Interstate 95 in New York - History

History

Robert Moses first recommended the construction of what became the New England Thruway in 1940. Construction began in 1951, but major work on the highway did not commence until 1956-1957. By 1950, the New York State Thruway Authority assumed control of the construction and made the New England Thruway a part of the Thruway toll system. Construction lasted until 1961.

I-95 was assigned on August 14, 1957, as part of the establishment of the Interstate Highway System, and has always run along its current path in New York. The route was overlaid on the under-construction New England Thruway northeast of New York City and assigned to the then-proposed Cross Bronx and Bruckner Expressways through New York City. The final sections of the Cross Bronx and Bruckner Expressways were finished in 1963 and 1972, respectively. Prior to the 1972 completion of the Bruckner, coinciding with the completion of the new Bruckner Interchange, the old Bruckner Boulevard (once part of NY 164) was used by through traffic.

I-95 was one of only a few roads in New York to use mile-based exit numbers. The exits on the New England Thruway were originally sequential, beginning at 1 at its south end — but were renumbered in the 1980s to continue where the mile-based numbers left off, while remaining sequential. In the early 2000s, the numbers on the free section were slowly changed to new sequential numbers; the numbers on the New England Thruway section were not changed.. In 2010, the milage based numbers were restored to the free section, due to the stalling of the project. Also, the NY Thruway did not change their numbers to match the 2000s numbers, leading to a situation involving two separate exit 1, 2, 3, 8, 10, and 12s.