Interchange of the Week
Monday, 22 December 2003

I-95, I-287 & US 1, Rye

Orientation: The New England Thruway (Interstate 95) runs from left to right. Interstate 287, the Cross Westchester Expressway, enters at top and ends at I-95. Both of these highways are components of the New York State Thruway system. US 1, the Boston Post Road, runs from bottom to top at left. Midland Avenue is at right of center, parallel to US 1; north of the interchange (and the Rye city line) it is reference route 982B, and south it is a Westchester County highway. Between these two roads and through the interchange runs the Amtrak Northeast Corridor electrified line, which also carries the Metro-North Railroad New Haven line. At far left is NY 120 (Purchase Street).

Exit numbers: From I-95 northbound, Exit 20 is for US 1 southbound, Exit 21 is for I-287 westbound and US 1 northbound, and Exit 22 is for Midland Avenue. From I-95 southbound, Exit 21 is for I-287 westbound and Midland Avenue; there are no Exits 20 or 22 in this direction. From I-287 eastbound, Exit 11 is for US 1 and Exit 12 is for I-95.

The interchange: The basic interchange between I-95 and I-287 is a Y-split with reverse ramps. It is geometrically similar to Exit 24 on the Thruway mainline, only without the left-hand exit on the Y-split. To this are added a pair of interchanges providing access to local streets in Rye (bottom) and Port Chester (top). The Midland Avenue interchange is a simple folded diamond, overlapping the Y-split.

From I-95 northbound, there are separate ramps to US 1 northbound and southbound, the former being a branch off of the ramp to I-287. A similar arrangement formerly existed on I-287 eastbound: separate ramps to US 1, with the northbound ramp being a loop from the I-95 southbound ramp. This loop has since been eliminated, and both northbound and southbound US 1 are reached by a single ramp. Moreover, Midland Avenue is not accessible from I-287 eastbound as it is from I-95 northbound. From I-95 southbound and I-287 westbound there is no access to US 1, only to Midland Avenue, which meets US 1 to the north in downtown Port Chester.

From US 1, in either direction, there are ramps to I-287 westbound, and to I-95 southbound via the newly-aligned loop ramp. What at first looks like a second entrance to I-95 southbound, immediately north of the overpass, is actually Cedar Street. This leads to NY 120 and to the Metro North station visible at lower left. From Midland Avenue, there is access to I-95 northbound and I-287 westbound. In addition, a loop from I-287, just west of the railroad, allows access from Midland Avenue to I-95 southbound. This loop forms a redundancy, or "second chance" connection: motorists exiting I-95 southbound onto I-287 can re-enter I-95 via this loop. Another redundancy exists for US 1 northbound on the ramp to I-287, with the ramp from I-95 north to US 1 north.

NOTE: Portions of the image on this page appear blurry and indistinct. This is a security measure undertaken by the NYS Office of Cyber Security & Critical Infrastructure Coordination to restrict access to imagery of certain "sensitive areas". It is unclear why this particular interchange is, in itself, a "sensitive area".