page_title: Interstate 84 in New York
section_title: 1990s–2000s: Thruway Authority and interchange work
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 84 in New York / History / 1990s–2000s: Thruway Authority and interchange work
caption_attribution_description: English: Sign at ramp from EB US 6/NY 17M to EB I-84 at Exit 3 near Middletown, NY, USA s
context_page_description: Interstate 84 is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Dunmore, Pennsylvania, to Sturbridge, Massachusetts, in the eastern United States. In New York, I-84 extends 71.46 miles from the Pennsylvania state line at Port Jervis to the Connecticut state line east of Brewster. As it heads east–west across the mid Hudson Valley, it goes over two mountain ranges and crosses the Hudson River at the Newburgh–Beacon Bridge.
  It is the only limited-access road to cross New York from west to east between New York City and the Capital District. As such it is the main vehicular route between southern New England and Pennsylvania and points west. It is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation, which resumed full control in 2010 after two decades in which routine maintenance was performed by the New York State Thruway Authority under yearly contract from DOT. The New York State Bridge Authority charges eastbound traffic a $1.75 toll for cars to maintain the Newburgh–Beacon Bridge.
context_section_description: In 1991, with New York facing a large budget deficit, Mario Cuomo's administration decided that the state DOT would essentially sell I-84 and the Cross-Westchester Expressway (I-287), to the cash-rich New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) as one way of closing it. No tolls could be charged since the roads were built with federal money, and the DOT remained in charge of large capital projects, but the Thruway Authority took over routine maintenance. During this time two interchanges were expanded and a new one created. The authority had the option of, at any time, returning the road to the state's control at a year's notice.
  The first was the US 9 exit, revamped in 1999 at a cost of $25 million. I-84 was widened in both directions approaching the exit, a second overpass was added and the exit ramps were widened and signage improved. Around that time the two agencies also announced plans, and received federal funding, to redo the current exit 36 allowing traffic to go directly between I-84 and the Thruway instead of using a short stretch of NY 300, which by then was more heavily developed than it had been when the interstates were first built. The three-phase construction project was initialized in May 2003 and completed in December 2009.
  The new exit also replaced 13 old buildings with a few new ones: a separate toll plaza to handle traffic entering the Thruway (the existing toll plaza is now dedicated to exiting traffic), offices and garages for NYSTA and the New York State Police. The new buildings use green techniques to minimize energy use such daylighting and rainwater collection. The ramps have been rerouted, using six new bridges and five new miles (8 km) of roadway, so that almost all traffic from routes 17K and 300 now use the latter route to access both interstates. The existing connector from the toll plaza to NY 17K remains as an E-ZPass–only lane from that highway to the northbound Thruway.
  After lengthy litigation by environmental groups concerned about the impact on nearby Stewart State Forest, in 2005 construction began on exit 32 (then exit 5A). Local road Drury Lane was upgraded and widened into newly designated NY 747 to allow easier access to Stewart International Airport via an almost-full diamond interchange. It was completed in November 2007, at the same time the briefly privatized airport was turned over to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey with the intent of making it the New York City metropolitan area's fourth major airport.
  The Thruway Authority's involvement with the road would have ended in 2006 when its board voted to transfer the highway back to the state DOT, a move it suggested did not commit it to doing so. The proceeds would have covered NYSTA's expenses in eliminating the toll barrier for a year on I-190 south of Buffalo. This was seen as an election-year move to help Republican candidates in Western New York. But residents of the mid-Hudson region felt NYSTA had done a better job plowing the road in winter, and Thruway workers assigned to I-84 feared having to move or working for the DOT at lower pay and with different union representation.
  State Senator John Bonacic, a member of that body's then-Republican majority whose district covers western Orange County, introduced legislation at the beginning of 2007 to block the changeover. He succeeded, as the budget lawmakers and new governor Eliot Spitzer agreed to appropriate enough money for DOT to continue paying the Thruway Authority for snow removal, litter pickup and mowing along the entire highway save the bridge. The DOT picked up the cost of having state police Troop T, which patrols the Thruway, continue to cover I-84. This agreement was renewed in 2008.
caption: Thruway Authority maintenance sign at onramps, 1991–2010
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