New York Laws
Article 12 - State Routes
340-B - Construction, Improvement and Maintenance of State Interstate Highways.

§ 340-b. Construction, improvement and maintenance of state interstate
highways. 1. The highway routes and connections set forth and described
in section three hundred forty-a of the highway law shall be designated
"interstate highways" and shall be constructed or improved according to
such designs and types as determined by the commissioner of
transportation, subject to the provisions of federal aid therefor. Each
interstate highway shall ultimately provide for not less than two lanes
of traffic in each direction. Opposing traffic on every completed
interstate highway shall ultimately be separated by a mall generally or
the commissioner of transportation may separate such opposing traffic by
such other alignment of respective lanes of traffic which, in his
judgment, is practicable, because of topographic conditions and is
beneficial to the public interest. Access from one traffic direction to
the other shall be provided only at such points and in such manner as
the commissioner of transportation shall determine. Any state highway,
frontage, marginal and service road or portion thereof may be utilized
and become a part of any interstate highway when authorized by the
commissioner of transportation, provided such highway or portion thereof
either meets the prescribed requirements of an interstate highway or is
appropriately altered so as to come within such requirements before its
incorporation into the interstate highway. Access or branch connections
from any such interstate highway or section thereof to any highway that
is authorized by this chapter shall, in the discretion of the
commissioner of transportation, be included in the plans, specifications
and estimates and shall be constructed according to such design and type
as the commissioner of transportation shall deem to be suitable for the
purposes thereof. For any portion or section of an interstate highway
authorized within the corporate limits of a city, provision shall be
made for access thereto from existing streets at points designated by
the commissioner of transportation. After the establishment of any
interstate highway no additional points of access to, or exit from, the
project shall be made without prior approval by the commissioner of
transportation and the federal bureau of public roads. The commissioner
of transportation may set monuments on the boundaries of such interstate
highways, and he may cause fences to be erected along or adjacent to
such boundaries, and he is authorized to install suitable lighting,
directional and protective facilities, devices and appurtenances, if he
deems it necessary in the interests of public safety. The maintenance
and repair of interstate highways shall include the control of snow and
ice and shall be done by forces of the department of transportation or
by such other method or methods as determined by the commissioner, under
his direct supervision and control and any inconsistent provisions of
this chapter are superseded insofar as they conflict with this
provision. The cost of such maintenance and repair shall be borne wholly
by the state and be paid for from moneys appropriated therefor by the
legislature. The maintenance of any highway, road or street which is
affected by this section and which in the judgment of the commissioner
of transportation is not deemed to be a part of the state highway system
shall be maintained by the municipality or the municipalities in which
all or part thereof is located.

2. The commissioner of transportation is authorized to classify any
part of an interstate highway as a controlled access highway pursuant to
this chapter. Highway and railroad grade crossings shall be separated
generally by structures to be determined by the commissioner of
transportation, who is hereby given authority to combine, connect,
alter, reconstruct, terminate or relocate intersecting highways,
streets, or roads to adjust traffic to such grade separation structures
or any portion of an interstate route or connection. In the discretion

of the commissioner of transportation, a structure may be constructed to
eliminate an existing crossing at grade of a railroad and a highway
which intersects or closely parallels an interstate highway. The entire
cost of structures constructed pursuant to this paragraph as so
determined by the commissioner of transportation shall be included in
the cost of the interstate highway. Structures constructed pursuant to
this paragraph shall be maintained and repaired by the state. Highways
combined, connected, altered, reconstructed, relocated or carried over
or under an interstate highway section or connection, under the
provisions of this paragraph, shall, upon completion of the work, revert
to and become the responsibility with regard to maintenance and repair,
of the state, municipality, authority, commission or other public
agency, as the case may be, formerly having jurisdiction thereover.

3. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of this chapter or any
other law, general or special, any and all property which the
commissioner of transportation deems necessary for the construction,
reconstruction and maintenance of interstate highways and bridges
thereon shall be acquired pursuant to the provisions of any section or
sections of this chapter applicable to the acquisition of land or rights
and interests therein, and for the settlement of claims for damage
resulting from the work of constructing, reconstructing and maintaining
such interstate highways. The commissioner of transportation, for the
people of the state of New York, shall acquire pursuant to the aforesaid
procedures any property or interest therein, necessary for any and all
purposes connected with the construction, reconstruction and maintenance
of the interstate highway system of the state of New York, including the
appropriation of property for drains, ditches, spoil banks, gravel pits,
stone quarries, storehouses and repair shops; also for the removal of
obstructions, improvement of sight distance; also for appropriation of
property for the reconstruction of existing highway-railroad separation
structures upon incorporation into an interstate highway of an existing
highway or portion thereof of which they form a part, and for the
separation of interstate highway-railroad grades on newly laid-out
interstate highways; and for other purposes to improve safety conditions
on the interstate highway routes. The term "property" as used in this
section is defined to include lands, waters, rights in lands or waters,
structures, franchises and interests in land, including lands under
water and riparian rights, and any and all other things and rights
usually included within the said term and includes also any and all
interests in such property less than full title, such as easements
permanent or temporary, rights-of-way, uses, leases, licenses and all
other incorporeal hereditaments and every estate, interest or right
legal or equitable.

