New York State Route 63

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NY Route 63
Length:	82.20 mi[1] (132.29 km)
Formed:	1930[2]
South end:	NY 15 / NY 21 in Wayland
Major junctions:	US 20A / NY 39 in Geneseo US 20 in Pavilion NY 5 / NY 33 in Batavia NY 31 in Medina
North end:	NY 18 in Yates
Counties:	Steuben, Livingston, Wyoming, Genesee, Orleans
Numbered highways in New York < NY 62A NY 63A > Interstate - U.S. - N.Y. - Reference
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New York State Route 63 is a state highway in the western part of New York, USA. The northern end is in the Town of Yates (Orleans County) by the shore of Lake Ontario. The south end is in Village of Wayland (Steuben County). NYS Route 63 is a northwest to southeast route through Western New York. It has assumed considerable regional importance since traffic headed for Buffalo from points south uses it as the last and longest leg of a shortcut from Interstate 390 to some areas around Buffalo, bypassing tolls on the New York State Thruway in the process.

Contents 1 Route description 1.1 Wayland to Geneseo 1.2 Geneseo to Batavia 1.3 Batavia to Yates Center 2 History 2.1 Proposed Mount Morris-Pavilion bypass 3 Future 4 NY 63A 5 Major intersections 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Route description

[edit] Wayland to Geneseo

NY 63 begins at a four-way intersection with a NY 15 and NY 21 in the northern Steuben County village of Wayland. From here it heads west, paralleling Interstate 390 on the side of the valley the interstate travels through. It enters Livingston County and the village of Dansville, where it briefly shares a street with NY 36, which at this point parallels 390 on its other side for most of its route. NY 256 splits off for Conesus Lake in Dansville as well.^[3]

Continuing north into Groveland, the short remnant of NY 258 comes in from the west at the town line. At the north end the highway runs much closer to 390, and after NY 408 connects to 63 from the highway the road becomes busier as it is the primary route to Geneseo for northbound traffic on 390 itself, as there is no exit at the point where 390 crosses under the interstate.^[4]

[edit] Geneseo to Batavia

After joining with US 20A and NY 39, 63 enters Geneseo from the south, passing the campus of SUNY Geneseo. At the edge of the village, the highway crosses the Genesee River, then begins to curve up and out of the valley until it runs east-west again through the Town of York.

The major junction in York is the hamlet of Greigsville, where 63 intersects NY 36. This next section of highway has become a major shortcut for traffic heading to the Buffalo area, despite remaining a two-lane road through open rural country, since it is both physically shorter than going all the way to the New York State Thruway as well as toll-free, and especially for traffic headed to the communities east or south of Buffalo this route is actually preferable. Most of this Buffalo-bound traffic has followed 36 up from Mt. Morris, and turns on to 63 here. Signage along this route reflects this use.^[4]

From Greigsville, 63 heads east through open land, into a brief corner of Wyoming County, where it turns to head due northwest, its direction for the next 30 miles. The next intersection with a state highway, the northern end of NY 246, comes just after the Genesee County line. A mile beyond, 63 drops down slightly to intersect with NY 19 at Pavilion. After the traffic light at the center of the hamlet, 63 crosses Oatka Creek and climbs back up out of the Wyoming Valley. Atop the hill, it narrows again and continues due northeast to its next junction, the underdeveloped crossing of US 20. Here at least some Buffalo-bound traffic will turn west. Eventually acquiring the name Ellicott Street, 63 finally enters Batavia, where it intersects the two major east-west trunk routes in this corridor, NY 5 and NY 33, as well as north-south NY 98, which takes traffic to the Thruway.^[4]

[edit] Batavia to Yates Center

Past Batavia 63 itself crosses the Thruway, but without an exit. It continues northwestward as Lewiston Road to the village of Oakfield, where NY 262 departs to the east. Finally, just north of Oakfield, 63 turns due west on Judge Road and follows it several miles to NY 77, which it joins north of Basom.^[5]

At Alabama, 77 turns to the west and 63 continues northwards, across Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge and into Orleans County, to reach Medina. This village begins at a junction with NY 31 and NY 31A. Route 31A continues eastward while 31 joins 63 through the village. Within it, NY 31E comes in from the west and then 31 leaves to continue east. 63 crosses the Erie Canal, and leaves town.^[6] Several miles further on, at Ridgeway, 63 crosses NY 104. This penultimate east-west trunk road through the region is followed by a descent into the last village along the route, Lyndonville. A short distance past it, 63 reaches its northern terminus at NY 18.^[7]

[edit] History

The segment of modern NY 63 from Wayland to Dansville was originally designated as NY 52 in the mid-1920s. From Pavilion to Yates, what is now NY 63 was known as NY 62. The remainder of the route from Dansville to Pavilion was unnumbered.^[8] In the 1930 renumbering, NY 52 was renumbered to NY 39 while NY 62 became NY 19.^[2]

