New York 511 Cameras — Live Road Cameras & Map
All New York 511 cameras — interactive statewide map
About this map
New York's traffic cameras are run through 511NY, the state's official traveler-information service at 511ny.org, which pools live views from the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) and the New York State Thruway Authority. Together they cover roughly 2,305 cameras statewide, making New York one of the largest camera networks on this site. The feeds concentrate on the roads that carry the most traffic and see the worst weather: the Thruway spine, the interstates through Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, the Adirondack Northway, the New York City-metro expressways, and the Long Island corridors.
These are refreshing still images, not continuous video streams. Each camera posts a fresh snapshot every so often, so you refresh the page to pull the latest frame rather than watching a live feed. That is exactly what you want for a road check: a clean, current look at whether the pavement is wet, snow-covered or dry, how heavy traffic is, and whether a lake-effect band has moved in. New York's cameras do not carry usable on-road weather sensors, so the conditions shown alongside each camera come from the nearest National Weather Service airport station rather than a sensor on the pavement itself. Treat that airport reading as a nearby reference for temperature, wind and precipitation, and trust your eyes on the camera image for what the road actually looks like.
One coverage note worth understanding: 511NY covers NYSDOT state highways and the Thruway across the entire state, but New York City's local streets are largely operated by the city's own Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), a separate system. So the interstates and expressways through the five boroughs and out onto Long Island are well covered here, while the dense grid of local city streets mostly is not. For a road trip, that is fine: the cameras you need are on the highways, the bridges and the corridors that decide whether your drive goes smoothly.
New York regions covered
Tap an area chip on the map to jump straight to any of these regions.
Statewide
The full 511NY network in one view: every NYSDOT and Thruway camera across New York, from the Pennsylvania line at Ripley to the Canadian border, and from Niagara Falls to the tip of Long Island. Zoom to your route to compare conditions across regions before a long drive. The New York State Thruway is the spine that ties it together, running east-west as I-90 from Buffalo through Rochester, Syracuse and Utica to Albany, then south as I-87 to New York City. Because New York is so weather-diverse, the statewide view is the fastest way to spot where lake-effect snow, mountain cold or coastal storms are hitting hardest.
New York City & Long Island
The downstate expressway network, where congestion is the main hazard and every minute counts. Cameras watch I-95 across the Cross Bronx Expressway and the New England Thruway toward Connecticut, plus the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson; I-495, the Long Island Expressway, running the length of Long Island; and I-278, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE). Remember that 511NY covers the state-run interstates and expressways here; NYC's local streets belong to NYCDOT, a separate system, so this view is your highway-level picture rather than a street grid.
Hudson Valley & I-84
The mid-Hudson corridor where downstate meets upstate. I-84 runs east-west across the region from the Pennsylvania line through Newburgh, crossing the Hudson on the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge and continuing toward the Connecticut line. I-87, the Thruway, threads north-south through the valley, crossing the Hudson on the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (the former Tappan Zee) between Tarrytown and Nyack. Cameras here help you read nor'easter rain and snow, Hudson River bridge traffic, and the busy commuter squeeze between the city and the Capital Region.
Capital Region & the Adirondacks
Albany is New York's great crossroads, where the Thruway (I-90), the Northway (I-87) and I-88 all meet. From Albany, the Adirondack Northway runs north through the Adirondack Park to Plattsburgh and the Canadian border toward Montreal, one of the most scenic and one of the coldest drives in the state. Cameras cover the Capital Region's interchanges and the long, remote mountain stretches of the Northway where snow squalls and deep cold set in fast. To the east, the Berkshire spur of I-90 carries the Thruway toward the Massachusetts line.
Central NY & I-81
The north-south backbone of central New York. I-81 runs from the Pennsylvania line through Binghamton and Syracuse up to Watertown and the Thousand Islands at the Canadian border. This region catches ferocious lake-effect snow off Lake Ontario: Syracuse is regularly the snowiest large city in the country, and the nearby Tug Hill Plateau is often the snowiest place east of the Rockies, averaging around 20 feet a year. Cameras also cover I-86/Route 17 across the Southern Tier and I-88 running northeast toward Albany, both of which see mountain and valley snow.
Buffalo, Rochester & Western NY
The western end of the Thruway and the lake-effect capital of New York. I-90 sweeps in from the Pennsylvania line at Ripley through Buffalo and Rochester, while I-190 branches off through downtown Buffalo across Grand Island toward Niagara Falls and the Canadian border. Lake-effect snow off Lake Erie can bury Buffalo's Southtowns under feet of snow while a neighboring town stays clear, so the cameras west and south of the city are the ones to check before you drive into a possible whiteout. This is the region where a quick camera glance most often changes a travel decision.
Tips for using New York road cameras
- Refresh for the latest frame. These are still images that update periodically, not live video, so reload the page to pull the newest snapshot before you decide to drive. An old frame can look calm minutes after a lake-effect band has rolled in.
- Read the pavement, not just the airport reading. New York cameras have no on-road sensors, so the weather shown beside each camera comes from the nearest National Weather Service airport station. Use it as a nearby reference for temperature and precipitation, but trust the image for whether the road is wet, slushy, snow-packed or dry.
- Check several cameras along your route, not just one. Lake-effect snow is intensely local; one town can be buried while the next is clear. Step camera-to-camera along I-90 or I-81 to find exactly where a band begins and ends.
- For downstate trips, watch the bridges and interchanges. The George Washington Bridge, the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge and the Cross Bronx Expressway are chronic chokepoints; a camera glance can tell you whether to leave now or wait out the backup.
- Before heading into the Adirondacks or Tug Hill, check conditions at both ends and the middle. The Northway and I-81 north of Syracuse run through long, remote stretches where snow squalls and cold set in well away from services.
- Cross-reference 511NY closures with the cameras. New York closes the Thruway during severe lake-effect events; if you see a whiteout on the western I-90 cameras, expect restrictions and plan an alternate before you commit to the drive.
Live road cameras in other regions
The same fast camera map for the other states and provinces we cover.
New York road camera guides
In-depth guides to the highways, passes and destinations we cover here.