4. If moneys of the federal government are or may reasonably be
expected to be available therefor, under federal aid highway acts, the
commissioner of transportation is authorized to use such moneys or so
much thereof as he may determine to accept, together with other
available moneys, for (a) the construction and reconstruction of
interstate highways designated and described in section three hundred
forty-a of this chapter, (b) the construction, reconstruction,
alteration or repair, pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred
thirty of this chapter, of bridges and culverts on the interstate
highway system, and (c) the preparation of preliminary surveys, plans,
specifications and estimates of costs in connection with any of the
foregoing, and (d) the acquisition of rights of way necessary for such
interstate highways. The commissioner of transportation may perform such
work with respect to any interstate project which he may, in his
discretion, select. The proportion of the total cost of work performed

on any interstate project, in addition to such elements thereof as are
not subject to federal aid, which shall be borne by the state of New
York shall be the difference between the funds contributed for such work
by the federal government and the actual cost thereof. No city shall be
required to participate in the costs of an interstate highway project,
whether or not the alignment coincides with the alignment of a
previously approved arterial route, except for those costs which are
incurred under any special cooperative agreement between a city and the
state.

5. a. Any property in the city of New York which is deemed by the
commissioner of transportation to be necessary for the construction,
reconstruction and maintenance of interstate highways shall be acquired
and may be disposed of by him pursuant to applicable provisions of
section thirty of this chapter.

b. In any case in which property is to be acquired or disposed of
pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision and in any case where
property is created by landfill adjoining such property, the
commissioner of transportation shall, prior to any proposed acquisition,
disposition or new or different utilization, development or improvement
thereof, notify the city planning commission and the community board in
each community district in which the property is located of such
proposal. Such notice shall be given so as to afford the city planning
commission and the community board reasonable opportunity to: (1) notify
the public of the proposal; (2) conduct a public hearing thereon; and
(3) prepare and submit any written recommendations thereon to the
commissioner of transportation not later than sixty days after notice of
the contents of the proposal.

Within a reasonable time after receipt of any recommendations of the
city planning commission or community board or the expiration of the
time within which any such recommendation could have been made, the
commissioner shall notify the commission and respective board of the
contents of his resulting proposal. If any of the items contained in
the resulting proposal were not available for consideration by the
commission or board within the time provided for the making of
recommendations thereon the resulting proposal shall constitute a
different proposal and as such shall be subject to the foregoing
provisions.

The provisions of this paragraph b shall only be applicable to a
proposal by the commissioner of transportation which if proposed by a
city agency or instrumentality would be subject to the provisions of
section one hundred ninety-seven-c of the New York city charter.
Provided, however, that the provisions of this paragraph b shall not be
applicable to any portion of such property acquired, disposed of, or
created by landfill which is to be utilized exclusively as an interstate
highway so long as such utilization will not detrimentally affect the
utilization, development or improvement of remaining portions of such
property.

c. Upon the completion of construction by the state of a section or
sections of interstate highways in the city of New York, the
commissioner of transportation may by official order transfer
jurisdiction for maintenance of interstate highways or completed
portions thereof to the appropriate agency of the city of New York.

5-a. The commissioner of transportation and the city of New York,
acting through the mayor or other administrative head thereof, pursuant
to a resolution of the governing body of such city, are authorized to
enter into a written agreement for the maintenance and repair, under the
supervision and subject to the approval of the commissioner of
transportation, of any state interstate highway or portion thereof,

exclusive of service roads and pavement on intersecting street bridges,
which is within the boundaries of such city and which is now or which
shall hereafter be designated in section three hundred forty-a of this
chapter and which has been constructed or which shall have been
constructed as authorized by section three hundred forty-a of this
chapter. Such agreement may provide that the state shall pay annually to
such city a sum to be computed at the rate of (a) not more than
eighty-five cents per square yard of the pavement area that is included
in the state highway system according to the provisions of this section,
and (b) an additional ten cents per square yard of such pavement area
where such pavement area is located on any elevated bridge.

The maintenance and repair, as provided in this section, shall be done
either by the forces of such city and with its equipment, or by its
contractor, or by a combination of these two methods.

Such agreement for maintenance and repair as authorized by this
section, shall include the procedure and method for regulation of street
openings, and appropriate provisions for the care, protection and
patching of the pavement or pavements, and curbs, the care and
protection of drainage facilities and structures, the maintenance of
adjacent roadside and landscaped areas to include the care of trees,
shrubs and groundcovers and the cutting of grass at specified locations
and to the extent as shall be deemed by such commissioner of
transportation to be for the best interest of the public, control of
snow and ice on any such state interstate highway or portion thereof
included in such agreement, the performance of repairs and alterations,
and the operation and care of traffic lights, directional guides and
controls, and parking controls. Such maintenance and repair, whether
done by the city pursuant to an agreement therefor as authorized by this
section, or by the state because of the absence of such agreement, as
the case may be, shall not include (a) services of lighting, cleaning,
sweeping and sprinkling of any such state interstate highway or portion
thereof, all of which services are deemed to be the normal maintenance
of streets by the city, or (b) any work on or in connection with
subsurface installations and structures that are owned and operated by
the city, including sanitary sewers, gas mains, water lines and conduits
and appurtenances thereto.

6. All the provisions of this chapter relating to state highways and
state arterial highways and not inconsistent with the provisions of this
section or with the provisions of the federal-aid highway act of
nineteen hundred fifty-six, shall apply to the construction or
improvement and the control of maintenance of interstate highways in the
same manner as though they were designated as state highways or arterial
highways.

Structure New York Laws