NY 63, created as part of the 1930 renumbering, originally began at the modern intersection of NY 16 and NY 446 near Hinsdale. The route followed the what is now NY 446 and Allegany County Road 20 through Cuba^[2] to Angelica, where it briefly followed CR 16 west before resuming a northerly trek on Old State Road to Dalton. NY 63 then followed the modern alignment of NY 408 north, then east to Mount Morris. East of the village, NY 63 met New York State Route 36A, a spur of NY 36 assigned in the renumbering to modern NY 63 between Dansville and Mount Morris.^[9] Past Mount Morris, NY 63 followed its current alignment to Pavilion, then the modern routing of NY 19 from Pavilion north to the Lake Ontario shoreline in Hamlin, where it terminated.^[2] The routings of NY 19 and NY 63 north of Pavilion were swapped by 1938.^[10]

NY 63 was rerouted south of Mount Morris in the 1940s to follow the former routing of NY 36A south to Dansville, where it then overlapped NY 245 (formerly NY 39) east to Wayland.^[11][12]

[edit] Proposed Mount Morris-Pavilion bypass

As part of a large scale study in the early 2000s, the NYSDOT determined that NY 63 from Mount Morris to Pavilion, along with US 20 and NY 77, (termed the "Route 63 Corridor") were major trouble routes, primarily because of increased truck traffic using the corridor as a bypass between I-390 in Mount Morris and the New York State Thruway in Pembroke.^[13]

The most publicized and perhaps most fought-over possibility mentioned was that of a new expressway^[14] from Mount Morris to Pembroke, bypassing these three routes. The Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce was a driving force behind this, hoping interchanges in Perry, Warsaw and Attica would promote business growth.^[15]

While residents along the 63 corridor are against the increased truck traffic along the corridor (spurred by NAFTA), most of those same residents, along with other groups, also fought the proposed expressway. The general consensus of all of these groups is that the DOT should impose restrictions on the 63 corridor and force trucks to remain on I-390 and the Thruway to travel between Buffalo and Pennsylvania.^[15]

[edit] Future

NYSDOT has plans to slightly realign NY 63 via new construction to eliminate Peoria Curve, a sharp curve in the town of Covington, which has been prone to accidents and can create problems for truckers in winter. The short sharp curve will be lengthened and softened via construction of a new intersection on Peoria Road north of the current intersection. The new intersection will be constructed first, with the new road being constructed to its junction points on 63. NY 63 will be closed for approximately four weeks while the realignment is connected at those points. What capacity the former 63 will take on (reference route, county route, etc.) has not been specified yet. Construction is expected to take place during 2008, with a scheduled completion date of December 2008.^[16]

[edit] NY 63A

NY 63A was an alternate route of NY 63 between Angelica, Allegany County, and Nunda, Livingston County. The route was assigned in the 1930 renumbering^[2] and redesignated as NY 408A in the 1940s.^[11][17]

[edit] Major intersections

County	Location	Mile[1]	Roads intersected	Notes
Steuben	Village of Wayland	0.00	NY 15/NY 21
Livingston	Dansville	6.29	NY 36 south	Southern terminus of overlap
		6.42	NY 36 north	Northern terminus of overlap
		6.51	NY 256	Southern terminus of NY 256
	Groveland	14.43	NY 258	Eastern terminus of NY 258
	Village of Mount Morris	21.05	NY 408	To I-390; Northern terminus of NY 408; hamlet of Hampton Corners;
	Town of Geneseo	24.05	US 20A west/NY 39 west	Southern terminus of overlap
	Village of Geneseo	24.36	US 20A east/NY 39 east	Northern terminus of overlap
	York	30.26	NY 36	Hamlet of Greigsville
Genesee	Pavilion	36.92	NY 246	Northern terminus of NY 246
		37.89	NY 19
		40.90	US 20	Hamlet of Texaco Town
	City of Batavia	49.83	NY 5 east/NY 33 east	Eastern terminus of overlap
		50.10	NY 33 west NY 98	To I-90/Thruway; western terminus of NY 5/33 overlap
		50.85	NY 5 west	Western terminus of overlap
	Village of Oakfield	56.23	NY 262	Western terminus of NY 262
	Alabama	62.57	NY 77 south	Southern terminus of overlap
		64.06	NY 77 north	Northern terminus of overlap
Orleans	Medina	71.80	NY 31 west NY 31A	Southern terminus of NY 31/63 overlap; western terminus of NY 31A
		72.76	NY 31 east NY 31E	Northern terminus of NY 31/63 overlap; eastern terminus of NY 31E/63 overlap; eastern terminus of NY 31E
		73.00	NY 31E west	Western terminus of overlap
	Ridgeway	76.43	NY 104 west	Western terminus of overlap
		76.59	NY 104 east	Eastern terminus of overlap
	Yates	82.20	NY 18	Hamlet of Yates Center

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• New York Routes - New York State Route 63