U.S. Route 202 in New York

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U.S. Route 202
Length:	55.57 mi[1] (89.43 km)
Formed:	1934[2]
West end:	US 202 in Suffern
Major junctions:	Palisades Pkwy in Ramapo US 9W in West Haverstraw US 6 / US 9W near Fort Montgomery US 9 / NY 35 in Peekskill Taconic Pkwy in Yorktown NY 100 in Somers US 6 in Brewster
East end:	US 6/US 202 in Southeast
Counties:	Rockland, Orange, Westchester, Putnam
Numbered highways in New York < NY 201 NY 203 > Interstate - U.S. - N.Y. - Reference United States Numbered Highways List - Bannered - Divided - Replaced

New York's section of U.S. Route 202 is signed east-west rather than north-south. It drifts north slowly as it crosses Southern New York from New Jersey near Suffern to Danbury, Connecticut, the only road to cross New York between those two states and not pass through New York City.

As it does in other states, Route 202 serves mainly as a local road in suburban and exurban communities along the outskirts of the metropolitan area, mostly two lanes with the exception of some four-lane sections and a brief concurrency onto an expressway in Peekskill. Its course along the Hudson River takes it first north up the west side, over the historic Bear Mountain Bridge, then south along the east side. It takes in many scenic areas, such as the Ramapo Mountains and Hudson Highlands, and two New York City reservoirs.

Its circuitous path across the state puts it on many concurrencies — only 14.5 miles (23.3 km), or 26%, of Route 202's mileage in New York is signed as 202 alone. Among the roads it joins are three U.S. highways and two state routes. It forms four three-route conurrencies, including the only such grouping of three U.S. routes in the state, again in Peekskill.

Contents 1 Route description 1.1 Rockland County 1.2 East of Hudson 1.2.1 Westchester County 1.2.2 Putnam County 2 History 3 Major intersections 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Route description

Route 202's New York stretch is roughly bisected by the Hudson River. West of it, the highway runs northeast, east and north along the edge of suburbia in Rockland County to Bear Mountain Bridge; to the east, it follows a mainly east-west orientation except for the NY 22 concurrency between Croton Falls and Brewster. It is mostly a two-lane road, expanding to four in some busier sections, with a brief limited-access stretch in Peekskill.

[edit] Rockland County

The left turn that brings 202 into New York puts it on Orange Avenue, paralleling the old Erie Railroad Main Line past the Suffern train station and into the village's downtown. In the shadow of the New York State Thruway, it meets its first New York state highway, NY 59, and has a brief wrong-way concurrency with it.

Leaving Suffern behind to return to the northeastern heading it had followed across New Jersey, it crosses under the Thruway without an interchange, the end of a close parallel with Interstate 287 that began north of Somerville, New Jersey. It remains a two-lane route at the edge of development past Pomona and Montebello, at the foot of the Ramapo Mountains, home to the vast Harriman State Park. The headwaters of the Mahwah River parallel closely.

Communities
Suffern Montebello Wesley Hills Pomona West Haverstraw Stony Point Peekskill Yorktown Somers North Salem Southeast

At Ladentown, the northern terminus of NY 306, the road begins to curve to the east, away from the ridge. Route 202 widens as it cuts across the county, still a little less developed here, towards Mount Ivy, where it has a full exit with Palisades Interstate Parkway and NY 45. The Long Path hiking trail also crosses here. Beyond this junction 202 is a four-lane undivided road, surrounded mainly by office parks and commercial establishments, but not strip development, as it follows the curve of South Mountain to the south.

Development starts to increase in West Haverstraw, and at Haverstraw, the road makes an oblique intersection with US 9W and joins it, following the Hudson River north through Stony Point and then climbing the mountains near Jones Point and Bear Mountain State Park, descending to the river's level again to reach the popular picnic ground complex at Hessian Lake. Here the Appalachian Trail (AT) crosses under the road to its lowest elevation in the nearby Trailside Zoo.

