New York State Route 32A (NY 32A) is 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 ...

in the

Hudson Valley The Hudson Valley (also known as the Hudson River Valley) comprises the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in the U.S. state of New York. The region stretches from the Capital District including Albany and Troy south to ...

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 serves as a connector between

NY 32 New York State Route 32 (NY 32) is a north–south state highway that extends for through the Hudson Valley and Capital District, New York, Capital District regions of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is a two-lane sur ...

in the town of Saugerties and NY 23A in the town of Catskill. The road allows traffic from the Saugerties area, particularly from the

New York State Thruway {{Infobox road , state = NY , type = NYST , alternate_name = Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway , maint = NYSTA , map = {{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, type=line, stroke-width=2, type2=line, from2=New Yor ...

, to directly reach the interior of the Greene County portion of Catskill Park. The majority of traffic is tourism-oriented, from

hikers Hiking is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century.AMATO, JOSEPH A. "Mind over Foot: Romantic Walking and Rambling." In ''On Foot: A Histor ...

in summer to

skiers Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IO ...

bound for Hunter Mountain in winter. If NY 32A did not exist, drivers would have to go several miles out of their way to the intersection of NY 32 and NY 23A.

Route description

NY 32A forks off to the west-northwest from

at a junction in the Ulster County town of Saugerties, seven miles (11 km) southwest of

exit 20. The two-lane route runs on level ground, although the

Catskill Escarpment The Catskill Escarpment, often referred to locally as just the Escarpment or the Great Wall of Manitou, and known as the Catskill Front to geologists, is the range forming the northeastern corner of the Catskill Mountains in Greene and Ulster cou ...

looms to the west from many open areas. Heading away from NY 32, the first mile (1.6 km) of the route traverses mostly wooded areas, although there are some open fields near the NY 32 intersection. The road soon begins to run along the south side of

Kaaterskill Creek Kaaterskill Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed October 3, 2011 tributary of Catskill Creek in Greene and Ulster counties in New York. Via Catskill Creek, it is p ...

, and NY 32A follows the stream across the nearby Ulster– Greene county line and into 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 ...

Palenville Palenville is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 1,037 at the 2010 census. Palenville is in the southwestern part of the town of Catskill, located at the junction of Routes ...

. In Palenville, the highway initially serves a handful of scattered homes on the south bank of Kaaterskill Creek. After several blocks, NY 32A briefly turns northward to cross the creek and reach Palenville's small central business district. Here, the route passes Palenville's fire department before ending at a signalized intersection with NY 23A across from the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

-listed

Rowena Memorial School The former Rowena Memorial School is located on NY 23A, at the junction with NY 32A, in Palenville, New York, United States. It is a stone Romanesque style building that educated local students for 70 years. It had fallen into disrepair until it ...

. The junction lies just east of the Catskill Park Blue Line and NY 23A's long climb up

Kaaterskill Clove Kaaterskill Clove is a deep gorge, or valley, in New York's eastern Catskill Mountains, lying just west of the village of Palenville and in Haines Falls. The clove was formed by Kaaterskill Creek, a tributary of Catskill Creek rising west of N ...

toward the Catskill High Peaks.

History

The origins of NY 32A date back to the 1920s when the highway was acquired by the state of New York and first improved to state highway standards. In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the road became part of the new

, which initially had a gap in the route between

and

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. The gap was filled in the early 1940s by a new highway extending from Cairo to a point southeast of Palenville. NY 32 was realigned to bypass Palenville on the new road while its former routing into the hamlet was redesignated as NY 32A.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:New York State Route 032a 032A Transportation in Ulster County, New York Transportation in Greene County, New York

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links