New York State Route 78

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NY Route 78

Transit Road

Length:

73.70 mi^[1] (118.61 km)

South end:

NY 19 near Gainesville

Major
junctions:

US 20A near East Aurora

NY 400 in East Aurora

US 20A in East Aurora

US 20 near West Seneca

I-90 in Cheektowaga

North end:

NY 18 in Olcott

Counties:

Wyoming, Erie, Niagara

Numbered highways in New York
< I-78		NY 79 >
Interstates - U.S. Routes - State Routes

New York State Route 78, or Transit Road, is a NY state highway in Western New York, USA. While it is signed north-south, the lower portion runs in an east-west direction across Wyoming County, from its beginning north of the Village of Gainesville.

NY 78 is most closely identified in the region with Transit Road, a major north-south trunk road through the center of Erie County and Niagara County, although it does not follow Transit for its entire length, nor is Transit more than half its length.

In those two counties, Transit Road is a major road between the towns it passes. It joins Transit Road north of East Aurora and stays with to its end in Lockport.

1 Route description
2 Communities along the route
3 Major intersections
4 References

[edit] Route description

Route 78 can be divided into three main segments: the east-west section mostly in Wyoming County, Transit Road, and the section north of Lockport to Lake Ontario.

[edit] Wyoming County to East Aurora

78 begins just north of the small village of Gainesville, at a junction with NY 19. It heads due west, its north-south signage notwithstanding, across rural Wyoming County, its mostly straight route providing exciting dips and rises for the driver as it crosses the gently rolling uplands. At the hamlet of Hermitage, the route actually starts trending to the south. 78 is on this heading when it reaches its first junction, NY 362 west of Smiths Corners, running southward from there a short distance to Bliss.

A few miles further on, the southward trend stops. At Waldos Corners, 78 turns and for the first time runs north-south. This lasts only two miles NY 98 intersects from the north at Five Corners and the combined wrong-way concurrency is once again heading west. That situation ends at Java Center, where 98 turns left to go south, NY 77 goes north and 78 continues straight ahead.

From this area, on clear days, the Buffalo skyline is sometimes visible. 78 begins to descend from the Allegheny Plateau as it once again turns north near Java Village and starts following the Buffalo Creek valley into Erie County. Shortly after crossing the county line, the road again begins to turn westward and finally returns to that orientation when it joins with US 20A. Thus joined, the two routes intersect NY 400, the Aurora Expressway, and enter the busy village of East Aurora as Big Tree Road.

Looking north along Transit Road near Williamsville.

[edit] Transit Road

Route 20A parts company with 78 after East Aurora, but it nevertheless leaves the village still overlapped, this time with NY 16. The two routes parallel the 400 expressway until they reach Transit Road, at that point designated as US 20. 78 turns north to join 20 while 16 continues toward the city.

Just north of this intersection is another cloverleaf interchange with NY 400. Serious development begins past this point, and Transit is often four lanes, dividing towns, for many miles past this point as it heads due north along the transit line first surveyed by the Holland Land Company.

20 and 78 have only one other state highway junction, at Clinton Street, with NY 354, before 20 goes east while NY 130 goes west at the Broadway junction outside Depew. Several miles to the north, a flurry of junctions with major regional roads — NY 33, the New York State Thruway (I-90) and NY 5, occur within two miles.

After the 5 junction, a busy traffic light, Transit offers the fading Eastern Hills Mall on the right. Once the Buffalo area's best, it has lost customers and tenants to the bigger Walden Galleria in nearby Cheektowaga. A gradual descent begins as Sheridan Drive, NY 324, crosses on an overpass just after the mall, and the road's inerrant, straight course ahead is briefly visible.

North of here, the development begins to ease and large strip malls vanish in favor of smaller mom-and-pop shops and restaurants. The road narrows again to two lanes as it enters the newly-trendy East Amherst area. There are no junctions with existing state highways until the Millersport Highway, NY 263, comes in at an oblique angle from the south. After this, Transit begins once again to widen as it crosses the Tonawanda Creek and enters Niagara County. NY 93 crosses just south of the city of Lockport, and finall the miles-long Transit strip comes to an end just past the NY 31 junction and the Erie Canal.

[edit] North of Lockport

Transit's northern end comes as a residential side street, but by then 78 has already left it, following Lake Avenue north from Lockport through some rolling countryside (mostly fields). It runs north, but no longer along the straight course set by Transit. Commercial development returns at the Wright Corners junction, where the highway is briefly concurrent with NY 104.

Beyond Wrights Corners, 78 continues north to the small village of Newfane, slowly descending along with the terrain. It reaches its northern terminus at Olcott, a small hamlet on the shore of Lake Ontario once home to a small amusement park but now a collection of cottages. After the junction with NY 18, a short local street continues to the lake shore.

[edit] Communities along the route

[edit] Major intersections

County	Location	Mile	Road(s)	Notes
Wyoming	Gainesville	0.0	NY 19
	Hermitage	6.7	NY 362	Northern terminus of NY 362.
	Java Center	12.7	NY 98	Eastern terminus of concurrency.
	Java Center	15.2	NY 77 NY 98	Western terminus of NY 78/NY 98 concurrency. Southern terminus of NY 77.
Erie	East Aurora	27.9	US 20A	Eastern terminus of concurrency.
		30.1	NY 400	Interchange.
		30.9	NY 16	Eastern terminus of concurrency and the NY 16/NY 78 concurrency. The US 20A/NY 78 concurrency continues.
		32.0	US 20A	Western terminus of concurrency and the US 20A/NY 78 concurrency. The NY 16/NY 78 concurrency continues.
	Elma Center	35.0	NY 422	Former western terminus of NY 422.
	West Seneca	38.5	NY 16	Western terminus of concurrency.
		38.5	US 20	Southern terminus of concurrency.
		39.0	NY 400	Interchange.
	Cheektowaga	40.8	NY 354
	Depew	42.7	NY 130	Eastern terminus of NY 130.
	Depew	42.7	US 20	Northern terminus of concurrency.
	Cheektowaga	45.2	NY 33
	Cheektowaga	45.8	I-90/Thruway	Exit 49 (I-90).
	Amherst	47.1	NY 5
	Amherst	48.0	NY 324
	Millersport	55.3	NY 263	Northern terminus of NY 263.
Niagara	Town of Lockport	58.7	NY 93
	City of Lockport	61.1	NY 31
	Wrights Corners	65.2	NY 104	Southern terminus of concurrency.
	Wrights Corners	65.5	NY 104	Northern terminus of concurrency.
	Olcott	73.7	NY 18