After ten miles (16 km), the 9W concurrency comes to an end at Bear Mountain Circle, also the Palisades Parkway's north end. This puts 202 very briefly in Orange County, and US 6 replaces 9W as the two join the AT in going through the tollbooths and crossing the Bear Mountain Bridge. After a brief re-entry into Rockland County, the roads cross into Westchester County

[edit] East of Hudson

In most of northern Westchester, US 202, primarily as part of concurrencies, serves as a local road between the towns it passes through. It skirts the one Putnam County village along its path, and is mostly a rural road in that county, expanded to four lines at its easternmost portion.

[edit] Westchester County

At the end of the bridge the AT leaves with NY 9D, which begins to follow the river north to Beacon and Wappingers Falls here. Routes 6 and 202 turn right to follow the old Bear Mountain Highway. The two wind around Anthony's Nose high above the river, with occasional views to Haverstraw Bay and the city of Peekskill to the south, and Dunderberg Mountain, Iona Island and the sections of US 9W the highway had just followed upriver.

Three and a half miles (6 km) 6 and 202 descend to river level again and, after passing the entrance to the New York National Guard base at Camp Smith, reach Annsville Circle. Here they form New York's only three-way concurrency of U.S. highways with US 9, then cross the Jan Peeck Bridge over Annsville Creek into the city and turn right onto the north end of the Croton Expressway, while Bear Mountain Parkway begins to the east. At the second exit in Peekskill, the two routes leave Route 9. NY 35 begins here and replaces it in the overla, following Main Street across the city. At South Broad Street 202 and 35 turn right while 6 continues along Main, ending the first 6/202 concurrency.

A few blocks to the south, 202 and 35 turn left onto Crompond Road, which takes them out of Peekskill and back into the Town of Cortlandt. The two roads pass the Hudson Valley Hospital Center. Two miles later, Bear Mountain Parkway returns to 202 for the eastern terminus of its western segment. Shortly afterwards it and Route 35 enter Yorktown.

Here the road trends to the south, and the eastern segment of Bear Mountain Parkway branches off to the left to provide access to the Taconic State Parkway, the main north-south trunk route for automobile traffic on the east side of the Hudson. An exit here allows access to neighboring Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park.

NY 132, a short local road that leads north to Route 6, begins at Old Yorktown Road. After the next major intersection at Granite Springs Road, the concurrency turns to an almost due south heading for two miles, then bends southeast into the junction with Saw Mill River Road, NY 118. Both routes turn north here, forming the third three-route overlap along 202 in New York.

The north heading becomes northeast, then east into the Town of Somers to where 35 leaves 202 and 118 at the southwest end of Amawalk Reservoir, the first of several in the New York City water supply system along the road. 202 and 118 turn left onto Tomahawk Street, closely hugging the reservoir's north shore, and then east shore after two miles, putting the road on a northern course. After crossing a small inlet at the reservoir's northwest corner, 202 turns right. For the first time since Haverstraw, 38 miles (61 km) back, 202 is alone, as it stays along the reservoir, heading northeast, then east, dipping south after the reservoir to pass north of Anglebrook Golf Club.

At the club's northeast corner, it turns left, as Primrose Street, the road ahead, continues as NY 139. After a mile, it turns right onto Mill Street, which becomes Somers Road shortly afterwards and curves to the south. At Brick Hill Road, it turns to a more northeast heading again, then east. This takes it into the center of town, where NY 100, Westchester's long north-south road, comes to its northern end just opposite the Elephant Hotel, Somers' town hall and a National Historic Landmark due to its role as the birthplace of the American circus.

Now Somerstown Road, the highway resumes a due-northeast heading to where NY 116 forks off to the east towards Titicus Reservoir. After this split, 202 is now North Somerstown Road, headed northeast through generally wooded areas almost two miles to the Croton River, where it enters a new town, North Salem. Here it forms its first concurrency in seven miles (11 km), joining with NY 22, the long north-south route along New York's eastern boundary, just north of the hamlet of Croton Falls. After crossing under the Metro-North Harlem Line, the two roads enter Putnam County.

