I-590 makes up the southeast quadrant of the Rochester Outer Loop, which continues west on I-390 and north past the Can of Worms on New York State Route 590 (NY 590).

The portion of I-590 between Winton Road and the Can of Worms was originally constructed in the 1960s and designated as part of NY 47 from Elmwood Avenue northward.

Here, the surroundings rapidly change from fields to densely populated residential areas as it passes through a more developed section of Brighton.

[7] The freeway travels due north along this stretch, flanked on both sides by residential neighborhoods separated from I-590 only by sound barriers.

At the time, only two portions of the loop—from I-490 in Gates southeast to NY 383 in Chili and from Winton Road in Brighton to I-490 in Rochester—were complete and open to traffic.

In one proposal submitted to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in the late 1970s, I-590 would be truncated to begin at the then-proposed junction with I-390 in Brighton but also extended northward along the Sea Breeze Expressway to NY 104 in Irondequoit.