The rebuilt Adirondack Northway Exit 4 unveiled last week was designed in part to replace a long-planned, and eventually scrapped, Exit 3.

READ: $92M slated for Albany International Airport upgrades, Northway exit changes

Half a century ago, plans called for Interstate 687, an east-west expressway, to connect what is now the I-90 Corporate Woods exit to the Northway at Exit 3, and then onto Albany County (now International) Airport.

A sign "Exit 3 To Be Built" heralded the future plan.

I-687 was scrapped in 1973 after growing community opposition and withdrawn from the national interstate highway plan in 1977.

READ MORE: Northway's history: On time, under budget, not without controversy

Fast lane to change, for better and worse

