Interstate 390 - History

History

Construction on a limited-access highway between Wayland and Dansville began c. 1966. The highway opened to traffic c. 1968 as a realignment of NY 245. On January 1, 1970, the expressway became part of NY 401, a designation that also extended south to the town of Avoca and north to the city of Rochester along the Genesee Expressway, a proposed freeway utilizing the US 15 corridor. NY 401 was added to the Interstate Highway System and redesignated I-390 c. 1973. As initially planned, I-390 would continue north into downtown Rochester and end at I-490 while the entirety of the Rochester Outer Loop south of I-490 would become I-590.

Construction began c. 1974 on the portion of I-390 between NY 17 near the village of Avoca and NY 21 south of Wayland. It opened to traffic c. 1976. By 1977, work had begun on the leg between NY 251 in Rush and the New York State Thruway (I-90) in Henrietta. This section was completed by 1981, as were the Dansville–Groveland (NY 36), Avon–Rush, and Thruway – Hylan Drive segments. The remainder of I-390 in Monroe County up to the modern I-390 / I-590 interchange was built c. 1981, and the final gap in the expressway from NY 36 to US 20 in Livingston County opened c. 1982.

By the late 1970s, the proposed extension of I-390 into downtown Rochester was scrapped. Instead, the state of New York began to look into the possibility of changing the designations that were assigned to the Outer Loop. In one proposal submitted to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in the late 1970s, I-590 would be truncated to begin at the then-proposed junction with I-390 in Brighton. The rest of the loop south of I-490, meanwhile, would become part of an extended I-390, which would continue north past I-490 to the Outer Loop's northwestern end at the Lake Ontario State Parkway. NY 47, the then-current designation for much of the Outer Loop, would be eliminated entirely.

Most of the plans went into effect when the NY 47 designation was eliminated on March 18, 1980. The southern half of the Outer Loop was signed as planned; however, I-390 and I-590 were modified to end at their junctions with I-490. While NY 47 was officially assigned to the entirety of the Outer Loop prior to its removal, only the portion from NY 383 north to I-490 was actually once part of NY 47.

On February 10, 2008, whiteout conditions caused a 36-car pileup near the Scottsville Road exit, which led to a 17-year-old girl's death. Firefighters had to climb over cars and cut off roofs to get to people. More than 20 people were taken to the hospital.

On July 17, 2011, a tour bus heading northbound from Washington, D.C. to Niagara Falls crashed between the Avoca and Cohocton exits, killing two and injuring at least 35 others. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.