County Route 18 (Otsego County, New York)

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Image:Otsego County Route 18 NY.svg

County Route 18

County Highway 18

Length:

34.81 mi^[1] (56.02 km)

South end:

outside of Mount Upton

North end:

Oneida CR 2 at the Oneida County line

County routes in New York
< Image:Otsego County Route 17 NY.svg CR 17		CR 18A Image:Otsego County Route 18A NY.svg >
Otsego County

County Route 18 in Otsego County, New York, is one of the longest county-maintained highways in the state of New York. The highway runs northward for 34.81 miles (56.02 km), crossing through several villages, towns, and hamlets. The route begins at an intersection with New York State Route 51 in Mount Upton and terminates at the Oneida County border, where it continues as CR 2. For most of its length, it parallels New York State Route 8, and entire length with the Unadilla River. County Route 18 has three suffixed routes, CRs 18A, 18B, and 18C, all of which are connectors to other counties.

Route 18's segment from Unadilla Forks to Bridgewater was once a state route desginated as New York State Route 413.

1 Route description
2 History
3 Suffixed routes
4 Major intersections
5 See also
6 References

[edit] Route description

[edit] Mount Upton to South New Berlin

County Route 18 begins at an intersection with New York State Route 51 just east of downtown Mount Upton. Route 18, parallel to NY 8, heads northward, passing through forests and fields. The Unadilla River also parallells and is what splits NY 8 and CR 18 apart. Just after leaving Mount Upton, the forest around the highway becomes more dense, with trees surrounding the road on both sides. The road enters the hamlet of Rockwells Mills, where there is a clearing from the trees. Route 18 then heads out of Rockwells Mills uneventfully.^[1]

Soon afterwards, there is a short parallel with a former alignment of NY 8, which merges in quickly before entering the hamlet of Lathams Corners. The surroundings around Route 18 have become more clear, with fields and short patches of trees surrounding the road. After passing out of Latham Corners, Route 18 then has forests on one side and fields on the other. The highways continue to parallel the Unadilla River, quickly heading through the hamlet of White Store. However, just north of the hamlet, the two parallelling highways begin to curve away from each other with the river splitting them.^[1]

[edit] South New Berlin to New Berlin

Route 18 still follows the river, passing more rural areas, and soon parallelling NY 8 once again. Just north of the hamlet of Holmesville, the two parallelling highways enter South New Berlin, where they intersect with New York State Route 23 and continue northward uneventfully. The surroundings north of the village quickly become rural again, with the two highways continuing northward in separate counties. The Unadilla River once again forks the two roads apart, with the Route 18 heading to the northeast a bit. However, this split is short, with the two roads coming together again soon after.^[1]

NY 413 topo map, depicting its entire length

Both roads turn northward through more rural regions, passing by Silver Lake soon after. Just after the lake itself, Route 18 heads through the hamlet of Silver Lake alone. Just north of the hamlet, County Route 13 intersects, on its way into New Berlin. Route 18 acts like an arterial around the village, and passes to the east of downtown. When entering the hamlet of Hoboken (part of New Berlin), Route 18 intersects with New York State Route 80, which is concurrent with NY 8 a short while further. Route 18 leaves Hoboken and heads northward, parallel with SRs 8 and 80 along with the Unadilla River.^[1]

[edit] New Berlin to Bridgewater

Not far out of New Berlin and Hoboken, the parallelling NY 80 splits off to the northwest, with the other two highways (NY 8 and CR 18) continuing northward. The region around the highways have become more rural, with forests and fields again surrounding the highway. The county route enters the hamlet of South Edmeston, where it intersects with County Route 20, which becomes concurrent at Route 18. Route 18 quickly turns to the north, splitting from CR 20. After the small hamlet, the two parallelling highways (NY 8 and CR 18) continue north towards Bridgewater.^[1]

Just north of the intersection with a local road (Mott Hill Road), the route makes another arterial around the hamlet of Sweets. Soon after, Route 18 then begins to parallel a new county border, intersecting with County Route 18C (Welsh Road) soon after. Sometime farther north, Route 18 intersects with County Road 19, which crosses east-west towards New York State Route 8. CR 18 enters Unadilla Forks, a small hamlet, where it intersects with its other suffixed routes, both of which head to other counties.^[1]

Route 18, now on the other side of the Unadilla River, passes through the rural regions of northern Otsego County and heads towards U.S. Route 20. Just after the intersection in Bridgewater, Route 18 crosses into Oneida County and become CR 2.^[1]

[edit] History

County Route 18 from Unadilla Forks to US 20 in Bridgewater was once a state-mantained road. This section had the designation of New York State Route 413.^[2] Route 413 was assigned by 1935 and followed the Unadilla River for its entire length. The state-mantained portion was gone by 1952, with the highway becoming an extended part of Otsego CR 18.^[3]

[edit] Suffixed routes

Route 18 has three suffixed routes during its entire length.

CR 18A - a short connector to Oneida County in Unadilla Forks.
CR 18B - a short connector to Madison County in Unadilla Forks.
CR 18C - a short connector to Madison County south of Unadilla Forks. Crossing the border, it becomes Madison CR 94.