Construction and designation The origins of NY 590 date back to the start of the 1950s when work first began on the Sea Breeze Expressway, a part-
freeway, part
expressway that extended from
Rochester north to the
Lake Ontario shoreline at
Sea Breeze. The highway was built in stages from north to south, with the first section—a divided highway connecting Culver Road to
East Ridge Road in
Irondequoit—opening to traffic in the early 1950s as a realignment of
NY 18. The northern end of the roadway was situated just west of the Irondequoit Bay outlet, where
Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario. Construction on the next segment, a limited-access extension south to Empire Boulevard (
U.S. Route 104 or US 104), began in the mid-1950s. The new roadway was completed in the late 1950s, at which time it became part of a rerouted US 104. By 1960, construction was underway on the final piece, a second extension south to the
Eastern Expressway (
I-490) in eastern Rochester. The under-construction highway generally paralleled Winton Road, then designated as part of
NY 47. The new extension was completed , but went unnumbered until when NY 47 was realigned north of Blossom Road to follow the freeway north to the Empire Boulevard interchange, where it ended at US 104. The remainder of the Sea Breeze Expressway from I-490 to Blossom Road became part of NY 47 following the completion of what is now
I-590 from the
Can of Worms to Elmwood Avenue. From 1970 to 1980, the Sea Breeze Expressway underwent a series of designation changes. On January 1, 1970, NY 47 was extended northward to encompass the entirety of the Sea Breeze Expressway. The change resulted in
overlaps with US 104 from Empire Boulevard to the new
Keeler Street Expressway, Both overlaps proved to be temporary: US 104 was realigned to cross Irondequoit Bay on the
Irondequoit Bay Bridge while NY 18 was truncated to end in Rochester's
Kodak Park. In the late 1970s, the state of New York submitted a proposal to the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials that would substantially alter how the Outer Loop was numbered. As part of the plan, the NY 47 designation would be eliminated while most of the northeastern section of the Outer Loop—from I-490 in Rochester to
NY 104 (former US 104) to Irondequoit—would become the northernmost part of
I-590. A replacement designation for NY 47 north of NY 104 was not named at the time. Most of the proposed changes took effect on March 18, 1980, when NY 47 was eliminated; however, I-590 was modified to end at its junction with I-490. In its place, the Rochester–Irondequoit leg of the Outer Loop was assigned NY 590, which continued north to Sea Breeze over former NY 47.
Sea Breeze Drive Project origins In 1995, Irondequoit Town Supervisor David Schantz proposed the idea of converting the portion of NY 590 north of Titus Avenue into a parkway that would serve as a "gateway" into Irondequoit. He presented the idea to
Jim Walsh, the
United States Representative representing Irondequoit, who later secured $8 million from the federal government for the project. Another $4.5 million of funding was also devoted to the project from the state of
New York. Planning for the project began in mid-2004. In late 2006, the Irondeqout Town Board chose a configuration calling for the number of lanes on NY 590 to be reduced to two and for four intersections to be replaced with
roundabouts as its "preferred alternative". The final project design was presented on February 6, 2008, in the last of five public meetings on the project. Under the plan, the section of NY 590 north of Titus Avenue would be reduced to a two-lane, parkway and named "Sea Breeze Drive". Its signalized intersections with Titus Avenue, Durand Boulevard, and Seneca and Point Pleasant Roads would be converted into roundabouts as part of the reconstruction. Also, the portion of NY 590 north of Durand Boulevard would be realigned to meet Culver Road at a new intersection farther west along the lakeshore. The realignment would open up of waterfront land along the shore of Irondequoit Bay that had previously been occupied by the freeway. The town of Irondequoit would then acquire the former right-of-way of NY 590 from the state of New York for future recreational uses in a transaction that would officially cost the town $1. Public opinion on the proposed project was split. Many residents supported the project, stating it would improve the safety of the highway; Ground was officially broken on the project on July 28 The first two of the roundabouts to reach operational status were those at Point Pleasant Road and Durand Boulevard. The Point Pleasant Road roundabout opened to traffic on September 8, 2009, by which time the Durand Boulevard roundabout was also ready for use. The Titus Avenue roundabout was completed in late 2009, The Seneca Road roundabout and the new alignment of Sea Breeze Drive north of Durand Boulevard were completed in the first half of 2010. The completion date for the project, dubbed "the largest public works project ever done in the town of Irondequoit" by then-Town Supervisor Mary Ellen Heyman, but was subsequently pushed back to late August or early September. It was finally completed in October 2010 with the installation of a decorative ship mast structure at the Durand Boulevard roundabout. Following the project's completion, NY 590 was truncated to Titus Avenue and ownership and maintenance of Sea Breeze Drive was transferred to the town of Irondequoit. ==Exit list==