins-Bowser Highway and is signed as such at each end. In New York, the current and future alignment of I-86 is known as the Southern Tier Expressway west of I-81 in Binghamton and the Quickway east of I-81.
I-86 travels in Pennsylvania and in New York. Except for a section of about that dips into Pennsylvania at exit 60 near the New York village of Waverly, the Pennsylvania borough of South Waverly, and the section passing through Greenfield Township from I-90 to the Pennsylvania–New York state line, the rest of I-86 will be in New York. The section of NY 17 through South Waverly is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), however. The Southern Tier Expressway section of I-86 and NY 17 comprises Corridor T of the Appalachian Development Highway System. I-86 connects to US Route 219 (US 219) in Salamanca, I-390 near Avoca, and I-99/US 15 just west of Corning.
Most of the Quickway and the Southern Tier Expressway was built in stages from the 1950s to the 1980s. The I-86 designation was assigned on December 3, 1999, to the entirety of since-decommissioned Pennsylvania Route 17 (PA 17) and to the westernmost of NY 17. It has been extended eastward as more sections of the existing NY 17 freeway have been upgraded to Interstate Highway standards, first to NY 14 in Horseheads in 2004, to NY 352 in Elmira in 2008, to the Chemung–Tioga county line in 2013, and to exit 67 (NY 26) in Vestal in 2024.. The segment of NY 17 between I-81 and NY 79 was designated as part of I-86 in 2006, but this segment currently remains discontinuous with the rest of I-86 while work is being done in the Binghamton area to bring NY 17 up to Interstate standards.
Route description
|PA
|NY
|Total
Pennsylvania to Olean
I-86 begins at an interchange with I-90 in a relatively flat area of northwestern Pennsylvania. It heads to the southeast, meeting PA 89 at exit 3 before curving to the east and crossing into New York, where it becomes concurrent with NY 17. The freeway heads generally eastward across southwest Chautauqua County, serving the hamlet of Findley Lake and the village of Sherman via NY 426 and NY 76, respectively, as it proceeds toward Chautauqua Lake.
After crossing Chautauqua Lake, I-86 merges into an older section of freeway at exit 10 near Bemus Point; this freeway is now NY 954J northwest of the newer extension. NY 954J runs into NY 430, which (along with NY 394) carried NY 17 to Westfield before the 1980s extension. From Bemus Point to Jamestown (exit 12), I-86 parallels the old NY 17 (now NY 430) along the northeast shore of Chautauqua Lake. The Erie Railroad extension to Chicago (built as the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad) comes into Jamestown from the southwest and parallels I-86 to its junction with the Erie's original main line to Dunkirk at Salamanca.
From Jamestown to Salamanca, the old NY 17 (now mostly NY 394), the new I-86 and the railroad run generally parallel through river valleys. The transportation routes run along the Chadakoin River, Conewango Creek and Little Conewango Creek to Steamburg (exit 17), cutting east to the Allegheny River at Coldspring there. The valley of the Allegheny takes the routes to Salamanca (exit 20), where the railroads merged, and beyond to Olean (exits 25 and 26). From Salamanca to Olean, the old NY 17 is now NY 417. At Olean, the Allegheny River and NY 417 (old NY 17) continue southeast, while I-86 and the Erie Railroad head northeast. NY 417 does not return to I-86 until exit 44 near Painted Post, and the Erie switches between the two alignments several times.
Olean to Elmira I-86 and the old Erie line (now part of the Western New York and Pennsylvania Railroad) run northeast along the valleys of Olean Creek and Oil Creek to Cuba (exit 28). From Cuba to Friendship (exit 29), they run through a valley and over a summit, then following Van Campen Creek northeast to Belvidere (exit 30). At Belvidere, the Erie turns southeast to meet NY 417 at Wellsville, but I-86 continues northeast through the valleys of the Genesee River and Angelica Creek to Angelica (exit 31), and then east along Angelica Creek, over a summit that is the highest point on the Interstate, and along Karr Valley Creek to Almond (exit 33). This summit, at above sea level, is the highest point along I-86, located between exits 32 (West Almond) and 33 and marked with a sign.
At Almond, I-86 rejoins the Erie Railroad, passing through Canacadea Creek valley about halfway to Hornellsville. However, where the railroad turns southeast to Hornellsville, I-86 continues northeast across a summit and into the wide Canisteo River valley (exit 34). It leaves the valley along Carrington Creek but quickly turns east across a summit to follow Big Creek and cross another summit to Howard (exit 35). I-86 runs alongside Goff Creek from Howard to the wide Cohocton River valley, where it meets the south end of I-390 (exit 36) near Avoca and turns southeast through that valley, parallel to the Erie's Rochester–Painted Post line (Buffalo, New York, and Erie Railroad).
