New York State Route 319 (NY 319) was a

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 ...

Chenango County Chenango County is a county located in the south-central section U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,220. Its county seat is Norwich. The county's name originates from an Oneida word meaning 'large bull-thistle ...

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 was long and connected 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 Preston to the nearby city of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

. The route began in the hamlet at an intersection with three county-maintained highways and proceeded eastward through the town of Preston to downtown Norwich, where it terminated at an intersection with

NY 12 New York State Route 12 (NY 12) is a state highway extending for through central and northern New York (state), New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 11 in New York, U.S. Route 11 (US ...

. What became NY 319 was originally built during the early 19th century as the Norwich and Preston Turnpike, one of many privately maintained turnpikes in the state of

. The state of New York assumed ownership of the turnpike's routing in the early 20th century, and the Preston–Norwich state highway was designated as NY 319 as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. Maintenance of NY 319 was split between the state and the city of Norwich, with the

New York State Department of Transportation The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and aviation facilities in ...

(NYSDOT) handling the part of the route west of the city limits. In 1962, 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 ...

approved a highway maintenance swap that would transfer the state-maintained section of NY 319 to Chenango County when a new alignment was constructed for

NY 23 New York State Route 23 (NY 23) is an east–west state highway in the eastern portion of New York in the United States. It extends for from an intersection with NY 26 in the Central New York town of Cincinnatus in Cortland County ...

through the northwestern part of the county. The project was completed in July 1984, at which time the NY 319 designation was completely removed and Chenango County assumed maintenance of the route's former alignment west of Norwich. The new county road was redesignated County Route 10A (CR 10A).

Route description

NY 319 began at an intersection with three county routes ( CR 4, CR 10, and CR 19) in the hamlet of Preston, a small community in the northern portion of the town of the same name. The highway proceeded eastward, climbing the side of a hill approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

at its peak. NY 319 briefly descended to cross a creek then continued climbing, reaching an elevation of near Packer–Mason Cemetery. The route slowly descended in elevation from the cemetery, crossing Gilmore Brook on its way into the town of Norwich, where it intersected CR 19 for a second time just east of the town line. Past CR 19, the highway turned southeastward to descend the side of a ridge overlooking the city of Norwich. At the bottom of the descent, the route turned eastward and crossed over Canasawacta Creek, a tributary of the Chenango River, as it entered the city of Norwich and became known as West Main Street. In Norwich, NY 319 served Emmanuel Episcopal Church and passed through the

Chenango County Courthouse District Chenango County Courthouse District is a national historic district that includes a historic courthouse located at Norwich in Chenango County, New York. The district has 45 contributing buildings and includes two parks, governmental buildings, ...

, established in 1975 in the city's downtown area. In the center of the historic district, NY 319 reached its eastern terminus at its intersection with

(Broad Street). West Main Street becomes East Main Street at this junction, and the latter continues eastward as NY 990L, one of New York's reference routes.

History

Norwich and Preston Turnpike

The town of Norwich was created on January 19, 1793, comprising a much larger area than it does today. On April 2, 1806, part of the town was split off to form a new town named Preston. A charter on April 8, 1808, established the Norwich and Preston Turnpike, a

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...

connecting the town of Preston in the west to the town of Norwich in the east. The Norwich and Preston Turnpike was privately owned and maintained, as most turnpikes in

were at the time. The routing of the Norwich and Preston Turnpike was taken over by the state of New York in the early 20th century. On December 14, 1907, a contract was let to improve a long portion of the former turnpike. Construction cost $57,714 (equivalent to $ in ) and was completed by late 1908. The improved highway was added to the state highway system on November 16, 1908, as State Highway 598 (SH 598). A second contract to improve an additional of the turnpike was let on April 9, 1910. Work on this segment cost approximately $6,000 (equivalent to $ in ) and was completed by mid-1911. This section of the turnpike was added to the state highway system on July 22, 1911 as SH 598A. The first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924; however, none of the former Norwich and Preston Turnpike was assigned a designation at that time.

Designation and removal

In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, several of the routes assigned during the 1920s were renumbered or modified. At the same time, hundreds of state-maintained highways which did not yet have a route number, such as the Preston–Norwich state highway, were assigned one. The road was designated as NY 319 and maintained by the

west of the

city limits and by the city of Norwich within the city. The alignment of NY 319 remained unchanged for the next half-century. Chenango 10A EB at 19

Ownership and maintenance of NY 319 west of the Norwich city limits was slated to be transferred from the state of New York to

as part of a highway maintenance swap approved by the

and signed into law on February 13, 1962. However, the swap in maintenance was contingent on the construction and completion of a new alignment for

in northwestern Chenango County. The new road would extend from the Chenango– Cortland county border in the town of

Pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

to Scotts Corners in the town of

Pharsalia ''De Bello Civili'' (; ''On the Civil War''), more commonly referred to as the ''Pharsalia'', is a Roman epic poem written by the poet Lucan, detailing the civil war between Julius Caesar and the forces of the Roman Senate led by Pompey the Gre ...

, a point west of the hamlet of North Pharsalia. At the time, NY 23 began at

NY 26 New York State Route 26 (NY 26) is a north–south state highway that runs for through Central New York in the United States. Its southern terminus is located at the Pennsylvania state line south of the town of Vestal in Broo ...

in northwest Pharsalia and followed an easterly and southerly routing to Scotts Corners, where it turned eastward onto its modern alignment. The portion of the exchange describing the roads that would be transferred to Chenango County is written in New York State Highway Law as follows, with annotations in parentheses:

to enter an official order of abandonment to the county of Chenango of that portion of state highway eight hundred seven (NY 23) easterly and southeasterly from state highways eight thousand one hundred sixty-one and six hundred sixty-three (NY 26) to its intersection with the ew alignment of NY 23 all of state highways five hundred ninety-eight-a and five hundred ninety-eight (NY 319)

The new highway in the towns of Pitcher and Pharsalia was completed in July 1984, at which time NY 23 was rerouted to follow the highway and the entirety of the pre-approved highway maintenance swap went into effect. Thus, ownership and maintenance of NY 23's old alignment through Pharsalia and the entirety of NY 319 west of Norwich was transferred to Chenango County. The former alignment of NY 23 became CR 42 while the now county-maintained section of NY 319 was redesignated CR 10A, a spur of the pre-existing CR 10. The NY 319 designation was also removed from West Main Street in the city of Norwich at this time.

Post-designation

In 1997, the bridge that had carried NY 319 over Gilmore Brook in the town of Preston was replaced. The new structure handles an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

of 1,154 vehicles per day. Farther east, the bridge over Canasawacta Creek was also reconstructed in 1997. It was built in 1937 and carries an average of 2,093 cars per day.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{featured article 319 Transportation in Chenango County, New York