Interstate 490
Map of the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area with I-490 highlighted in red
Route information
Auxiliary route ofI-90
Maintained byNYSDOT
Length	37.4 mi[1][2] (60.2 km)
Existed	c. 1961[3][4]–present
History	Completed early 1970s[5][6]
NHS	Entire route
Major junctions
West end	I-90 Toll /New York Thruway inLe Roy
Major intersections	I-390 /NY 390 inGates I-590 /NY 590 inRochester
East end	I-90 Toll /New York Thruway inVictor
Location
Country	United States
State	New York
Counties	Genesee,Monroe,Ontario
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Future New York Highways Interstate US State Reference Parkways
←NY 488 →I-495

Interstate 490 (I-490) is anauxiliary Interstate Highway that serves the city ofRochester, New York, in the United States. It acts as a northerly alternate route to theNew York State Thruway (I-90), leaving it at exit 47 in the town ofLe Roy and rejoining the highway at exit 45 in the town ofVictor 37.4 miles (60.2 km) to the east. I-490 connects withI-390 andNew York State Route 390 (NY 390) on the western side of Rochester andI-590 andNY 590 on the east side of the city at an interchange known as theCan of Worms. The highway comprises the southernmost portion of theInner Loop, a beltway around the interior of Rochester. Outside the city, I-490 serves several suburban villages, such asChurchville andPittsford.

The eastern half of the freeway, named theEastern Expressway, was built in stages from the 1950s to the 1970s as a connector between the Inner Loop and the thruway, and the section west of the Inner Loop andDowntown Rochester to I-90 in Le Roy is known as theWestern Expressway. From Downtown Rochester to the Can of Worms, it follows the formerright-of-way of theRochester subway and, before it, theErie Canal. The section west of the Inner Loop was mostly built during the 1960s and completed in the early 1970s. During the 1950s and early 1960s, the portion of the Eastern Expressway from what is now the Can of Worms east toBushnell's Basin was originally designated as part ofNY 96. That route was moved back onto its parallel surface routingc. 1961 when I-490 was assigned to the entirety of the then-proposed Le Roy–Victor freeway.

Heading northeast from exit 47 of theNew York State Thruway (I-90), I-490 passes through rural portions of easternGenesee County and westernMonroe County, skirting the villages ofBergen andChurchville. Gradually, the expressway takes a more easterly alignment near exit 3 before returning to the northeast at exit 4. At exit 6, I-490 intersects the Airport Expressway (NY 204). Past this interchange, I-490 heads due north, connecting toNY 33 andNY 531 before returning east. Prior to crossing theErie Canal, I-490 meetsNY 390 andI-390. Beyond the junction lies the canal and the city ofRochester.^{[citation needed]}

Between the Mount Read Boulevard interchange at exit 10 and theGenesee River, I-490 is referred to as the "Western Gateway". This section, which saw major decorative and structural improvements in the late 2000s,^[7] travels due east through heavily residential neighborhoods before turning to the southeast nearInnovative Field and a junction with theInner Loop at exit 13. Just west of this point, I-490 passes over West Broad Street (NY 31) and close to the former Rochester terminal of theBuffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railway, which now housesNick Tahou Hots.^{[citation needed]}

I-490 now becomes part of the Inner Loop as it passes just south of the city center and heads toward the Genesee River. I-490 crosses both the river andNY 383 by way of theFrederick Douglass–Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge and connects toNY 15 before leaving the Inner Loop^{[citation needed]} and turning south and east to follow the former pathway of the Erie Canal^[8] and theRochester subway through the east side of the city.^[9] Along this stretch, I-490 connects to NY 31 (now part of Monroe Avenue) and passes north ofCobbs Hill Reservoir and the surrounding Cobbs Hill Park.^{[citation needed]}

I-490 continues to run in the former bed until exit 21,^[8] where I-490 connects toNY 590 andI-590 at an interchange known locally as theCan of Worms.^[10] At this point, the former Erie Canal route (now part of I-590) curves southward^[8] while I-490 continues eastward into the eastern suburbs of Rochester. Between exits 21 and 24, I-490 parallels theCSX Transportation-ownedRochester Subdivision rail line, intersectingNY 441, a four-lanedivided highway in the process. South of exit 25, I-490 traverses the southeastern suburbs of Rochester, passing close toEast Rochester,Pittsford, andBushnell's Basin and closely parallelingNY 96 on its way toward theOntario County line. The freeway meets NY 96 twice inPerinton and a third time in the Ontario County town ofVictor, where I-490 passes along the western fringe ofEastview Mall. I-490 ends a short distance southeast of the third NY 96 interchange at Thruway exit 45.^{[citation needed]}

The portion of I-490 from exit 15 southeast to theCan of Worms follows the original path of theErie Canal through the city ofRochester.^[8] After the canal was rerouted to bypass Rochester in 1920, the former canal bed was purchased by the city for roughly $1.5 million (equivalent to $17.7 million in 2024^[11]).^[9] Plans drawn up by the city in the early 1910s called for a highway to be built in the old canal bed; however, subsequent proposals leaned toward repurposing the bed as a rapid transit system instead. TheRochester subway, as it became known, began operation in 1927. As ridership on the line declined in the 1940s and early 1950s, the city elected to shut the subway down in 1956 and use theright-of-way for a new highway connecting theInner Loop to the recently completedNew York State Thruway south of Rochester.^[9]