I-86, NY 415 (old US 15) and the Erie branch all run southeast along the Cohocton River past Bath (exit 38) to Painted Post (exit 44), now the north end of I-99 and US 15. NY 417 (old NY 17) also ends at exit 44, while NY 415 continues east into Corning (exits 45–46). From Painted Post through Corning to Big Flats (exit 49), I-86, NY 352 (old NY 17) and the Erie Railroad run through the Chemung River valley. NY 352 begins at exit 45, west of downtown Corning, and is a recently bypassed four-lane road through Corning. East of East Corning (exit 48), the freeway was built as an on-the-spot upgrade of the old NY 17.
At Big Flats, the Chemung River (and NY 352) turns southeast to downtown Elmira, while I-86 and the Erie continue east-northeast alongside Singsing Creek to the vicinity of Elmira Corning Regional Airport. The highway continues into Horseheads, where it becomes an elevated highway through the use of a large arrangement of embankments and bridges. It connects to NY 14 and NY 13 via exits 52 and 54, respectively, before turning south to follow Newtown Creek into Elmira. Just east of the city's downtown district, I-86 meets NY 352 (exit 56), then continues to the Chemung–Tioga county line.
Elmira to Vestal From NY 352 onwards, I-86 straddles the Chemung River past Elmira towards Waverly, where it briefly dips back into Pennsylvania for a few yards and intersects U.S. Route 220 before turning back into New York, now straddling the Susquehanna River. The freeway passes by the Tioga Downs racetrack and casino in Nichols before an interchange with NY 96 and NY 434 in Owego.
I-86 and NY 17 continue following the Susquehanna into Broome County with NY 434, the former NY 17, running parallel to the freeway. I-86 and NY 17 then intersects with NY 26 at a clover interchange in Vestal, with NY 17 continuing along the freeway towards Binghamton. The I-86 designation ends here for now; however, a section of NY 17 just east of Binghamton is also designated as I-86, creating a temporary gap in the designation. This segment runs from I-81 at exit 75 in Kirkwood to NY 79 at exit 79 in Windsor.
History Origins and the Quickway
The first long-distance route through the modern I-86 corridor was NY 17, which extended from Westfield to New Jersey via Harriman when it was assigned in 1924. Much of NY 17 followed a routing parallel or identical to that of the modern Southern Tier Expressway and Quickway; however, it followed a more northerly routing between Westfield and Bemus Point (via modern NY 394 and NY 430) and a more southerly track from Belvidere to Corning (via what is now NY 19 and NY 417). NY 17 was realigned as part of the 1930 state highway renumbering to travel directly from Olean to Wellsville on modern NY 417, located well to the south of today's Southern Tier Expressway.
By the late 1940s, the portion of NY 17 through the Catskill Mountains and Orange and Rockland counties had become prone to massive traffic jams due to both its winding and narrow composition and congestion in the villages and hamlets along the highway. As a result, the state of New York began making plans to construct an expressway leading from the New York State Thruway at Harriman to the Catskills. Construction of the NY 17 freeway began in 1947 in the Hudson Valley town of Wallkill.National Bridge Inventory, a database compiled by the United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, available at www.nationalbridges.com. Accessed December 18, 2007. The first section of the new freeway, a bypass of Middletown between Fair Oaks (exit 118A, since removed) and Goshen (exit 123), opened to traffic in July 1951 as a realignment of NY 17. In 1954, several severe accidents occurred along parts of the surface NY 17, compelling the state to make constructing the freeway, dubbed the "Quickway", a higher priority.
The road was extended east first, reaching Chester (exit 127) in October 1954 and the Thruway near Harriman in August 1955. To the west, a section of the highway through Sullivan and Delaware counties was built over the right-of-way of the defunct New York, Ontario and Western Railway. Most of the Sullivan County section of the Quickway was completed during the 1950s, with the first section within the county—between Rock Hill (exit 108) and Wurtsboro (exit 114)—opening in December 1956. A second section, from Ferndale (exit 101) to north of Liberty (exit 98), was completed in July 1958. The gap between Wurtsboro and Fair Oaks in Orange County was filled on October 23, 1958, while the section between Ferndale and Rock Hill was completed in two stages. The section east of modern exit 104 in Monticello was opened in July 1959; the part north of that point opened in December 1960.
By 1969, with the assistance of federal funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission procured by New York's US Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the route provided nonstop access between Harriman and Binghamton, and by extension New York City to Binghamton. It connected the New York State Thruway (I-87) to I-81. Despite flaws in the highway's design—it included a grade-level railroad crossing near Fair Oaks (since removed) and two stretches with intersections and driveway access—the Quickway succeeded in easing travel through southern New York, cutting the driving time in half and the accident rate by 70 percent.
Southern Tier Expressway