New York State Route 17

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NY Route 17
Length: 397[1] mi (639 km)
Formed: 1920s
West end: I-86 near Erie, PA
Major
junctions:		 US 219 near Olean, NY
I-390 near Avoca
US 15 near Corning
US 220 in Waverly
I-81 in Binghamton
I-84 near Middletown
I-87/US 6 near Harriman
South end: I-287/NJ 17 in Mahwah, NJ
Numbered highways in New York
< NY 16 NY 17A >
Interstates - U.S. Routes - State Routes

New York State Route 17, also known as the Southern Tier Expressway (between the Pennsylvania-New York border and Binghamton) and the Quickway (between Binghamton and the New York State Thruway), is a New York state highway that runs from Suffern, New York (where it connects to NJ 17) to the Pennsylvania border in Western New York. Between the PA-NY border and the town of Horseheads, NY 17 is concurrent with Interstate 86. Eventually, the entire east-west portion of NY 17 from the PA border to Harriman will become I-86 as projects to upgrade the route to Interstate Highway standards are completed.

At the Pennsylvania border, the highway becomes solely I-86 between the PA border and the city of Erie. Up until 1999, when I-86 was signed into law, this section of highway was known as Pennsylvania Route 17. I-86 then merges into Interstate 90 outside Erie.

NY 17 is gradually being re-signed as Interstate 86 as part of an upgrade to the route, replacing at-grade intersections and bringing the road up to Interstate standards. North and west of Harriman, at its intersection with Interstate 87 and US 6, NY 17 is informally known as the "Quickway," connecting the New York City metropolitan area with the Southern Tier and Pennsylvania. It is named the "Southern Tier Expressway" to Interstate 81, where it becomes the Quickway.

Route 17 is currently the longest New York State Highway. It stretches 397 miles (639 km) and serves eleven counties in the State of New York, including Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Steuben, Chemung, Tioga, Broome, Delaware, Sullivan, Orange and Rockland. When it becomes fully transformed into Interstate 86 (a step tentatively set for 2012) the title of longest New York State Route will be passed down to Route 5.

A short portion of NY 17 (less than a mile) is actually in Pennsylvania. At Waverly, the highway dips south across the border into South Waverly, Pennsylvania, where it intersects with U.S. Route 220. The section in Pennsylvania is maintained by New York.[2][3]


Further information: Interstate 86 (east)

Contents

[edit] Communities along the route

Notable cities and towns along NY 17:

[edit] Cities

[edit] Towns

[edit] Major intersections

This section covers the portion of NY 17 that runs north-south between the New York-New Jersey border and Harriman. For a list of intersections for the stretch that runs east-west between Interstate 90 in Erie and Harriman, see Interstate 86.

County Location Mile Road(s) Notes
Rockland Suffern 397 NY 17
NJ 17		 NJ-NY state line; eastern terminus of NY 17. Continues as NJ 17. Northern terminus of NJ 17.
396 I-87/Thruway
I-287		 Northern terminus of concurrency with I-287. Exit 15 (I-87).
Hillburn 395 I-87/Thruway Exit 15A (I-87).
395 NY 59 Western terminus of NY 59.
Orange Southfields 387 NY 17A Southern terminus of NY 17A.
Harriman 381 NY 17M Eastern terminus of NY 17M.
380
Future I-86
US 6
NY 32		 Southern terminus of NY 32. End of the north-south segment of NY 17. NY 17 turns west and becomes a limited-access highway. Westbound signs (from I-87) also display US 6 east. Exit 131 (NY 17).
Legend
Crossing, no access Concurrency termini Decommissioned Unconstructed Closed

[edit] History

[edit] NY 17: rural road to freeway

The original NY 17 was a two-lane local route built in the late 1920s. Unlike the modern highway, it took a more southerly route from Corning to Olean (along what is now signed as NY 417), and at its western terminus it veered northwest to the village of Westfield along Lake Erie (now parts of NY 394 and NY 430).

