§ 340-d. Construction, improvement and maintenance of state expressways. 1. The expressways set forth and described in section three hundred forty-c of the highway law 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 state expressway shall ultimately provide for not less than two lanes of traffic in each direction. Opposing traffic on every completed state expressway 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, or portion thereof may be utilized and become a part of any state expressway when authorized by the commissioner of transportation. Access or branch connections from any such state expressway or section thereof to any highway, road or street 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 purpose thereof. For any portion or section of a state expressway 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. The commissioner of transportation may set monuments on the boundaries of such state expressway, 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 interest of public safety. The maintenance and repair of state expressways 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by the commissioner, under his direct supervision and control and any inconsistent provisions of this chapter are superseded insofar as they conflict with this provision.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.

2. The commissioner of transportation is authorized to classify any part of a state expressway as a controlled access highway pursuant to this chapter. Highway crossings at grade and railroad grade crossings shall be eliminated 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 a state expressway 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 a state expressway. 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 state expressway. 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 a state expressway 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, having jurisdiction thereover immediately prior to the commencement of such work.

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 state expressways and bridges thereon shall be acquired and disposed of 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 state expressways. 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 state expressways, 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 a state expressway of an existing highway or portion thereof of which they form a part, and for the separation of state expressway-railroad grades on newly laid-out state expressways; and for other purposes to improve safety conditions on the state expressways. 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 state expressways designated and described in section three hundred forty-c of this chapter, and (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 state expressways. No city shall be required to participate in the costs of a state expressway project, except for those costs which are incurred under any special cooperative agreement between a city and the state.

5. All the provisions of this chapter relating to state highways and state arterial highways shall apply to the construction or improvement and the control or maintenance of state expressways in the same manner as though they were designated as state highways or arterial highways.

6. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of this chapter or any other law, general or special, the commissioner of transportation and the appropriate authorities of any county, town or village shall, prior to the construction of any section of an expressway constructed or improved pursuant to this section, enter into an agreement respecting the abandonment to such county, town or village of any portion of an existing state highway located therein and no longer needed by or useful to the state upon the completion and acceptance of any section of such expressway.