New York State Route 16

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NY Route 16
Length: 79.19 mi[1] (127.44 km)
Formed: 1924[2]
South end: PA 646 at Allegany
Major
junctions:		 I-86 / NY 17 in Olean
NY 39 in Yorkshire
US 20A in East Aurora
US 20 in West Seneca
US 62 in Buffalo
North end: NY 5 in Buffalo
Counties: Cattauragus, Erie
Numbered highways in New York
< NY 15A NY 17 >
Interstate - U.S. - N.Y. - Reference

New York State Route 16 is a state highway in New York, USA. It runs from the Pennsylvania state line, where it is one of the highest highways in the state in elevation, to downtown Buffalo.

NY 16 is a major route through Erie County, despite the construction of the paralleling NY 400 expressway from East Aurora. In Cattaraugus County it also plays an important role, serving as the major connection from Olean to the NY 17/I-86 Southern Tier Expressway. Between those two areas, and indeed for much of its length, it is a two-lane rural road.

Contents

[edit] Route description

Sign assembly at the northern end of NY 16's overlap with NY 98 just north of Franklinville
Sign assembly at the northern end of NY 16's overlap with NY 98 just north of Franklinville

[edit] Cattaraugus County

When PA 646 becomes NY 16 at the state line, it is already at a very high elevation on a ridgecrest, and at a rise two miles (3.2 km) into New York, it reaches 2,386 feet (727 m) in elevation, making it the highest state highway in Western New York and among the highest in the state. It remains at a high elevation for several more miles, through what was once one of New York's major oil fields, then begins to drop through a narrow valley to cross the Allegheny River and enter its first major community, the city of Olean (which, like several other communities in the region, takes its name from oil).

It crosses the city as Union Street, intersecting its first state highway, NY 417, at State Street. A mile further north it reaches a bridge over Olean Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny. On the other side it becomes a four-lane road with a divider as it approaches NY 17, currently concurrent with Interstate 86 pending the entire expressway's upgrade to Interstate Highway standards.

A trumpet interchange provides access to 17/86 in both directions in the vicinity of Baldwin Heights. But 16 runs parallel to the freeway and remains a four-lane route (but no longer divided, following the Olean valley. At Hinsdale it finally does cross 17. Shortly afterwards, in the hamlet of Maplehurst, NY 446, the former route of 17, comes in from the east and terminates.

16 now follows the narrow valley of Ischua Creek, one of the Olean's tributaries, north past the road to the city's airport, north to Franklinville. NY 98 joins 16 just south of the village and leaves north of it. 16 continues to Machias and the eastern end of NY 242. A straight course takes the highway from this junction to the Cattaraugus Creek bridge and Erie County.

[edit] Erie County

In the southwestern corner of the county, an expanded 16 intersects an equally busy NY 39, then begins heading slightly northwestward through a wider, more developed valley in the towns of Holland and Wales to the first sign of an approaching major metropolitan area, the south end of NY 400, the Aurora Expressway. After joining the expressway for two miles, it again leaves to become a two-lane that enters East Aurora as Olean Street.

At the intersection with Main Street, 16 turns left and briefly joins with US 20A and NY 78. 20A leaves the two state routes behind at a fork at the village's east end, leaving 16 and 78 to head to the northwest again as Buffalo Street. At Willardshire Road as the highway passes the industrial parks and other facilities associated with local company Moog Inc. North of the village, it enters the Town of Elma and becomes Seneca Street, the name it will retain all the way to the city.

78 takes on its best-known name as well when it leaves at Transit Road (US 20), as 16 assumes an east-west heading across the suburban neighborhoods of West Seneca. It crosses NY 277, a major retail strip, at Union Road in the hamlet of Ebenezer. One final trumpet exit to 400 (and by extension, the New York State Thruway) precedes its junctions with Harlem Road (NY 240) and a crossing of the Thruway itself as it begins once again to head to the northwest and finally enters the city of Buffalo.

