Interchange of the Week-#2

Orientation: NY 434 enters at bottom left, takes a sharp turn to cross the Susquehanna River, continues along State Street, and ends at US 11 (Court Street), just off the top of this picture. NY 363 (North Shore Drive) enters at top right; its official end is at NY 434 (see below for details). It continues as state reference route 992E to the Washington Street bridge, left (this bridge is closed to vehicular traffic). Beyond this point, the road crosses the Chenango River on Memorial Bridge and becomes Riverside Drive.

The bridge at center is Exchange Street, and just to the right is the Rockbottom Dam. At far right are the remains of a bridge recently removed. Conklin Avenue runs along the south shore of the Susquehanna River, and Susquehanna Street runs along the north side, a block north of North Shore Drive. Hawley Street runs along the top edge of this picture. The three buildings at the southeast corner of State and Hawley Streets are the City of Binghamton, Broome County and New York State offices.

The interchange: Just north of the Susquehanna River is the interchange between NY 363 and NY 434. From NY 434 northbound*, a loop ramp branches off, taking the through travel lanes with it; continuing north on NY 434 is signed like an exit to State Street and downtown. From the loop ramp, there is first a left-hand branch to Susquehanna Street, and then a right hand branch that connects to Riverside Drive by way of Memorial Bridge and Washington Street. (This ramp is the geometrical continuation of the loop; it actually connects to SR 992E.) The two through lanes then become NY 363 eastbound. In fact, the entire loop is the de facto beginning of NY 363 eastbound, and the other loop is the end of NY 363 westbound. Most unusual of NY 363 eastbound is that it runs for some distance on the "wrong" side of NY 363 westbound. Notice the bridge over Exchange Street: at first glance, it appears to carry a typical divided highway, but for a motorist driving over it, opposing traffic will be on his right, instead of the usual left. An unusually tall barrier separates the roadways here, to minimize confusion. This "wrong-way" roadway eventually crosses under NY 363 westbound, where it is met by a ramp from Susquehanna Street via Carroll Street (note the pedestrian underpass of NY 363 at this point), and then merges from the left into a ramp from Riverside Drive and Exchange Street (again via SR 922E).

In the opposite direction (NY 363 westbound), after crossing the "wrong-way" Exchange Street overpass, the highway is met from the left by a ramp from Exchange Street, and from the right by the loop ramp from NY 434. Immediately afterward, a loop ramp carries NY 363 to its end at NY 434, and the main roadway continues straight as SR 922E to Memorial Bridge and Riverside Drive.

Missing connections: None of the above connections are available from NY 434 southbound. Instead, motorists must use local streets. Access to NY 363 eastbound is via either Susquehanna or Hawley Street, to Carroll Street. Also, there is a connection from NY 363 to NY 434 southbound only. A northbound connection would be redundant, as NY 434 functionally ends at NY 363, providing only local access north of there. Such access from NY 363 is already available at Susquehanna Street, which actually branches from NY 363 westbound at extreme top right. The net effect of this junction is a single through arterial (NY 434 becoming NY 363), with access to and from downtown Binghamton, via State, Washington, Exchange and Susquehanna Streets.

Nearby connections: On the south side of the Susquehanna there is essentially a folded diamond interchange with Conklin Avenue. Access to and from NY 434 northbound is via Tremont Avenue; a left-turn channel serves traffic coming from Vestal Avenue (bottom edge of the photo). The southbound entrance ramp is seen at the bottom left corner; it is not directly available from Conklin Avenue eastbound. Just off the bottom left is an interchange with Pennsylvania Avenue to and from the south, with a missing connection between Pennsylvania Avenue northbound and NY 434 westbound. Just off the top right edge of the photo is a typical folded diamond interchange between NY 363 and US 11 (Court Street). A short distance beyond, NY 363 ends at a split with NY 7 to and from the north. In fact, there are no interchanges at all on NY 363 or in this area of NY 434, other than those mentioned here.

*NY 434, overall, is an east-west highway, but as it runs north-south through the interchange under consideration, we shall speak of it thus.

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