Changing Times for Control Cities
Until about 10 years ago, it was standard practice on the Thruway to label the control city south of Albany, βN.Y. Cityβ.
Since about 2000, the name of the control city has been changed to βNew Yorkβ to be consistent with signs on Long Island and New Jersey that refer to the control city as βNew Yorkβ.
The reason for calling the control city βN.Y. Cityβ was originally to avoid confusion by out of state drivers, who might confuse the city for the state.
Generally control cities use different first letters of the alphabet to avoid confusion. Albanyβs Northside Expressway, signed as I-90 is an oddity. The control cities on the Northside Expressway are βBuffaloβ and βBostonβ.
The reason is mostly historical β the Northside Expressway was built in 1969, almost 15 years after the Masspike and Thruway were completed. At the time, the control cities were βBostonβ, βN.Y. Cityβ, βAlbanyβ and βBuffaloβ along the Thruway and Masspike.
The Northside Expressway wasnβt even envisioned at the time and nobody foresaw the problem of having βBuffaloβ and βBostonβ as the control cities around Albany.
1 Comment
Wish Exit 5 (and subsequent references) had a notation to I-87 north, because no way I know how to get to Saratoga from that point, unless I’m from around here.