My proposal to make this happen.
There are many capital improvements that would have to be made to bring this roadway up to Interstate standards, particularly between Verona and Rome. Due to the costs involved, this could be spread out over a ten to twenty year improvement plan. In the meantime, I agree that the roadway could adequately be attractive as a "I-90 spur" and serve the area as NY 790. In fact, I recommend that the NY 790 designation run from NY 5 in Oneida (the current western terminous of NY 365) to the NY 5/8/12 interchange in Utica, where the I-790 designation already exists. Then as capital improvements are made to the roadway, the Interstate 790 designation could move westward, where it would finally meet the Thruway at the Verona Interchange and continue on as NY 790 to Oneida Castle. This would involve doing the following:
- Renumber the roadway as NY 790 as soon as possible. The area could use the economic benefits and motorist guidance improvements immediately.
- Truncate NY 49 at NY 46 near New London. NY 49 is multiplexed with NY 46 all the way to and through Rome (about 10 miles) and then follows the Utica-Rome Expressway to Utica. The elimination of NY 49 through Rome would reduce one of the similiarly numbered exits in the area (NY 26-46-49-69).
- With the elimination of NY 49 east of New London, River Rd in the Town of Marcy, which lost its NY 49 designation in October 2003, could be marked as Business Route 49, to maintain "Route 49" continuity with local nomenclature. Even though the roadway is not actually Route 49, it still could be marked as a business route with this designation. A similar situation exists in the Syracuse area where was Onondaga CR 91 is signed as Onondaga CR 57 after the elimination of NY 57 in the early 80s. "Route 57" still exists as a local designation 25 years later.
- Truncate NY 365 west of the Griffiss Business and Technology Park. NY 365 would continue to follow its existing route through Holland Patent, Barneveld, etc. to NY 8 in the Adirondacks.
- Because NY 365 no longer exists west of Turning Stone, it doesn't make sense to have NY 365A in Oneida and Oneida Castle. I recommend renumbering this roadway NY 465. The 465 designation is two fold - it sounds similar to NY 365 AND the roadway crosses NY 46 to get to NY 5.
- Because of the scope of the project and the length of the finished roadway, I would highly recommend numbering the exits based on distance. This would allow the easy addition of exits as growth permits and the numbers would not conflict with the at-grade intersections that would exist while the roadway was being brought up to interstate standards. In addition, exit numbers would make it easier for motorists to find their way to local attractions. It's easier to find Fort Stanwix National Monument by following signs to Exit 13 then trying to decipher a smaller multi-sign sign installation at a particular exit ramp, especially in areas where there is a close proximity of exits. I believe there is a sign rehabiliation project planned for the signs at the NY 26-49-69 interchange in Rome and the NY 5-8-12 and Thruway interchanges in Utica. The exit numbers should be installed as part of this project, with exit tabs being added to the relatively new signs at the exits between Rome and Utica.
