New York State Route 179
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| NY Route 179 |
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| Mile Strip Road | |||||||||||||
| Length: | 4.40 mi[1] (7.08 km) | ||||||||||||
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| West end: |  NY 5 in Blasdell |
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| Major junctions: |
 US 62 in Blasdell  I-90/Thruway in Blasdell US 219 in Orchard Park |
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| East end: |  US 20 in Orchard Park |
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| Counties: | Erie | ||||||||||||
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New York State Route 179 is a short but busy state highway located south of Buffalo in Erie County. It is a four-lane divided road (albeit with traffic lights) for most of its length. It is known as Mile Strip Road. A small section between US 62 and NY 5 in Blasdell, however, is a limited-access highway known as the Mile Strip Expressway.
It has interchanges with two major expressways, the New York State Thruway (Interstate 90) and the Springville Expressway (US 219). It serves as a connector road between them and three other major routes, New York State Route 5, U.S. Route 62, and U.S. Route 20. Thus it is very busy not only at rush hours but also after Buffalo Bills' home football games, due to its proximity to Ralph Wilson Stadium.
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[edit] Route description
Route 179 begins at an intersection with NY 5 right alongside Lake Erie, near the huge Ford stamping plant. It heads straight east as the Mile Strip Expressway, passing to the south of Blasdell, with the only interruption in the alignment coming at the junction with South Park Avenue (US 62), where the road changes to an at-grade divided highway. East of town, NY 179 reaches the Thruway at NY 179's midpoint.
Past the Thruway, with the stadium looming to the south, NY 179 soon reaches its second controlled-access route at the offramps and overpass that mark the US 219 junction. It is a short distance from there to the light at US 20, where 179 ends. Mile Strip Road, however, continues for a considerable distance eastward to County Route 377, just east of Transit Road, itself at that point the rather short New York State Route 187.
[edit] Communities along the route
[edit] Major intersections
| County | Location | Mile | Road(s) | Notes |
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| Erie | Blasdell | 0.0 | NY 5 |
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| 1.1 | US 62 |
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| 1.3 | I-90/Thruway |
Exit 56 (I-90/Thruway). | ||
| Town of Orchard Park | 3.7 | US 219 |
Cloverleaf interchange. | |
| 4.4 | US 20 |
| Legend | |||||
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| Crossing, no access | Concurrency termini | Decommissioned | Unconstructed | Closed | |
[edit] History
NY 179 was previously assigned to much of the current route of New York State Route 180 in Jefferson County. The remainder followed what is now New York State Route 12, New York State Route 12E and several county roads.
[edit] Miscellanea
- NY 179 is the only state highway that intersects with all three U.S. routes (20, 62 and 219) in the Buffalo area.
- The Mile Strip Expressway was to be part of an outer loop connecting Buffalo and Niagara Falls. This plan was ultimately cancelled. The only two portions of the outer loop that were constructed was the LaSalle Expressway east of Niagara Falls and the mile-long Mile Strip Expressway.[2]