The explosive growth of the tourism industry in the Catskill Mountains region, which began in the 1930s and intensified after World War II, stretched the rural road to its limits. Scores of hotels, resorts and bungalow colonies attracted hundreds of thousands of vacationing New Yorkers, whose cars left NY 17 hopelessly jammed in summer. Many towns, especially the fairly large city of Middletown, were paralyzed on Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons in the summertime. In addition, the tight turns and steep inclines along the route led to numerous fatal crashes.

In response, New York State officials planned a four-lane replacement, the first free long-distance expressway in the state and one of the earliest in the United States. It would replace intersections with well-spaced access ramps, separate grades with flyovers, and allow safe travel at up to 65 miles per hour.

Construction of the NY 17 freeway began in 1949 near the Hudson Valley town of Goshen. The initial section ran from what is now Exit 123, and ended at the present day Exit 118 in Fair Oaks. The original designation of this section was the Middletown By-Pass, and was opened in 1950. The road was extended in stages over the next two decades. It first was extended east, reaching the New York State Thruway in 1960. A section of the highway through Sullivan and Delaware counties was built over the defunct Ontario & Western Railway access. By 1969, with the assistance of federal funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission procured by New York's U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the 130-mile route provided nonstop access between Harriman and Binghamton, from the New York State Thruway (Interstate 87) to Interstate 81. Despite flaws in the highway's design — it included a grade-level railroad crossing near Fair Oaks (since removed) and two stretches with intersections and driveway access — the so-called "Quickway" succeeded in easing travel through southern New York, cutting the driving time in half and the accident rate by 70%.

During the 1970s, New York State extended the NY 17 freeway westward along a new alignment, which took the route into western Pennsylvania to intersect with Interstate 90 outside the city of Erie. The extension, formally known as the Southern Tier Expressway, was completed in 1988. Like its eastern counterpart, it was not originally a fully limited-access route; it included at-grade segments in Horseheads and Corning, while the westernmost leg was a divided two-lane freeway. This narrow segment was widened to four lanes in 1998.

When completed, the revamped NY 17 provided a valuable "inside route" for truckers and vacationers alike. It now serves as a time-saving, non-toll shortcut past the Thruway for motorists going from the New York City area to Ohio and points west. In fact, the Thruway's governing authority initially opposed the highway's construction, fearing the loss of toll revenue on its own route from motorists shunpiking via the free alternate route. For what is usually a slightly shorter trip, some drivers going from New York City to central and western New York cut through New Jersey and Pennsylvania on I-80, I-380, and I-81 and join NY 17 in Binghamton.

[edit] The road's Interstate future

In 1998, the U.S. federal government designated the NY 17 expressway a "high-priority corridor," enabling it to receive Interstate designation and structural upgrades. New York politicians and businessmen backed the move in the hope that an efficient, high-speed roadway would inspire companies to do business in the state's economically depressed southern counties.

In December 1999, the westernmost 185 miles of NY 17 (including the short stretch in Pennsylvania, signed PA 17) were re-signed Interstate 86. This section, which extends east to Corning, was the first to receive Interstate status because it had been designed to higher standards than the older sections in the east.

As of 2005, the interstate designation has been extended east to Route 14 in Horseheads and a project to raise the highway, removing at-grade intersections in that village is well under way. Horseheads Bypass project

The remainder of NY 17 west of I-87 is slated to be signed I-86 in about 2012, after the remaining at-grade sections are converted to limited access. (Temporary signs mark the route as "Future Interstate 86.") In addition to the Horseheads project, recent improvements have included the removal of intersections near Elmira and east of Binghamton, as well as the widening and straightening of sections in the Hudson Valley towns of Goshen and Chester.

Cost estimates for the I-86 renovation range from $550 million to $900 million.

[edit] See also

[edit] Suffixed routes

[edit] Other former alignments

[edit] References

  1. ^ New York Routes - New York State Route 17
  2. ^ Gribblenation.NET "Highway Feature of the Week"
  3. ^ Pennsylvania Department of Transportation map showing NY 17 in Pennsylvania

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../n/e/w/New_York_State_Route_17_99e0.html"