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- Length 28.47 miles
- From I-287 in White Plains, N.Y.
- To I-84 in Brewster, N.Y.
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I-684 cuts through a corner of Connecticut (1.41 miles) but has no entrances or exits there; it's the only interstate highway that sneaks through a state this way. There's still a "Welcome to Connecticut" sign, and ramps of a New York interchange cross the state line. Paul Schlichtman tells of a 1987 incident where New York police responded to an overturned truck but realized, "hey, we're not in New York!" Connecticut police, who have jurisdiction on that stretch, had to be summoned in.
Having said that, a 2003 New York Times article states that New York maintains, plows and patrols the Connecticut segment of I-684 along with the other 27 miles in New York state.
I-684's short stint as part of Interstate 87 caused a numbering conflict with State Route 87 in Connecticut, and its DOT made plans to renumber that road to Route 287. However, before that change took effect, New York announced its intention to move to the I-684 designation. CT 87 was never changed.
I-684 History
I-87 passes through Connecticut, for a short distance and short time, as seen in this scan from a 1969 Mobil (Rand McNally) map of Greater New York.
In February 1962, Westchester County held a Dept of Public works hearing. The issue: should I-87 go west or east of Byram Lake? The controversy was tinged by allegations that the route was originally drawn to go through the western part of the county, but had been shifted east to avoid going near Rockefeller's estates in Pocantico Hills. Roadwork started, on the east route, in 1964.
The New York State Department of Public Works' rationale for the route change was that the original I-87 path was too close to the New York State Thruway, west of the Hudson River, and that costly highway resources should be spread out geographically. (Four years later, another freeway, I-487, was proposed east of the Hudson but west of the Rockefeller property.)
A 9-mile section from White Plains to Armonk, including the short segment in Greenwich, opened on October 29, 1968 as I-87. In November 1970, it was renumbered I-684. It was completed around 1973.
Scott Cullen writes that an early 1970s Volkswagen commercial was filmed on an unopened section of I-684. "A long funeral cortege of big expensive black limos following the hearse included one black VW beetle. He was the frugal nephew to whom the fabulously wealthy deceased left his entire estate. It was filmed on the complete but unopened NY-172 to NY-35 segment from the Broad Brook Road overpass."
How about this
As of 2002, Connecticut was studying the feasibility of placing tolls on some highways: very preliminary. Putting a toll booth on I-684 would be dastardly indeed. As you paid your $5 to travel through less than 2 miles of a state with no exits on the highway, your indignation would be tempered with grudging admiration for the chutzpah of it all.
