The Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway is a

National Scenic Byway A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

in the

Capital District A capital district, capital region or capital territory is normally a specially designated administrative division where a country's seat of government is located. As such, in a federal model of government, no state or territory has any poli ...

region of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in the United States. It extends from

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

by way of a series of local, county, and state highways along the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...

and the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

. The byway is intended to showcase the history of the waterway, from Native American times through the creation of the Erie Canal and the role the waterside communities played in the

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

and the westward expansion of the United States. At its east end, the byway connects to the

Lakes to Locks Passage The American Lakes to Locks Passage and the corresponding Canadian is a scenic byway in northeastern New York in the United States and in southern Quebec in Canada. The byway unifies the interconnected waterway of the upper Hudson River, Cham ...

, an

All-American Road A National Scenic Byway is a road recognized by the United States Department of Transportation for one or more of six "intrinsic qualities": archeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic. The program was established by Co ...

Route description

The Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway extends for from downtown

to the village of Waterford by way of a series of highways running alongside the

. It begins at the intersection of Erie Boulevard and State Street ( New York State Route 5 or NY 5) in Schenectady and follows Erie Boulevard and Maxon Road out of the city. Now in the town of

Niskayuna Niskayuna is a town in Schenectady County, New York, United States. The population was 23,278 at the 2020 census. The town is located in the southeast part of the county, east of the city of Schenectady, and is the easternmost town in the county. ...

, the byway runs alongside the Mohawk River as it follows County Route 10 (CR 10) northeast to a junction with NY 146 in the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Aqueduct. CR 10 ends here; however, the Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway turns north to cross the Mohawk River and enter

Saratoga County Saratoga County is a county in the U.S. state of New York, and is the fastest-growing county in Upstate New York. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was enumerated at 235,509, representing a 7.2% increase from the 2010 popul ...

by way of NY 146. On the opposite riverbank, the byway leaves the state route at a junction with CR 88 and CR 91 in the town of Clifton Park. It follows the latter road to the southeast, taking on the name Riverview Road as it runs adjacent to the Mohawk River. This section of the Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway was once part of NY 146B, a now-defunct spur route of NY 146. CR 91 leaves Riverview Road at Grooms Road; however, the byway continues southeastward along the now town-maintained road. Riverview Road continues to parallel the Mohawk River into the town of Halfmoon, where Riverview Road ends at an intersection with Clam Steam Road just east of Interstate 87. The byway briefly heads south from here on Clam Steam Road before turning back to the northeast on Canal Road. Canal Road ultimately brings the scenic byway to the hamlet of Crescent, where it intersects U.S. Route 9 (US 9). At this point, the byway splits into two branches, with each branch following a specific side of the Mohawk River. The main byway follows the south branch, which heads south from Crescent along US 9 and immediately crosses the Mohawk River on the Crescent Bridge to reach Albany County. On the south side of the riverbank in the town of Colonie, the byway splits from US 9 and proceeds southeast along Cohoes Crescent Road, a local road running alongside the waterway. It soon crosses into the city of Cohoes, becoming North Mohawk Street in the process. The byway continues along North Mohawk and New Cortland streets to Saratoga Street (NY 32), where it turns north to follow NY 32 back into Saratoga County and the village of Waterford. The north branch of the byway heads east from Crescent, loosely following the riverbank as it proceeds along CR 99 to the hamlet of Halfmoon. CR 99 ends here, giving way to CR 94; however, CR 94 terminates just a quarter-mile (0.4 km) to the east at an intersection with CR 96. This road brings the byway into the town of

, but it is CR 97 that carries the byway into the village of Waterford. The latter portion serves Lock Six State Canal Park and runs in close proximity to the

, here separate from the Mohawk River. Within the village, the byway follows Washington Avenue and Sixth Street to reach NY 32 and the byway's south branch at Broad Street. The unified byway follows NY 32 east from Sixth Street to its junction with US 4 at Third Street. The intersection is the east end of the Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway and the south end of the

, an

connecting Waterford to

Rouses Point Rouses Point is a village (New York), village in Clinton County, New York, Clinton County, New York (state), New York, United States, along the 45th parallel north, 45th parallel. The population was 2,209 at the 2010 census. The village is named ...

by way of the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

and

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type = , ...

corridors.

History

The Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway was created as the result of a grassroots effort to showcase to the

's portion of the

corridor. The byway was designated a New York State Scenic Byway in July 2003, and named a

in September 2005. The word "Mohawk" in the byway's name is derived from the

, and by extension the

Mohawk people The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous people of North America, with communities in southeastern Canada and northern Ne ...

who originally inhabited the area. The word "

Towpath A towpath is a road or trail on the bank of a river, canal, or other inland waterway. The purpose of a towpath is to allow a land vehicle, beasts of burden, or a team of human pullers to tow a boat, often a barge. This mode of transport ...

" comes from a period of the

's history when canal vessels moved principally by draft animals—mostly

mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...

s—that pulled craft from the path atop the side berm of the canal.

Major intersections

;North branch

References

{{Reflist

External links

Mohawk Towpath Scenic Byway Coalition
National Scenic Byways Transportation in Schenectady County, New York Transportation in Saratoga County, New York Transportation in Albany County, New York Schenectady, New York Colonie, New York Cohoes, New York