New York State Route 366 (NY 366) is an east–west
state highway located entirely within
Tompkins County in 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 ...
region of
New York in the United States. It runs for from State Street (
NY 79) just east of downtown
Ithaca
Ithaca most commonly refers to:
*Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey''
*Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca
*Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College
Ithaca, Ithaka ...
to
NY 38
New York State Route 38 (NY 38) is a north–south state highway in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with NY 96 in the town of Owego in Tioga County. The north ...
in
Freeville. NY 366 parallels Fall Creek from
Varna to Freeville and passes along the southern edge of the
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
campus. NY 366 was assigned as part of the
1930 renumbering of state highways in New York; however, it was initially nothing more than a connector between
NY 13 in
Etna and NY 38 in Freeville. In the 1960s, NY 13 was moved onto a new expressway bypassing Ithaca to the west and north. The former surface routing of NY 13 into downtown Ithaca became an extension of NY 366.
Route description
NY 366 begins at an intersection with
NY 79 (East State Street) in the city of
Ithaca
Ithaca most commonly refers to:
*Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey''
*Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca
*Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College
Ithaca, Ithaka ...
. NY 366 proceeds eastward along Mitchell Street, a two-lane residential street until the intersecting with Ithaca Road, where NY 366 turns to the north on Ithaca. Mitchell Street continues eastward, becoming County Route 110 (CR 110) at the city line. This intersection also served as the former western terminus of
NY 393
New York State Route 393 (NY 393) was an east–west state highway in Tompkins County, New York, in the United States. It was a spur route that connected the downtown district of the city of Ithaca to the Ithaca– Dryden town line. The ...
, a designation eliminated in 1980. NY 366 enters the neighborhood of North Belle Sherman, bending northward as Dryden Road after the intersection with Maple Avenue. After the intersection, NY 366 passes along the southern edge of the campus for
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
. Heading northeast out of the city, the route intersects with
CR 122 (Caldwell Road) at the eastern edge of the campus. After leaving Ithaca, NY 366 enters the town of
Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
, intersecting with the former eastern terminus of
NY 392
New York State Route 392 (NY 392) is an east–west state highway in the Southern Tier region of New York in the United States. The western terminus of the route is at an intersection with the concurrency of NY 13 and NY 3 ...
, Forest Home Drive, before entering the hamlet of Varna. Varna consists of a stretch of residential homes on each side of NY 366.
![NY 366 at NY 79 in Ithaca](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/NY_366_at_NY_79_in_Ithaca.jpg)
NY 366 turns to the northeast through Dryden, intersecting the northern terminus of
CR 161 (Turkey Hill Road) before intersecting with
NY 13 after Baker Hill Road. NY 13 and NY 366 form a concurrency on this stretch, as a four-lane arterial known still as Dryden Road. The roads parallel Fall Creek nearby, eventually narrowing in lanes. At the intersection with Main Street, NY 13 continues eastward, while NY 366 turns northward on Main Street, entering the hamlet of Etna. In Etna, NY 366 intersects with
CR 109 (Etna Lane) on the shore of Fall Creek. The two routes are concurrent for less than a block before CR 109 heads eastward towards NY 13. NY 366 parallels Fall Creek through Dryden, sticking as a two-lane local road before entering the town of
Freeville. In Freeville, NY 366 retains its Main Street moniker, but becomes a residential street before intersecting with
NY 38
New York State Route 38 (NY 38) is a north–south state highway in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with NY 96 in the town of Owego in Tioga County. The north ...
(Railroad Street / Groton Road). This intersection serves as the eastern terminus for NY 366, but the right-of-way continues out of Freeville as
CR 105 (Fall Creek Road) toward the hamlet of Red Mills.
History
In 1908, 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 officia ...
created Route 9, 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, ...
that ran from the
Southern Tier to
Bouckville via
Ithaca
Ithaca most commonly refers to:
*Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey''
*Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca
*Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College
Ithaca, Ithaka ...
and
Cortland. Route 9 exited the city of Ithaca on Forest Home Drive to near
Varna, where it picked up modern NY 366 east through
Etna to
Freeville, then continuing southeastward toward
Dryden
''
John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate.
He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...
on what is now
NY 38
New York State Route 38 (NY 38) is a north–south state highway in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with NY 96 in the town of Owego in Tioga County. The north ...
.
When the first set of posted routes in
New York were assigned in 1924, the segment of legislative Route 9 between Varna and Etna became part of
NY 13. Unlike Route 9 before it, NY 13 bypassed Freeville to the south in favor of a direct alignment between Etna and Dryden.
![NY 366 at Embassy Inn](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/NY_366_at_Embassy_Inn.jpg)
Also assigned at this time was
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 ...
, a highway that initially extended from Ithaca to
Syracuse via
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
The m ...
and
Skaneateles. NY 26 began in downtown Ithaca and
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
* O ...
ped with NY 13 east to Etna, where it turned northeast to follow old legislative Route 9 to Freeville. Past Freeville, the route continued northward toward Syracuse on modern NY 38.
The overlap between NY 13 and NY 26 was eliminated in the late 1920s when NY 26 was truncated to begin at the former east end of the concurrency in Etna.
In the
1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the NY 26 designation was reassigned to
another highway off to the east. The southernmost portion of NY 26's former routing between Etna and Freeville was redesignated as NY 366.
NY 13 was realigned to bypass the
Cornell University
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
grounds to the south on State (
NY 79) and Mitchell streets and Ithaca and Dryden roads. Its old alignment through the college became
NY 392
New York State Route 392 (NY 392) is an east–west state highway in the Southern Tier region of New York in the United States. The western terminus of the route is at an intersection with the concurrency of NY 13 and NY 3 ...
. In the early 1960s, a new expressway was built along the eastern shore of
Cayuga Lake
Cayuga Lake (,,) is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area (marginally smaller than Seneca Lake) and second largest in volume. It is just under long. Its average width is , and it is ...
, bypassing downtown Ithaca to the west and north. NY 13 was altered to follow Meadow Street and the freeway between southwestern Ithaca and the
town of Dryden while the portion of NY 13's old routing that did not
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
* O ...
NY 79 became a westward extension of NY 366.
Major intersections
See also
*
References
External links
{{NYSR external links, type=N, nyroutes=yes, termini=yes, route=366
366
__NOTOC__
Year 366 ( CCCLXVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gratianus and Dagalaifus (or, less frequently, year 1119 '' Ab urbe condita''). The denomina ...
Transportation in Tompkins County, New York