New York State Route 38
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North end | NY 104A in Sterling | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United States | |||
State | New York | |||
Counties | Tioga, Cortland, Tompkins, Cayuga | |||
Highway system | ||||
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New York State Route 38 (NY 38) is a north–south
The route intersects several long-distance highways, including NY 13 in Dryden, U.S. Route 20 (US 20) and NY 5 in Auburn, and NY 31 in Port Byron. It passes over the New York State Thruway (Interstate 90 or I-90) north of Port Byron; however, there is no connection between the two. NY 38 has two suffixed routes. The first, NY 38A is an alternate route of NY 38 between Moravia and Auburn, while the other, NY 38B, is a simple east–west connector in the Southern Tier. While NY 38 runs along the western shore of Owasco Lake, NY 38A travels to Auburn along a routing east of the lake.
NY 38 passes along or near waterbodies for much of its length. From its southern end in Owego to the town of
In the 1920s, the portion of NY 38 between Owego and
Route description
All of NY 38—save for two sections within the city of Auburn—is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). In Auburn, the route is city-maintained to the north and south of where the route meets US 20 and NY 5 in downtown Auburn. The portion of NY 38 that runs between and overlaps with those two routes is state-maintained.[3]
Tioga and Cortland counties
NY 38 begins at an intersection with
The number of homes along the route begins to increase as NY 38 approaches the village of Newark Valley. Just south of the village limits, NY 38 intersects NY 38B, a spur leading to NY 26 in Maine. The route continues into the small village as South Main Street and passes by several blocks of homes and commercial buildings. At Water Street, NY 38 becomes North Main Street; however, from this point north, most of the village is situated on the opposite bank of Owego Creek. As a result, NY 38 continues through the village limits but passes very few buildings before seamlessly exiting the community and entering another rural area.[4]
The route continues on, crossing over Owego Creek and passing the Newark Valley Country Club about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Newark Valley village before entering the town of Berkshire. In Berkshire, NY 38 serves the hamlet of Berkshire, a small community situated directly on the highway. The route continues on through the narrowing creek valley into the town of Richford and the hamlet of the same name, where it meets NY 79 in the community's center. After Richford, the valley continues to narrow for just under 1.5 miles (2.4 km) before reversing course as the route heads into Cortland County and the town of Harford.[4]
NY 38 clips the extreme southwestern corner of Cortland County; as a result, only 3.38 miles (5.44 km) of the route is located within the county. Just north of the county line, the route meets
Tompkins County
Upon entering the border town of
The
NY 38 proceeds out of Freeville, passing over Fall Creek and heading north along Groton Road through a lightly populated area of the town of Dryden. The route passes by a mixture of open fields, forests, and isolated homes on its way to the Dryden–
Cayuga County
Cayuga County, located in the Finger Lakes region of New York, has a highly unorthodox shape. Most of the county is only about 15 miles (24 km) wide from its western border to its eastern edge. From north to south, however, it extends from Locke north to the Lake Ontario shoreline—a distance of about 55 miles (89 km). NY 38 passes through much of the county, ending about 4 miles (6 km) south of the shoreline in Sterling. As a result, over half of NY 38's routing is located in the county, with the midpoint located near the city of Auburn.[5]
County line to Auburn
The route heads northwest from the county line, following the Owasco Inlet through open fields and past small patches of trees to the large hamlet of Locke. NY 38 heads north–south through the residential community as Main Street and intersects
In Moravia, a highly developed village comprising several blocks of homes and businesses, NY 38 is known as Main Street as it heads north into the village center. At Cayuga Street, NY 38 intersects NY 38A, the second of its two suffixed routes. NY 38A heads eastward from this point while NY 38 turns to follow West Cayuga Street across Owasco Inlet and out of the village. Past the inlet, NY 38 curves to the north and runs along the western edge of the Owasco Flats, a wide, flat-bottomed, undeveloped valley at the foot of Owasco Lake. The flats give way to the lake in Cascade, a hamlet in the town of Venice, at which point NY 38 begins to climb up the western edge of the lake valley. It reaches the lip of the valley 2 miles (3.2 km) later in the town of Scipio.[5]
