New York State Route 444 (NY 444) is a north–south

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

located in

Ontario County, New York Ontario County is a county in the U.S. State of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 112,458. The county seat is Canandaigua. Ontario County is part of the Rochester, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2006, ''Progressive ...

, in the United States. It serves as a connector between the overlapping routes of U.S. Route 20 (US 20),

NY 5 New York State Route 5 (NY 5) is a state highway that extends for across the state of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley and passes through Buffalo, Syrac ...

, and NY 64 south of the Village of Bloomfield and

NY 96 New York State Route 96 (NY 96) is a northwest–southeast state highway in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at an interchange with NY 17 (Future I-86) in the Souther ...

in the Village of Victor. NY 444 is a two-lane highway that passes through mostly rural areas of the county, with the exception of the immediate areas around Bloomfield and Victor. The highway passes the Ganondagan State Historic Site south of Victor. The portion of NY 444 south of Main Street in Bloomfield was originally designated as part of legislative Route 14 by the

New York State Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official ...

in 1908. This

unsigned highway Road sign along Aurora_to_exit_the_freeway._The_road_at_this_exit_is_officially_designated_Sigurd_and_Aurora,_Utah">Aurora_to_exit_the_freeway._The_road_at_this_exit_is_officially_designated_Utah_State_Route_259">SR 259,_a_short_connector;_h ...

, which extended from Corning to Rochester, also included the portion of Main Street in Bloomfield between modern NY 64 and NY 444. Route 14 was realigned to bypass the then-village of Holcomb to the south and west in 1921. The segment of pre-1921 Route 14 from NY 64 to US 20 was designated as New York State Route 20C . NY 20C was truncated on its western end to the junction of Main Street and Maple Avenue in 1990. The roads extending north from NY 20C's northern terminus to Victor—namely Elm Street and County Route 3 (CR 3)—were acquired by the state 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 * '' ...

on September 1, 1996, and these roads were combined with NY 20C on June 2, 1997, to create NY 444.

Route description

NY 444 begins at an intersection with the overlapped routes of US 20,

, and NY 64 in the Ontario County town of

East Bloomfield East Bloomfield is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Ontario County, New York, Ontario County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 3,661 at the 2020 census. The Town of East Bloomfield is in the western ...

. It heads north as a two-lane highway into the eastern portion of the village of Bloomfield, where it becomes known as Maple Avenue. At the former "Four Corners" of Holcomb—its intersection with Main Street—NY 444 changes names to Elm Street, a moniker it retains until it exits the village. Back in the town of East Bloomfield, NY 444 becomes Victor–Bloomfield Road and follows a gently curving alignment through a rural, hilly portion of Ontario County. It crosses into the town of Victor at an intersection with Cherry Street. North of this point, NY 444 takes on a linear north–south alignment as it heads toward the village of Victor. At 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 Boughton Hill, NY 444 passes the Ganondagan State Historic Site. From here, NY 444 descends into a valley that is home to the village of Victor. Inside the village, the route becomes Maple Avenue and crosses the

Ontario Central Railroad The Ontario Central Railroad is an American class III railroad company operating in Ontario County, New York. As of 2007, the ONCT has been under the ownership of the Finger Lakes Railway which is based in Geneva, New York.grade crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term also ...

before ending at a junction with

in the center of the village.

History

In 1908, the

created Route 14, an unsigned

legislative route In the United States, a legislative route (LR) or legislative highway is a highway defined by laws passed in a state legislature. The numbering of such highways may or may not correspond to the numbers familiar to the public as part of the state, ...

extending from the city of Corning in the

Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York region of New York State, consisting of counties west of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County and geographically situated along or very near the northern border ...

to the city of Rochester near

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

. In the vicinity of the Ontario County villages of

and Holcomb, Route 14 was routed on modern US 20, Maple Avenue, Main Street, and NY 64. On March 1, 1921, Route 14 was realigned to bypass Holcomb to the south and west on what is now US 20, NY 5, and NY 64. North end of NY 444

The segment of former Route 14 between the intersection of US 20 and Maple Avenue south of Holcomb and the junction of NY 64 and Main Street west of East Bloomfield was designated as NY 20C, a

loop route In road transportation in the United States, a special route is a road in a numbered highway system that diverts a specific segment of related traffic away from another road. They are featured in many highway systems; most are found in the Int ...

of US 20, . In 1990, the villages of East Bloomfield and Holcomb were consolidated to create the village of Bloomfield. That same year, NY 20C was truncated to consist only of the portion of the route between the former "Four Corners" of Holcomb—the intersection of Main Street and Maple Avenue—and US 20. The former portion of NY 20C on Main Street is now maintained by the town of East Bloomfield and the village of Bloomfield; however, it is still defined in

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. stat ...

Highway Law as a

. On September 1, 1996, the state of

assumed ownership and maintenance of Elm Street in Bloomfield and CR 3, the continuation of Elm Street north of the Bloomfield village line to the Victor village line, as part of a county-wide highway maintenance swap. Elm Street had previously been maintained by the village of Bloomfield while CR 3 was maintained by Ontario County. The newly acquired roadway between Bloomfield and Victor and the remaining piece of NY 20C were redesignated as NY 444 on June 2, 1997. The portion of NY 444 within the village of Victor is locally maintained.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{NYSR external links, type=N, nyroutes=yes, termini=yes, route=444

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Transportation in Ontario County, New York

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links