§ 340-b. Construction, improvement and maintenance of state interstate highways. 1. The highway routes and connections set forth and described in § 340-a of the highway law shall be designated "interstate highways" and shall be constructed or improved according to such designs and types as determined by the commissioner of transportation, subject to the provisions of federal aid therefor. Each interstate highway shall ultimately provide for not less than two lanes of traffic in each direction. Opposing traffic on every completed interstate highway shall ultimately be separated by a mall generally or the commissioner of transportation may separate such opposing traffic by such other alignment of respective lanes of traffic which, in his judgment, is practicable, because of topographic conditions and is beneficial to the public interest. Access from one traffic direction to the other shall be provided only at such points and in such manner as the commissioner of transportation shall determine. Any state highway, frontage, marginal and service road or portion thereof may be utilized and become a part of any interstate highway when authorized by the commissioner of transportation, provided such highway or portion thereof either meets the prescribed requirements of an interstate highway or is appropriately altered so as to come within such requirements before its incorporation into the interstate highway. Access or branch connections from any such interstate highway or section thereof to any highway that is authorized by this chapter shall, in the discretion of the commissioner of transportation, be included in the plans, specifications and estimates and shall be constructed according to such design and type as the commissioner of transportation shall deem to be suitable for the purposes thereof. For any portion or section of an interstate highway authorized within the corporate limits of a city, provision shall be made for access thereto from existing streets at points designated by the commissioner of transportation. After the establishment of any interstate highway no additional points of access to, or exit from, the project shall be made without prior approval by the commissioner of transportation and the federal bureau of public roads. The commissioner of transportation may set monuments on the boundaries of such interstate highways, and he may cause fences to be erected along or adjacent to such boundaries, and he is authorized to install suitable lighting, directional and protective facilities, devices and appurtenances, if he deems it necessary in the interests of public safety. The maintenance and repair of interstate highways shall include the control of snow and ice and shall be done by forces of the department of transportation or by such other method or methods as determined by the commissioner, under his direct supervision and control and any inconsistent provisions of this chapter are superseded insofar as they conflict with this provision. The cost of such maintenance and repair shall be borne wholly by the state and be paid for from moneys appropriated therefor by the legislature. The maintenance of any highway, road or street which is affected by this section and which in the judgment of the commissioner of transportation is not deemed to be a part of the state highway system shall be maintained by the municipality or the municipalities in which all or part thereof is located.

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2. The commissioner of transportation is authorized to classify any part of an interstate highway as a controlled access highway pursuant to this chapter. Highway and railroad grade crossings shall be separated generally by structures to be determined by the commissioner of transportation, who is hereby given authority to combine, connect, alter, reconstruct, terminate or relocate intersecting highways, streets, or roads to adjust traffic to such grade separation structures or any portion of an interstate route or connection. In the discretion of the commissioner of transportation, a structure may be constructed to eliminate an existing crossing at grade of a railroad and a highway which intersects or closely parallels an interstate highway. The entire cost of structures constructed pursuant to this paragraph as so determined by the commissioner of transportation shall be included in the cost of the interstate highway. Structures constructed pursuant to this paragraph shall be maintained and repaired by the state. Highways combined, connected, altered, reconstructed, relocated or carried over or under an interstate highway section or connection, under the provisions of this paragraph, shall, upon completion of the work, revert to and become the responsibility with regard to maintenance and repair, of the state, municipality, authority, commission or other public agency, as the case may be, formerly having jurisdiction thereover.

3. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of this chapter or any other law, general or special, any and all property which the commissioner of transportation deems necessary for the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of interstate highways and bridges thereon shall be acquired pursuant to the provisions of any section or sections of this chapter applicable to the acquisition of land or rights and interests therein, and for the settlement of claims for damage resulting from the work of constructing, reconstructing and maintaining such interstate highways. The commissioner of transportation, for the people of the state of New York, shall acquire pursuant to the aforesaid procedures any property or interest therein, necessary for any and all purposes connected with the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of the interstate highway system of the state of New York, including the appropriation of property for drains, ditches, spoil banks, gravel pits, stone quarries, storehouses and repair shops; also for the removal of obstructions, improvement of sight distance; also for appropriation of property for the reconstruction of existing highway-railroad separation structures upon incorporation into an interstate highway of an existing highway or portion thereof of which they form a part, and for the separation of interstate highway-railroad grades on newly laid-out interstate highways; and for other purposes to improve safety conditions on the interstate highway routes. The term "property" as used in this section is defined to include lands, waters, rights in lands or waters, structures, franchises and interests in land, including lands under water and riparian rights, and any and all other things and rights usually included within the said term and includes also any and all interests in such property less than full title, such as easements permanent or temporary, rights-of-way, uses, leases, licenses and all other incorporeal hereditaments and every estate, interest or right legal or equitable.

