The Outer Loop was constructed in stages, beginning with the portion of the Sea Breeze Expressway north of Ridge Road in the early 1950s.

By the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Outer Loop was complete from NY 383 to US 104 west of the city and from modern I-590 exit 1 to the lakeshore east of Rochester.

[7] The at-grade portion of NY 47 along Scottsville Road and Elmwood Avenue was known as the "Rochester Bypass" prior to the completion of the Outer Loop.

At the northbound entrance ramp of the modern interchange between I-590 and Elmwood Avenue, NY 47 separated from the latter, entering the freeway.

The route remained on Elmwood Avenue into Brighton, where it turned north onto South Winton Road at Twelve Corners.

[13][14] In the early 1950s, construction began on the Sea Breeze Expressway, a mostly limited-access highway linking the Lake Ontario shoreline to the proposed I-490 east of Rochester.

[15][16] Construction on a limited-access extension south to Empire Boulevard (three blocks west of NY 47's western terminus) began at some point between 1956 and 1958[17][18] and was completed by 1960 as a realignment of US 104.

[21] By 1964, construction was underway on a new expressway leading south from I-490 at the Can of Worms to Elmwood Avenue east of Twelve Corners.

It continued west on Elmwood Avenue to Twelve Corners, where it reconnected to its old alignment at Winton Road.

[22][23] The first realignment of NY 47 west of the city occurred c. 1962 when it was rerouted between Chili and Elmwood Avenues to bypass the then-Rochester–Monroe County Airport to the south.

[21] Within two years, work had begun on an extension of the highway south along the Erie Canal to Scottsville Road.

[9] NY 47 was officially extended on both ends on January 1, 1970, to terminate at Lake Ontario on opposite sides of Rochester.

At the time, the overlap with US 104 existed only between Empire Boulevard and the Keeler Street Expressway, which became the new alignment of the route through Irondequoit after its completion in 1969.

[26] The segment of NY 47 from Elmwood Avenue north to the Can of Worms became part of I-590, which continued southwest along the freeway to Winton Road.

Howard Road, bypassed by the 1960s realignment in Gates, is still maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation as NY 940L, an unsigned reference route 2.37 miles (3.81 km) in length.

[1] Beahan Road, also bypassed by the same 1960s rerouting, was reconfigured into its current alignment by 1971 due to an expansion by the airport.

[29][30] The portion of NY 47 on Elmwood Avenue from the Rochester city line to I-590 is also maintained by Monroe County as part of CR 87.