For the next 2.5 miles (4.0 km), the route passes by open fields as it overlooks the lake to the east. The route gradually descends back into the valley as it heads further northward into the town of
As NY 38 enters Auburn, it passes by Auburn High School before heading north through densely populated blocks filled with homes. The divided highway ends abruptly at Swift Street, where NY 38 turns west to follow the two-lane undivided Swift Street west for seven blocks to NY 34 (South Street). Here, NY 38 leaves Swift Street and joins NY 34 on South Street. The two routes follow South Street past the William H. Seward House into downtown Auburn, where the homes are replaced with businesses at Lincoln Street. Three blocks later, South Street intersects with the East Arterial (eastbound US 20 and NY 5). The overlap between NY 34 and NY 38 ends one block later at the West Arterial (westbound US 20 and NY 5), where NY 38 turns to follow the Arterial for a block to the west.[5]
At State Street, NY 38 leaves US 20 and NY 5 and heads north through the city's north side, crossing the Owasco Outlet and serving the Auburn Correctional Facility. The route passes through several blocks of commercial and residential development up to Grant Street, where it begins to taper off. It ceases almost entirely near the northern city line at York Street, where the homes along the highway become more sporadic and spaced apart.[5]
North of Auburn
Now in the town of
The two routes cross the Owasco Outlet and enter a more residential area of the community, where NY 38 splits from NY 31 and continues north along Canal Street. The route crosses over the New York State Thruway (I-90) as it leaves the village limits and heads north into a largely undeveloped area of forests and fields. At North Port Byron, a sparsely populated hamlet 0.5 miles (0.8 km) north of Port Byron, NY 38 passes over the CSX Transportation-owned Rochester Subdivision railroad line. The highway continues on, becoming Conquest Road and crossing the Seneca River (Erie Canal) at Mosquito Point, near where Owasco Outlet flows into the river. NY 38 enters the town of Conquest upon traversing the waterway.[5]
NY 38 continues north as an unnamed highway to the hamlet of Conquest, a small community built up around the intersection of NY 38 and Fuller and Slayton Roads. It continues on into the town of Victory, where the undeveloped fields give way to cultivated fields used as farmland. The route heads through mostly desolate surroundings to the hamlet of Victory, a slightly larger community centered on NY 38. The route proceeds through the hamlet, passing by several homes on its way to a junction with NY 370 just north of the community. Past this point, the homes cease again as NY 38 presses on through more fields and forests to the town of Sterling.[5]
Just north of the town line in the small hamlet of North Victory, NY 38 intersects
History
Old roads
Several portions of modern NY 38 were originally part of turnpikes and plank roads during the 1800s. On April 13, 1819, the New York State Legislature passed a law incorporating the Cortland and Owego Turnpike Company. The company was tasked with building a highway—the Cortland and Owego Turnpike—from Owego north to the then-village of Cortland. This route roughly followed what is now NY 38 north from Owego to the vicinity of Harford, where it would have turned north to access Virgil, then continued to Cortland by way of modern NY 215.[6] A property dispute case in 1965 showed no evidence of this turnpike having been built.[7]
On April 13, 1825, the legislature chartered the Auburn and Port Byron Turnpike Company. The Auburn and Port Byron Turnpike began at the
Designation
When the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, the portion of what is now NY 38 from Freeville to Moravia became part of NY 26, a north–south highway extending from Freeville to Syracuse via Skaneateles.[10] By 1926, the segment of current NY 38 between Freeville and Owego was designated as NY 42.[11] In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the entirety of NY 42 and the portion of NY 26 south of Moravia was incorporated into the new NY 38,[2] which extended north from Moravia to NY 3 (modern NY 104A) in Sterling. The section of the route adjacent to Owasco Lake was still being constructed at the time of NY 38's assignment;[12] it was completed c. 1932.[13][14]
NY 38 originally
Suffixed routes
NY 38 has two suffixed spur routes:
- Onondaga County, and then towards Auburn.[1] It was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York.[21]