[edit] Putnam County

Routes 202 and 22 parallel the river and the railroad through similarly wooded country due northeast for the next two miles, with no intersections. The spillway of the lower section of East Branch Reservoir appears on the right, and then the road follows the reservoir in the same direction to the eastern outskirts of the village of Brewster. Here US 6 returns and gives 202 its fourth three-way concurrency. Routes 6, 22 and 202 climb a small rise, cross under a rail freight spur and then pass through a developed area immediately south of the high quarter-mile bridge Interstate 84 takes over the road and the river.

Just afterwards, the three routes turn left. The three-way overlap ends very soon afterwards at the next traffic light, where 22 turns left to pick up northbound traffic from Interstate 684, which ends at the nearby junction with its parent route. The ramps to 84 and 684 also leave here.

The road ahead bends south and then east, a four-lane divided road making use of the thin land between I-84 and the northern section of East Branch. There is one traffic light, at the northern terminus of NY 121, and then two miles later, still next to the interstate, 6 and 202 cross into Danbury, Connecticut alongside it just before the Saw Mill Road exit.

[edit] History

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.

The segment of modern US 202 from NY 59 in Suffern to U.S. Route 9W in West Haverstraw was originally designated as New York State Route 61 in the late 1920s.^[3][4] NY 61 remained intact up to June 1934 when it was incorporated into U.S. Route 202, a new U.S. Route extending from Bangor, Maine, to State Road, Delaware, south of Wilmington.^[2]

[edit] Major intersections

County	Location	Mile[1]	Roads intersected	Notes
Rockland	Suffern	0.00	US 202	New Jersey-New York state line
		0.67	NY 59 east	Western terminus of overlap
		0.72	NY 59 west	Eastern terminus of overlap
	Pomona	7.35	NY 306	Northern terminus of NY 306
	Ramapo	9.06	NY 45 to Palisades Interstate Parkway	Northern terminus of NY 45; access to exit 13 (PIP)
	West Haverstraw	12.35	US 9W south	Southern terminus of overlap
Orange	SW of Fort Montgomery	22.75	US 6 west US 9W north	Traffic circle; northern terminus of US 9W/202 overlap; western terminus of US 6/202 overlap
Westchester	Cortlandt	23.40	NY 9D	Southern terminus of NY 9D
		26.97	US 9 north	Traffic circle; northern terminus of US 9/202 overlap
	Peekskill	27.70	US 9 south NY 35	Southern terminus of US 9/202 overlap; western terminus of NY 35; western terminus of US 202/NY 35 overlap
		28.55	US 6 east	Eastern terminus of overlap
	Cortlandt	31.21	Bear Mountain State Parkway	Western terminus of eastern segment of Bear Mountain Pkwy
	Yorktown		Bear Mountain State Parkway	Eastern terminus of western segment of Bear Mountain Pkwy
		33.83	Taconic State Parkway	Interchange
		34.53	NY 132	Southern terminus of NY 132
	Yorktown Heights	36.56	NY 118 south	Southern terminus of overlap
	E of Amawalk	38.03	NY 35 east	Eastern terminus of overlap
	N of Granite Springs	40.85	NY 118 north	Northern terminus of overlap
	Lincolndale	42.71	NY 135	Northern terminus of NY 135
	Somers	45.23	NY 100	Northern terminus of NY 100
	W of Lake Purdys	45.54	NY 116	Western terminus of NY 116
	Somers-North Salem town line	47.28	NY 22 south	Southern terminus of overlap
Putnam	Brewster	51.59	US 6 west	Western terminus of overlap
	Southeast	52.53	NY 22 north to I-84 / I-684	Northern terminus of US 202/NY 22 overlap; access to I-84 (exit 20) and I-684 (exit 9)
		53.27	NY 121	Northern terminus of NY 121
		55.57	US 6 / US 202	New York-Connecticut state line; overlap continues into Danbury, Connecticut

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• New York Routes - U.S. Route 202
• Mile by Mile travel guide

U.S. Route 202
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