Construction of the Eastern Expressway, alimited-access highway connecting the Inner Loop to the thruway inVictor, began in the early 1950s with the first section extending fromNY 96 inBushnell's Basin toNY 31F nearEast Rochester.^[12][13] It was completed by 1956 and originally designated as part of NY 96.^[14] An extension northwest to the present site of the Can of Worms was opened to traffic by the following year.^[15] The expressway remained part of NY 96 untilc. 1961 when it was designated as part of I-490, a proposed route extending westward through Downtown Rochester and southwestward through the western suburbs to Thruway exit 47 inLe Roy. The portion of the highway between theInner Loop and Winton Road was completed in the old subway cut by this time,^[3][4] while the segment between Winton Road and the Can of Worms was openedc. 1963.^[16][17]

Work on the portion of I-490 west of the Inner Loop beganc. 1962 and initially extended fromNY 259 inChili to Mount Read Boulevard two miles (3.2 km) west of downtown.^[4][16] This section was completed by the following year.^[17] The remainder of the freeway west of Rochester was opened to traffic as far west asNY 36 nearChurchvillec. 1965^[18][19] and finished by 1968.^[20] The last two gaps in the freeway—from Mount Read Boulevard east to the Inner Loop in Rochester and from Bushnell's Basin southeast to the thruway inPittsford and Victor—were filled in the early 1970s.^[5][6]

I-490 formerly had two sets ofrest areas, one inVictor and one in Churchville. The Churchville pair, located east of exit 3, were closed on July 18, 1990, after numerous complaints about sexual activity in the area.^[21] The ones in Victor, west of the thruway interchange, were closed on November 1, 1990, for the winter as a temporary cost-saving measure.^[22] TheNew York State Department of Transportation decided in June 1991 to make these closures permanent to save on costs.^[23]

The planned construction of the Inner Loop (now part of I-490) through the Corn Hill district of Downtown Rochester just west of theGenesee River was the driving factor that led theRochester Institute of Technology (RIT) to relocate to its present location inHenrietta in 1968. The plan called for the demolition of a number of RIT buildings and would have resulted in splitting the campus into two halves separated by the new freeway.^[24][25] The portion of I-490 from exit 9 (I-390 andNY 390) inGates to exit 27 (NY 96) inPerinton was ceremoniously designated as the "Erie Canal Expressway" by theNew York State Legislature on August 16, 2005.^[26]

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Genesee	Town of Le Roy	0.00	0.00	–	I-90 Toll /New York Thruway –Syracuse,Buffalo	Western terminus; exit 47 on I-90 / Thruway
		0.19	0.31	1	NY 19 –Le Roy,Bergen	Last westbound exit before toll
Genesee–Monroe county line	Bergen–Riga town line	3.38	5.44	2	NY 33 /NY 33A –Bergen,Batavia
Monroe	Riga	6.35	10.22	3	NY 36 –Churchville
	Chili	10.78	17.35	4	NY 259 –North Chili,West Chili
		14.09	22.68	5	NY 386 –Chili Center
	Gates	15.78	25.40	6	NY 204 east –Airport	Western terminus of NY 204
		16.58	26.68	7	NY 33 /NY 531 west –Gates Center,Spencerport,Brockport	Signed as exits 7A (east) and 7B (west); no westbound access to NY 531; western terminus of NY 531
		17.17	27.63	8	NY 531 west –Spencerport,Brockport	No eastbound exit; eastern terminus of NY 531
		19.02	30.61	9	I-390 south /NY 390 north –Greece,Airport	Signed as exits 9A (north) and 9B (south); exits 20A-B on I-390/NY 390
	Rochester	20.17	32.46	10	Mount Read Boulevard	Signed as exits 10A (south) and 10B (north) eastbound
		20.95	33.72	11	Ames Street / Child Street	Signed as exits 11A (Ames Street) and 11B (Child Street) westbound
		21.85	35.16	12	Broad Street / Stadiums	No westbound exit; servesInnovative Field andRochester Community Sports Complex Stadium
		22.25	35.81	13	Inner Loop east –Downtown Rochester	Western end of Inner Loop concurrency
		22.76	36.63	14	Broad Street / Plymouth Avenue –Innovative Field	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		22.94	36.92	15	NY 15 /NY 31 (South Avenue) Inner Loop ends	Eastbound exit and eastbound entrance; western terminus of Inner Loop
		23.42	37.69	16	Clinton Avenue (NY 15 north) – Downtown Rochester	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		23.92	38.50	17	Goodman Street / Broadway
		24.37	39.22	18	NY 31 (Monroe Avenue)
		24.91	40.09	19	Culver Road
		25.91	41.70	20	Winton Road
	Rochester–Brighton line	26.44	42.55	21	I-590 south /NY 590 north	Can of Worms Interchange; exit 5 on I-590/NY 590
	Brighton	27.03	43.50	22	Penfield Road	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; formerNY 441
		27.82	44.77	23	NY 441 (Linden Avenue) –Penfield
	Town of Pittsford	29.14	46.90	24	East Rochester	Access viaNY 940U
		29.55	47.56	25	NY 31F –Fairport
	Perinton	32.13	51.71	26	NY 31 –Pittsford,Palmyra
		33.76	54.33	27	NY 96 –Bushnell's Basin
		35.05	56.41	28	NY 96	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
Ontario	Town of Victor	37.00	59.55	29	NY 96 –Victor	No eastbound access to NY 96 north; last eastbound exit before toll
		37.40	60.19	–	I-90 Toll /New York Thruway –Albany,Buffalo	Eastern terminus; exit 45 on I-90 / Thruway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Electronic toll collection       Incomplete access       Route transition

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