South Mall Arterial

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The South Mall Arterial is a short freeway in Albany, New York, United States. It runs west from the interchange between Interstate 787, U.S. Route 9, and U.S. Route 20, at the west end of the Dunn Memorial Bridge, and runs under the Empire State Plaza before ending abruptly at Swan Street. The road is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation as State Highway 74001^[1] and New York State Route 913V.^[2]

[edit] Route description

The main lanes of the Arterial come from the Dunn Memorial Bridge, as U.S. Route 20 exits to the right towards Pearl Street (NY Route 32). One onramp takes traffic from both directions of Interstate 787 to the westbound arterial, and another leads from Pearl Street. After crossing over Eagle Street, the Arterial passes under part of the Empire State Plaza in two tunnels, with access to and from the plaza's parking garage on the right. Two unused tunnels - which would have served through traffic^[3] - are present in the center, and two partial tunnels on the outside serve garage traffic. After a short piece open to the sky, it passes under another piece of the plaza, then passing under Swan Street and abruptly ending with a U-turn. Ramps connect the westbound Arterial to Swan Street north and Swan Street north to the eastbound Arterial.

Heading eastbound, the tunnels under the plaza are similar, with garage access again on the right side. An exit on the right provides direct access to both directions of I-787 and to another garage; there is no exit to Pearl Street in this direction, though one was planned.^[3] The entrance from Pearl Street at the end of the Arterial carries US 20 and NY 32 onto the Dunn Bridge.^[4]^[5]

The Arterial was to continue west to the east edge of Washington Park, where it would end at the Mid-Crosstown Arterial.^[3]