New York State Route 251 (NY 251) is an east–west

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 ...

western New York Western New York (WNY) is the westernmost region of the U.S. state of New York. The eastern boundary of the region is not consistently defined by state agencies or those who call themselves "Western New Yorkers". Almost all sources agree WNY in ...

in the United States. It extends for from an intersection with NY 383 in Scottsville,

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

, to an intersection with

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 Sout ...

in the town of Victor, Ontario County. NY 251 connects to

Interstate 390 Interstate 390 (I-390) is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway located entirely within New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at the Southern Tier Expressway (I-86 and New York State Route 17 Y 17 ...

(I-390) in

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

and serves the village of Honeoye Falls (via NY 65) and 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 Mendon within the town of the same name. The route, a two-lane, rural highway for much of its length, also intersects

NY 15 New York State Route 15 (NY 15) is a north–south state highway located in western New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is officially at Interstate 390 (I-390) exit 3 south of the village of Wayl ...

and NY 64, two north–south highways leading to 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 ...

and the

Finger Lakes The Finger Lakes are a group of eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes located south of Lake Ontario in an area called the ''Finger Lakes region'' in New York, in the United States. This region straddles the northern and transitional ...

, respectively. Two sections of the route—from south of Scottsville to Rush and from Mendon to western Victor—follow linear east–west alignments. All but of the route are located in Monroe County. From 1911 to 1921, the north–south section of modern NY 251 near Scottsville was part of Route 15, 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, ...

assigned 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 ...

. The first portion of what is now NY 251 to receive a posted designation was the segment east of NY 64 in Mendon, which was part of the signed

from 1924 to 1930. In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 251 was assigned to an alignment extending from

Gates Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to: People * Gates (surname), various people with the last name * Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player * Gates McFadde ...

to Victor via Scottsville, utilizing modern NY 386 north of Scottsville and its current alignment east of the village. NY 251 was truncated to begin at NY 383 in Scottsville on July 1, 1977, at which time the former routing of NY 251 between Scottsville and Gates became part of an extended NY 386.

Route description

NY 251 begins at an intersection with NY 383 in the center of the village of Scottsville, located within the town of Wheatland. It departs Scottsville to the south as River Road and crosses over

Oatka Creek Oatka Creek ( ) is the third longest tributary of the Genesee River, located entirely in the Western New York region of the U.S. state of New York. From southern Wyoming County, it flows to the Genesee near Scottsville, draining an area of th ...

before meeting Quaker Road at a rural intersection just south of the village. While River Road continues southward as the unsigned NY 940H, NY 251 turns east to begin its east–west trek across the mostly undeveloped southern portion of

. After roughly , it crosses over the

Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...

and into the town of

, becoming Rush–Scottsville Road in the process. Just inside the town line, NY 251 passes through the

of Industry, a location centered around NY 251's

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 ...

with the

Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad The Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad is a short line railroad that operates in Livingston County and Monroe County in New York, United States. The railroad interchanges with CSX at Genesee Junction in Chili, New York, the Rochester and Sou ...

and the adjacent

Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum The Rochester and Genesee Valley Railroad Museum (RGVRRM) is an operating railroad museum located in Industry, New York, a hamlet within the town of Rush. The museum started in 1971 with the purchase of a former Erie Railroad Depot from the Erie ...

Midway through the town of Rush, NY 251 widens from two to four lanes and meets I-390 at exit 11. Just east of the freeway, NY 251 intersects

, which is also served by exit 11 by way of a pair of short collector/distributor roads paralleling I-390 from NY 251 to NY 15. Past NY 15, the route reverts to a two-lane highway and veers southeast to parallel

Honeoye Creek Honeoye Creek ( )Honeoye Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
''honeoyelakechamber.org'', accessed March 16, 2012 ...

into the hamlet of Rush. Here, the route passes through a more populated area as it intersects NY 15A in the center of the community, at which point it becomes Rush–Mendon Road. NY 251 continues to follow Honeoye Creek through progressively less developed areas and into the town of Mendon, where the creek curves southward toward Honeoye Falls at Rochester Junction. The highway, however, turns northeastward to meet NY 65 at a

roundabout A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...

. The northeasterly routing of NY 251 continues to Mendon Center, a small hamlet near the southern tip of

Mendon Ponds Park Mendon Ponds Park is a county park located southeast of Rochester, New York within the suburban towns of Mendon and Pittsford. At over , it is the largest park in Monroe County. It was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1967 in recognit ...

, where it turns eastward once more. NY 251 continues across open fields to the densely populated hamlet of Mendon, where it has a junction with NY 64 in the center of the community. East of the junction, NY 251 becomes Victor–Mendon Road as it heads out of Mendon. About from NY 64, the open surroundings return as the route crosses into the Ontario County town of

Victor The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

. NY 251 continues on a virtual east–west line for its first in the county, heading through slightly more developed but still sparsely populated areas. At Phillips Road, the route curves southeastward for before making one final turn to the northeast. On this last stretch, NY 251 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 ...

and ends at a junction with

northwest of the village of Victor.

History

The westernmost portion of what is now NY 251 between NY 383 in Scottsville and the junction of River and Quaker Roads south of the village was once part of Route 15, an unsigned

assigned by the

. Route 15 was extended northward from its original terminus in

Caledonia Caledonia (; ) was the Latin name used by the Roman Empire to refer to the part of Great Britain () that lies north of the River Forth, which includes most of the land area of Scotland. Today, it is used as a romantic or poetic name for all ...

to Scottsville via River Road on July 24, 1911; however, it was realigned on March 1, 1921, to enter Scottsville on modern NY 383 instead. When the first set of posted routes were assigned in New York in 1924, this piece of modern NY 251 did not receive a designation. Another section did, however, as the portion extending from Mendon east to

was designated as part of

. In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 15 was rerouted between Victor and Pittsford to follow current

. The former routing of NY 15 from Victor to Mendon became part of NY 251,''Automobile Legal Association (ALA) Automobile Green Book'', 1930–31 and 1931–32 editions, (Scarborough Motor Guide Co., Boston, 1930 and 1931). The 1930–31 edition shows New York state routes prior to the 1930 renumbering a new highway extending from NY 15 in Victor to NY 33 in

via Chili and Scottsville. West of Scottsville, NY 251 was routed on modern NY 383 and NY 386. From 1930 to , the River Road section of NY 251

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 ...

ped with NY 35, which initially entered

on the former routing of legislative Route 15 and continued north to

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

on current NY 383. The southwestern end of NY 35 was moved to Mumford , shifting the location of the overlap to Main Street in Scottsville. The concurrency was replaced with one with NY 383 when it supplanted most of NY 35 in the early 1940s. On July 1, 1977, NY 251 was truncated to begin at the eastern end of its overlap with NY 383 in Scottsville. The former routing of NY 251 from the west end of the concurrency in Scottsville to Gates became an extension of NY 386, which was a simple connector in northern Gates and southern

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

prior to the change.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{NYSR external links, type=N, nyroutes=yes, termini=yes, route=251 251 Transportation in Monroe County, New York Transportation in Ontario County, New York

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links