4. If moneys of the federal government are or may reasonably be expected to be available therefor, under federal aid highway acts, the commissioner of transportation is authorized to use such moneys or so much thereof as he may determine to accept, together with other available moneys, for (a) the construction and reconstruction of interstate highways designated and described in section three hundred forty-a of this chapter, (b) the construction, reconstruction, alteration or repair, pursuant to the provisions of section two hundred thirty of this chapter, of bridges and culverts on the interstate highway system, and (c) the preparation of preliminary surveys, plans, specifications and estimates of costs in connection with any of the foregoing, and (d) the acquisition of rights of way necessary for such interstate highways. The commissioner of transportation may perform such work with respect to any interstate project which he may, in his discretion, select. The proportion of the total cost of work performed on any interstate project, in addition to such elements thereof as are not subject to federal aid, which shall be borne by the state of New York shall be the difference between the funds contributed for such work by the federal government and the actual cost thereof. No city shall be required to participate in the costs of an interstate highway project, whether or not the alignment coincides with the alignment of a previously approved arterial route, except for those costs which are incurred under any special cooperative agreement between a city and the state.

5. a. Any property in the city of New York which is deemed by the commissioner of transportation to be necessary for the construction, reconstruction and maintenance of interstate highways shall be acquired and may be disposed of by him pursuant to applicable provisions of section thirty of this chapter.

b. In any case in which property is to be acquired or disposed of pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision and in any case where property is created by landfill adjoining such property, the commissioner of transportation shall, prior to any proposed acquisition, disposition or new or different utilization, development or improvement thereof, notify the city planning commission and the community board in each community district in which the property is located of such proposal. Such notice shall be given so as to afford the city planning commission and the community board reasonable opportunity to: (1) notify the public of the proposal; (2) conduct a public hearing thereon; and (3) prepare and submit any written recommendations thereon to the commissioner of transportation not later than sixty days after notice of the contents of the proposal.

Within a reasonable time after receipt of any recommendations of the city planning commission or community board or the expiration of the time within which any such recommendation could have been made, the commissioner shall notify the commission and respective board of the contents of his resulting proposal. If any of the items contained in the resulting proposal were not available for consideration by the commission or board within the time provided for the making of recommendations thereon the resulting proposal shall constitute a different proposal and as such shall be subject to the foregoing provisions.

The provisions of this paragraph b shall only be applicable to a proposal by the commissioner of transportation which if proposed by a city agency or instrumentality would be subject to the provisions of section one hundred ninety-seven-c of the New York city charter. Provided, however, that the provisions of this paragraph b shall not be applicable to any portion of such property acquired, disposed of, or created by landfill which is to be utilized exclusively as an interstate highway so long as such utilization will not detrimentally affect the utilization, development or improvement of remaining portions of such property.

c. Upon the completion of construction by the state of a section or sections of interstate highways in the city of New York, the commissioner of transportation may by official order transfer jurisdiction for maintenance of interstate highways or completed portions thereof to the appropriate agency of the city of New York.

5-a. The commissioner of transportation and the city of New York, acting through the mayor or other administrative head thereof, pursuant to a resolution of the governing body of such city, are authorized to enter into a written agreement for the maintenance and repair, under the supervision and subject to the approval of the commissioner of transportation, of any state interstate highway or portion thereof, exclusive of service roads and pavement on intersecting street bridges, which is within the boundaries of such city and which is now or which shall hereafter be designated in section three hundred forty-a of this chapter and which has been constructed or which shall have been constructed as authorized by section three hundred forty-a of this chapter. Such agreement may provide that the state shall pay annually to such city a sum to be computed at the rate of (a) not more than eighty-five cents per square yard of the pavement area that is included in the state highway system according to the provisions of this section, and (b) an additional ten cents per square yard of such pavement area where such pavement area is located on any elevated bridge.

The maintenance and repair, as provided in this section, shall be done either by the forces of such city and with its equipment, or by its contractor, or by a combination of these two methods.

Such agreement for maintenance and repair as authorized by this section, shall include the procedure and method for regulation of street openings, and appropriate provisions for the care, protection and patching of the pavement or pavements, and curbs, the care and protection of drainage facilities and structures, the maintenance of adjacent roadside and landscaped areas to include the care of trees, shrubs and groundcovers and the cutting of grass at specified locations and to the extent as shall be deemed by such commissioner of transportation to be for the best interest of the public, control of snow and ice on any such state interstate highway or portion thereof included in such agreement, the performance of repairs and alterations, and the operation and care of traffic lights, directional guides and controls, and parking controls. Such maintenance and repair, whether done by the city pursuant to an agreement therefor as authorized by this section, or by the state because of the absence of such agreement, as the case may be, shall not include (a) services of lighting, cleaning, sweeping and sprinkling of any such state interstate highway or portion thereof, all of which services are deemed to be the normal maintenance of streets by the city, or (b) any work on or in connection with subsurface installations and structures that are owned and operated by the city, including sanitary sewers, gas mains, water lines and conduits and appurtenances thereto.

6. All the provisions of this chapter relating to state highways and state arterial highways and not inconsistent with the provisions of this section or with the provisions of the federal-aid highway act of nineteen hundred fifty-six, shall apply to the construction or improvement and the control of maintenance of interstate highways in the same manner as though they were designated as state highways or arterial highways.