page_title: Interstate 87 (New York)
section_title: Albany and Saratoga counties
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 87 (New York) / Route description / Adirondack Northway / Albany and Saratoga counties
caption_attribution_description: English: View of the Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge (Twin Bridges) on Interstate 87 (Northway). Taken from the bike path along the Mohawk river looking north.
context_page_description: Interstate 87 is a 333.49-mile-long north–south intrastate Interstate Highway located within the U.S. state of New York, and is most of the main highway between New York City and Montreal. The highway begins at exit 47 off I-278 in the New York City borough of the Bronx, just north of the Triborough Bridge and Grand Central Parkway. From there, the route runs northward through the Hudson Valley, the Capital District, and the easternmost part of the North Country to the Canadian border in the Town of Champlain. At its north end, I-87 continues into Quebec as Autoroute 15. I-87 connects with several regionally important roads: I-95 in New York City, New York State Route 17 near Harriman, I-84 near Newburgh, and I-90 in Albany. The route is the longest intrastate Interstate Highway in the Interstate Highway System. The highway is not contiguous with I-87 in North Carolina.
  I-87 was assigned in 1957 as part of the establishment of the Interstate Highway System.
context_section_description: I-87 heads northeast from I-90 as a six-lane freeway with three lanes in each direction. It immediately traverses the Albany Pine Bush Preserve and passes west of Rensselaer Lake before crossing CSX Transportation's Hudson Subdivision and running parallel to Wolf Road, a business thoroughfare through the town of Colonie. Wolf Road itself begins adjacent to exit 2, a cloverleaf interchange with NY 5 (Central Avenue). Heading northbound, the ramp for exit 2E feeds directly into the intersection of NY 5 and Wolf Road, located just west of Colonie Center, one of the Capital District's largest enclosed shopping malls. I-87 continues to run alongside Wolf Road to exit 4, a modified diamond interchange serving County Route 151 (CR 151, named Albany Shaker Road) and Albany International Airport. Wolf Road ends south of the exit; however, another section begins north of the junction, carrying NY 155 away from the airport. Prior to the Thruway, there was no break in Wolf Road; in essence, exit 4 was built on top of Wolf Road's intersection with Watervliet Shaker Road. I-87 and NY 155 meet at exit 5, with the latter routed along Watervliet Shaker Road.
  After a brief stretch of housing tracts, I-87 connects to NY 2 and NY 7 at exit 6, a single-point urban interchange, in a commercialized part of Latham. NY 7 joins I-87 here, following the freeway for roughly 0.8 miles (1.3 km) to exit 7, the west end of a limited-access highway previously known locally as Alternate Route 7. While NY 7 heads east toward Troy, I-87 continues north past gradually less commercialized areas as it approaches the northern county line. The businesses ultimately give way to stretches of homes and subdivisions as the highway crosses into Saratoga County by way of the Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge, called by locals "the twin bridges", spanning the Mohawk River. The northern portion of the Northway through Colonie and Saratoga County is now a heavily traveled commuter route as a six-lane freeway. Since the highway's construction, Saratoga County has become the fastest growing area of the Capital District, and indeed all of upstate New York.
  For its first few miles in Saratoga County, I-87 runs across lightly developed parts of the towns of Halfmoon and Clifton Park. Near exit 9, however, the freeway passes through the commercial center of Clifton Park as it connects to NY 146. Clifton Park Center, one of several shopping plazas at the junction, is situated southwest of the exit. Past exit 9, the commercial development subsides as I-87 traverses another area dominated by housing tracts. Just north of the exit, the freeway passes a rest area for northbound traffic. The freeway continues on, passing to the west of the centers of Round Lake at exit 11 and Malta at exit 12. After Malta, I-87 turns slightly to the northeast and begins to loosely parallel the northwestern edge of Saratoga Lake as it crosses Kayaderosseras Creek and enters Saratoga Springs.
  As the route comes close to downtown Saratoga Springs, it meets NY 9P at exit 14. The junction is adjacent to the regionally popular Saratoga Race Course and thus receives heavy traffic during the racing season. A southbound-only entrance ramp exists off Nelson Avenue Extension about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of exit 14, designed to handle traffic exiting the track at Saratoga Race Course and the Saratoga Casino and Raceway. The highway continues around the eastern edge of Saratoga Springs to exit 15, where the relatively undeveloped areas east of I-87 are briefly replaced by Wilton's commercial district along NY 50. As I-87 continues northeast through Wilton, it heads across significantly less developed areas, with open fields becoming the most common feature along the road. It continues into Moreau, connecting to US 9 and serving Moreau Lake State Park by way of exit 17, a cloverleaf interchange, before crossing the Hudson River and entering Warren County.
caption: The Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge carries I-87 (the Northway) over the Mohawk River north of Albany.
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