New York State Route 86 (NY 86) is a long

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 within

Adirondack Park The Adirondack Park is a part of New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for “the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure”, and for watershed protection. The park ...

in northern

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, linking Franklin County to Essex County. The western terminus of the route is at

NY 30 New York State Route 30 (NY 30) is a state highway in the central part of New York in the United States. It extends for from an interchange with NY 17 (Future Interstate 86) in the Southern Tier to the US–Canada border in t ...

in the hamlet of Paul Smiths. The eastern terminus is at

NY 9N New York State Route 9N (NY 9N) is a north–south state highway in northeastern New York in the United States. It extends from an intersection with U.S. Route 9 (US 9), NY 29, and NY 50 in the city of Saratoga Spri ...

Jay A jay is a member of a number of species of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy, passerine birds in the Crow family (biology), family, Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and the magpies are rather complex. For examp ...

. Although largely a two-lane road, NY 86 is one of only two east–west highways in the High Peaks area of the Adirondack Park (the other being NY 73), providing a major link between hamlets and tourist destinations. NY 86 was established in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, largely replacing a realigned NY 3. North of

Saranac Lake Saranac Lake may refer to: * Saranac Lake, New York, a village in the northern Adirondacks *One of the three nearby Saranac Lakes, part of the Saranac River: **Upper Saranac Lake **Middle Saranac Lake **Lower Saranac Lake Note: There is no lake nam ...

, NY 86 initially followed modern NY 186 before being rerouted onto its modern alignment. The portion of NY 86 north of Harrietstown was once NY 192.

Route description

NY 86 begins at

in Paul Smiths, Franklin County. The route heads east through the town of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, providing mountain views of

. After passing through the tiny communities of Easy Street and Gabriels and traversing the southern edge of

Paul Smiths College Paul Smith's College is a private college in Paul Smiths, New York. Paul Smith's College offers associate and bachelor's degrees. Its 14,000-acre campus is one of the largest college campuses in the world. Approximately 1,000 students attend ...

, NY 86 turns south to serve Harrietstown, where it meets NY 186 at the hamlet of the same name. NY 86 continues southward to

, the largest community on NY 86 in Franklin County. Moving through Saranac Lake, the business and tourism anchor for the area, NY 86 is well marked, but follows local roads to an intersection with NY 3 in the village center. The routes briefly

overlap Overlap may refer to: * In set theory, an overlap of elements shared between sets is called an intersection, as in a Venn diagram. * In music theory, overlap is a synonym for reinterpretation of a chord at the boundary of two musical phrases * Ove ...

before splitting at the northern edge of

Lake Flower Lake Flower is a lake in Franklin County, New York, Franklin County and Essex County, New York, Essex County in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York in the United States. The lake was created by damming the Saranac River in 1827. It was ...

East of NY 3, NY 86 becomes the primary lakeside roadway as it follows the northern and eastern extents of Lake Flower into Essex County. Roughly into the county, NY 86 leaves the lakeshore and turns northeastward toward the small hamlet of Ray Brook. Farther east, the highway travels through the Clifford R. Pettis Memorial Forest before arriving in the village of Lake Placid as Saranac Avenue. NY 86 proceeds eastward through the village, coming within view of Lake Placid before turning south onto Main Street at the western shore of Mirror Lake. As Main, NY 86 runs through the village and along Mirror Lake as the major tourist thoroughfare, passing numerous businesses and the sites of the

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

and

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

. At the southern edge of the village, Route 86 intersects the western terminus of NY 73. Saranac Lake - Lake Flower

Outside of Lake Placid, NY 86 enters the town of Wilmington, home of the Olympic Ski Center at

Whiteface Mountain Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in the U.S. state of New York, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view of the Adirondacks and clea ...

. Through Wilmington, the road largely follows the

Ausable River Au Sable or Ausable may refer to various places: Michigan *Au Sable Township, Iosco County, Michigan **Au Sable, Michigan, an unincorporated community in the above township *Au Sable Township, Roscommon County, Michigan New York *Au Sable, New Y ...

northeastward, providing scenic views as it heads through "Wilmington Notch," noted for trout fishing. At an intersection with the eastern terminus of NY 431 in the hamlet of Wilmington, NY 86 turns eastward and crosses into the town of

, where it terminates at

at the town's village green. Route 86 runs adjacent to the west branch of the Ausable River through a stretch that ''Trout Unlimited's Guide to America's 100 Best Trout Streams'' describes as one of the finest river fishing spots in the United States.

History

What is now NY 86 from Paul Smiths to

via

and Lake Placid was originally part of the

Theodore Roosevelt International Highway The Theodore Roosevelt International Highway was a transcontinental North American highway, from the era of the auto trails, through the United States and Canada that ran from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. Its length was about . Route desc ...

, an

auto trail The system of auto trails was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on utility poles, the trails were intended to help travellers in ...

extending across the

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n continent from the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

to the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

. When the first set of posted routes in

were assigned in 1924, NY 3 was assigned to the entirety of the highway within New York. NY 3 remained in place up to the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York when it was rerouted onto its modern alignment through the North Country. The portion of former NY 3 from Harrietstown to Jay, as well as a section of former

NY 10 New York State Route 10 (NY 10) is a north–south state highway in the Central New York and North Country regions of New York in the United States. It extends for from the Quickway ( NY 17) (Future Interstate 86) in Deposit ...

(modern NY 186) from Harrietstown to

Lake Clear Lake Clear is a hamlet and a lake in Franklin County, New York, United States. The area is named for Lake Clear, part of the original Seven Carries canoe route. It is located in the town of Harrietstown. In the late 19th century, Lake Clear was ...

, was redesignated as NY 86. North of Harrietstown, the former alignment of NY 3 became NY 408 from Harrietstown to Gabriels and the western half of NY 192 from Gabriels to Paul Smiths. NY 408 was co-designated as part of NY 365 , and ultimately supplanted by NY 365 . NY 365 was rerouted in the mid-1940s, leaving the Harrietstown–Gabriels roadway unnumbered. In the early 1950s, NY 365's old routing between Harrietstown and Gabriels was designated as NY 192A, a spur route of NY 192. NY 192A was removed from the state highway system on January 7, 1980, when NY 192 was rerouted east of Gabriels to follow NY 192A. On March 28, 1989, NY 192 was eliminated in much the same way as its spur route as NY 86 was rerouted to follow NY 192 through Gabriels to Paul Smiths. NY 86's former routing past the

Adirondack Regional Airport Adirondack Regional Airport is a public use airport located four nautical miles (5 mi, 7 km) northwest of the central business district of Saranac Lake, in Franklin County, New York, United States. The airport is owned by the ...

became NY 186.

Major intersections

NY 86A

NY 86A was a spur route connecting NY 86 in Lake Placid to

in Keene. It was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York and replaced by an extended NY 73 in the mid-1950s.

References

External links