Running almost due northwest through the residential neighborhoods of South Buffalo, 16 reaches its last major junction, with US 62, at Bailey Avenue just after crossing the Buffalo River. Immediately afterwards it crosses Interstate 190 with no exit (but with northbound access) and returns to a more east-west course through industrial areas before ending at Main Street, NY 5, in the city center.

[edit] History

NY 16A(1930s - 1960s)
NY 16A
(1930s - 1960s)

NY 16 was first signed in 1924 between Olean and Buffalo.[2] In the early to mid-1930s, the route was extended south to the Pennsylvania state line via modern NY 417 (then NY 17) and NY 305 (a previously unnumbered roadway). During the same period, the modern routing of NY 16 between Pennsylvania and Olean was designated as New York State Route 16A.[3][4] The alignments of both NY 16 and NY 16A remained the same until the early 1960s when NY 16A was supplanted by a rerouted NY 16. The former routing of NY 16 between the Pennsylvania state line and NY 17 became an extension of NY 305.[5][6]

The completion of the Aurora Expressway (NY 400) in the early 1970s led to a minor realignment of NY 16 in the town of Aurora. In 1971, with the expressway complete, NY 16 was rerouted to follow the new highway for two miles before exiting the freeway and returning to its previous alignment.[7] The former routing of NY 16 in the area, a 2.24-mile (3.60 km) long portion of Olean Road, is now New York State Route 951V, an unsigned reference route.[8]

[edit] Major intersections

County Location Mile[1] Roads intersected Notes
Cattaraugus Town of Allegany 0.00 PA 646 Continuation into Pennsylvania
Olean 8.69 NY 417
10.13 I-86 / NY 17 Exit 27 (I-86 / NY 17)
16.20 I-86 / NY 17 Exit 28 (I-86 / NY 17)
Hinsdale 16.46 NY 446 Western terminus of NY 446
Village of Franklinville 28.30 NY 98 south Southern terminus of overlap
31.46 NY 98 north Northern terminus of overlap
Machias 35.07 NY 242 Eastern terminus of NY 242
Town of Yorkshire 44.06 NY 39 east Hamlet of Yorkshire; southern terminus of overlap
Erie Sardinia 44.86 NY 39 west Northern terminus of overlap
Town of Aurora 58.43 NY 400 Southern terminus of overlap; southern terminus of NY 400
East Aurora 60.42 NY 400 north Northern terminus of overlap; interchange
62.36 US 20A east / NY 78 south Eastern terminus of US 20A/NY 16 and NY 16/78 overlaps
63.42 US 20A west Western terminus of overlap
Elma 66.47 Jamison Road Former western terminus of NY 422
West Seneca 68.96 US 20 / NY 78 north Western terminus of NY 16/78 overlap
72.35 NY 277
Buffalo 73.71 NY 400 (Aurora Expressway) Interchange
74.06 NY 240 (Orchard Park Road/Harlem Road)
76.44 US 62 (Bailey Avenue)
76.69 I-190 north / Thruway north Exit 3 (I-190 / Thruway)
79.19 NY 5 (Ellicott Street)

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Traffic Data Report - NY 15 to NY 23 (PDF). NYSDOT (2007-07-16). Retrieved on 2007-09-06.
  2. ^ a b "New York's Main Highways Designated by Numbers", New York Times, 1924-12-21, p. XX9. 
  3. ^ Pennsylvania Department of Highways. Tourist map of Pennsylvania [map]. (1930) Retrieved on 2007-09-07.
  4. ^ Sun Oil Company. Road Map & Historical Guide - New York [map]. Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. (1935)
  5. ^ Esso. New York with Sight-Seeing Guide [map]. Cartography by General Drafting. (1962)
  6. ^ Sinclair. New York and Metropolitan New York [map]. Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. (1964)
  7. ^ National Bridge Inventory, a database compiled by the United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration, available at www.nationalbridges.com. Accessed 2007-09-07.
  8. ^ Traffic Data Report - NY 908F to NY 953B (PDF). NYSDOT (2007-07-16). Retrieved on 2007-09-06.

[edit] External links