U.S. Route 11 in New York - Future

Future

Plans for the Rooftop Highway, a proposed limited-access highway that would extend for 175 miles (282 km) from Watertown to Champlain, first surfaced in the 1950s. If built, the highway would likely follow the US 11 corridor across the northern part of North Country, connecting I-81 to I-87. The project is expected to create more than 27,000 jobs throughout the North Country and is expected to take as many as 15 years to complete.

A study called the North Country Transportation Study Action Plan and Final Technical Report suggests that the road would likely be built to Interstate Highway standards in order to improve constrained transit systems due to a lack of infrastructure throughout the area. Backers of the project have called for the highway to be designated as I-98; however, this designation has not been recognized by any government agencies, such as NYSDOT or the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The number does fit into AASHTO's numbering system, though, as the highest even numbers are designated for highways running along the Canada–United States border, such as the proposed highway.

The Northern Corridor Transportation Group (NCTG) was formed in December 2008 as a means of refocusing the fifty-year discussion on the project. Since that time, more than 100 municipal and civic resolutions from the five northern counties of New York have been passed in support of the construction of the project. On July 16, 2009, the NCTG submitted a request to U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand to direct $800 million toward the project as part of the reauthorization of a federal highway transportation bill. In a historic move, the six northern legislators representing the North Country in the New York State Legislature (Senators Aubertine, Griffo and Little and Assembly Members Scozzafava, Russell and Duprey) signed an official letter of request to the same end.