- NY 38B (7.69 miles or 12.38 kilometres) is a short spur in Broome and Tioga counties connecting NY 38 in Newark Valley in the west to NY 26 in Maine in the east.[1] It was assigned in 1948.[22]
Major intersections
County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Town of Owego | 0.00 | 0.00 | NY 96 – Owego, Candor, Ithaca | Southern terminus | |
Town of Newark Valley | 7.29 | 11.73 | NY 38B east – Binghamton | Western terminus of NY 38B | |
Richford | 18.01 | 28.98 | NY 79 – Whitney Point, Ithaca | ||
hamlet of Harford Mills | |||||
23.53 | 37.87 | NY 221 east – Marathon | Western terminus of NY 221; hamlet of Harford | ||
overlap | |||||
30.22 | 48.63 | NY 13 north – Cortland | Northern terminus of NY 13 / NY 38 overlap | ||
Freeville | 33.29 | 53.58 | NY 366 west – Etna, Ithaca | Eastern terminus of NY 366 | |
Groton town line | 35.93 | 57.82 | NY 34B west – South Lansing | Eastern terminus of NY 34B; hamlet of Peruville | |
Village of Groton | 39.04 | 62.83 | NY 222 east | Western terminus of NY 222 | |
Cayuga | Locke | 45.15 | 72.66 | NY 90 | |
Village of Moravia | 48.91 | 78.71 | NY 38A north | Southern terminus of NY 38A | |
Auburn | 64.56 | 103.90 | NY 437 east (White Bridge Road) to NY 38A – Emerson Park | Western terminus of NY 437 | |
66.57 | 107.13 | NY 34 south | Southern terminus of NY 34 / NY 38 overlap | ||
67.49 | 108.61 | US 20 east / NY 5 east – Syracuse | |||
67.53 | 108.68 | US 20 west / NY 5 west / NY 34 north – Weedsport | Northern terminus of NY 34 / NY 38 overlap; eastern terminus of US 20 / NY 5 / NY 38 overlap | ||
67.70 | 108.95 | US 20 west / NY 5 west – Seneca Falls | Western terminus of US 20 / NY 5 / NY 38 overlap | ||
Port Byron | 75.27 | 121.14 | NY 31 east to New York Thruway | Eastern terminus of NY 31 / NY 38 overlap | |
75.67 | 121.78 | NY 31 west | Western terminus of NY 31 / NY 38 overlap | ||
Victory | 87.17 | 140.29 | NY 370 – Cato | ||
Sterling | 91.23 | 146.82 | NY 104 – Oswego, Rochester | Hamlet of North Victory | |
95.65 | 153.93 | NY 104A – Fairhaven Park | Northern terminus | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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See also
References
- ^ a b c d "2008 Traffic Data Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. June 16, 2009. pp. 185–187. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
- ^ a b Dickinson, Leon A. (January 12, 1930). "New Signs for State Highways". The New York Times. p. 136.
- ^ "Cayuga County Inventory Listing" (CSV). New York State Department of Transportation. March 2, 2010. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Microsoft; Nokia (July 17, 2015). "overview map of NY 38" (Map). Bing Maps. Microsoft. Retrieved July 17, 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Google (June 4, 2008). "overview map of NY 38 in Cayuga County" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved June 4, 2008.
- ^ New York State Legislature (1821). Laws of the State of New York. Vol. 5. William Gould & Co. p. 242. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
- ^ Records & Briefs New York State Appellate Division.
- ^ New York State Legislature (1825). Laws of the State of New York. E. Croswell. p. 233. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
- ^ New York State Legislature (1919). New York Legislative Document. Vol. 46. J. B. Lyon Company. p. 85. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
- ^ "New York's Main Highways Designated by Numbers". The New York Times. December 21, 1924. p. XX9.
- Rand McNally and Company. 1926. Archived from the originalon October 10, 2008. Retrieved December 18, 2009.
- 1930 renumbering
- Kendall Refining Company. 1931.
- Texas Oil Company. 1932.
- ^ a b Owego Quadrangle – New York (Map). 1:62,500. 15 Minute Series (Topographic). United States Geological Survey. 1956. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
- Pennsylvania Department of Highways. 1930. Retrieved April 3, 2009.[permanent dead link]
- ^ New York and Metropolitan New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. Sinclair Oil Corporation. 1964.
- ^ Owego Quadrangle – New York – Tioga County (Map). 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series (Topographic). United States Geological Survey. 1969. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
- State of New York Department of Transportation (January 1, 1970). Official Description of Touring Routes in New York State(PDF). Retrieved April 3, 2009.
- ^ Candor Digital Raster Quadrangle (Map). 1:24,000. New York State Department of Transportation. 1994. Retrieved April 3, 2009.
- Standard Oil Company of New York. 1930.
- ^ "Supervisors to Request State To Reconstruct Route 38B". The Binghamton Press. October 10, 1961. p. 3. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
External links
- New York State Route 38 at Alps' Roads • New York Routes