At this point, I-890 takes over the four-lane right-of-way established by NY 890 to the north and follows the Mohawk River (Erie Canal) and CSX Transportation's Selkirk Subdivision rail line southeast toward Schenectady.

Continuing on, I-890 follows the Mohawk River along the northern edge of General Electric's Schenectady plant, connecting to the facility by way of two separate exits serving different parts of the complex.

[5] Not far from the General Electric plant is Downtown Schenectady, which the now six-lane I-890 largely bypasses to the south and west on an elevated highway passing over a mostly industrial section of the city.

Past Broadway, the elevated highway comes to an end as I-890 heads southeastward into a dense residential area on a plateau overlooking the city.

[5] The residential section of Schenectady is served by a single exit for Michigan Avenue, a local street that connects to NY 146 at a junction two blocks north of I-890.

[7] The original riverside roadway along the southern bank of the Mohawk River in western Schenectady was designated as part of NY 5S in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York.

[8] In the initial plans for the Interstate Highway System, outlined by the Bureau of Public Roads in the 1955 Yellow Book, the city of Schenectady would be served by two highways: one bypassing the city to the southwest (the New York State Thruway) and another that would loop north of the bypass route to serve Downtown Schenectady.

[9] The first section of I-890 to be completed was the portion from New York State Thruway exit 25 southeast of Schenectady to Altamont Avenue (NY 146), which opened to traffic as I-890 c. 1962.