Interstate 88 in New York

Question

I-88 from Binghampton to Albany - avoid this road if at all possible. It was built in the 70s so that a state politician could save and hour on his commute and has only been patched since then. It is the most miserable stretch of road I've been on all winter (7000+ miles). The good news is that they're at least working on it and the local scuttlebutt is they will be repaving the entire 120 miles over the next 2 years.

On the plus side, the last time we did the trip from I88 to the KOA in Saugerties NY, we took and narrow winding road with a 15% downgrade. This time, we stuck to NY23 and we barely noticed crossing the Catskills.

drewe · Answer

Strange, I-88 has never struck me as particularly horrible.  There are segments that are concrete with the requisite expansion joints...and some other areas that are not pristine, but nothing that would rate anywhere among the worse roads I've experienced.  On the whole, I consider it a pleasant rural jaunt through rolling hills with minimal traffic problems.

we_cant_wait · Answer

DrewE I'm with you just drove it to and from Mass last Oct. while yes parts of it are concrete, and you have the typical expansion joints,but it's not like it's all tore up and rough.

jplante4 · Answer

The right lane east bound out of Binghampton is terrible. Maybe it's the wheel base on the Sahara, but the thump-thump concrete was bone jarring. I'me just glad we only had to do 35 miles of it.

Drew, I see from your map that you've been exclusively in the northeast. I've spent the last 6 months traveling in the southeast and believe me when I say we live in a region with the worse roads in the country. Once you get out of New England you realize how bad our roads really are.

tenspeedret360 · Answer

Not to hijack the thread, but IMHO, 88 is not bad at all, taken it end to end many times. Expansion joints were a killer, in certain stretches, though. The worst has gotta be I 40 from one end of Oklahoma to the other. Expansion joints far worse than NY, (but what you gonna do?) but the WIND!!!!Tons of wind turbines, for obvious reasons, but the wind was so strong and constant, the trees literally grow at what looks like a 45* angle from the ground. White knuckle drive the entire way. Beautiful state though...

matt_colie · Answer

For what the NYT charges us, I would drive along the cross-ties of and abandon railroad. Matt

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Interstate 88 in New York

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