| I-81 | |||
| Get started | Riverside | ||
| End | Fishers Landing | ||
| Length | 183 mi | ||
| Length | 295 km | ||
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According to Topschoolsintheusa, Interstate 81 or I -81 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of New York. The highway runs through the middle of Upstate New York, from the Pennsylvania border at Riverside to the Canadian border at Fishers Landing. En route you pass the larger towns of Binghamton and Syracuse. The highway is 295 kilometers long.
Travel directions
I-81 near Binghamton.
I-81 at Syracuse.
At Riverside, Interstate 81 in Pennsylvania enters New York State from Scranton, parallel to the Susquehanna River. Soon one reaches the town of Binghamton. This is where Interstate 86 begins, which runs to New York City. Both roads are then double-numbered until you reach downtown Binghamton, where I-81 heads north toward Syracuse, while I-86 heads west toward Elmira and Erie. On the north side of Binghamton, Interstate 88 turns northeast toward Schenectady and Albany. One then leaves the urban area of Binghamton.
You then pass through an area that alternates between forests and fields and is slightly hilly. Also in New York State, US 11 runs parallel to I-81. The highway sometimes has a wide median strip. One passes by Cortland, a small town. At Lafayette you cross the US 20, which runs from Albany to Genevea. You then reach the metropolitan area of Syracuse. This is a fairly large urban region with approximately 750,000 inhabitants. On the south side of the city, Interstate 481 exits, which forms the city’s eastern bypass. I-81 then has 2×3 lanes. One passes through the center of Syracuse, which has some high-rise buildings. At the height of the center one crosses theInterstate 690, an east-west connection in the metro area. On the north side of the city, Interstate 90 crosses the highway from Buffalo and Rochester to Albany and Boston. A little further north, one crosses I-481 again. The highway still has 2×3 lanes until Central Square.
Then you come through wooded area, not far from Lake Ontario. The highway approaches the immense lake about 7 kilometers away, then runs parallel to the coast to the north. Here too, US 11 still runs parallel to I-81. The last major town before the Canadian border is the town of Watertown. Here, US 11 leaves I-81 and continues northeast toward Champlain. I-81 gets lonelier, and at Fishers Landing follows the border post with Canada, although the actual Canadian border is still about 10 kilometers away, on an island in the great St. Lawrence River. Via the ancient Thousand Islands BridgeI-81 continues as a single-lane freeway. After that, 2×2 lanes are available again and you reach the Canadian border. Not far after the border, it interchanges with Highway 401 in Ontario, which runs from Toronto to Montréal.
History
The predecessor to I-81 was US 11, traditionally one of the major north-south routes in the northeastern United States. Already in 1937 the Thousand Islands Bridge on the border with Canada opened to traffic. This bridge is still two-lane, and one of the two-lane rarities of the Interstate Highways. In the mid-1950s, the first stretch south of Syracuse opened to traffic. I-81 was built quickly in the 1960s. By 1967, almost the entire highway was completed, and in 1968 the last stretch between Binghamton and Syracuse opened.
Between 2012 and 2015, the interchange of I-81 with I-86 in Binghamton was reconstructed. The bridges over the Chenango River have also been replaced. The project cost $136 million.
Opening history
| From | Unpleasant | Length | Opening |
| Exit 14 | Exit 16 | 19 km | ~1956 |
| exit 28 | Exit 31 | 13 km | ~1958 |
| Exit 41 | exit 48 | 29 km | ~1959 |
| Exit 24 | exit 28 | 8 km | ~1961 |
| Exit 31 | exit 33 | 19 km | ~1961 |
| exit 38 | Exit 40 | 6 km | ~1961 |
| exit 0 | Exit 1 | 6 km | ~1961 |
| exit 33 | exit 38 | 32 km | ~1961 |
| Exit 40 | Exit 41 | 10 km | ~1962 |
| Exit 1 | exit 8 | 42 km | ~1965 |
| Exit 9 | Exit 14 | 47 km | ~1965 |
| Exit 16 | Exit 24 | 13 km | ~1965 |
| exit 48 | Exit 50 | 32 km | ~1965 |
| exit 8 | Exit 9 | 13 km | ~1968 |
Future
I-81 in Syracuse.
The overpasses of the I-81 in Syracuse are in poor condition and may need to be replaced. The options are being explored. This route processes 90,000 to 101,000 vehicles per day.
Traffic intensities
Some 27,000 vehicles cross the Pennsylvania border every day, rising to 82,000 vehicles in Binghamton. Between Binghamton and Syracuse this drops to around 20,000 vehicles per day. Syracuse is a bit busier, but the 98,000 vehicles do not cause major traffic problems. North of Syracuse, this drops to just 20,000 vehicles towards Watertown, and only 5,670 vehicles cross the border into Canada every day.
