New York State Route 75 (NY 75) is a north–south
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
Erie County, New York
Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York State. As of the 2020 census, the population was 954,236. The county seat is Buffalo, which makes up about 28% of the county's population. Both the county and Lake Erie w ...
, in the United States. It extends for from an intersection with
NY 39 in the
Collins
Collins may refer to:
People Surname
Given name
* Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat
* Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration
* Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...
hamlet of Collins Center to an interchange with
NY 5
New York State Route 5 (NY 5) is a state highway that extends for across the state of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley and passes through Buffalo, Sy ...
in the
town of Hamburg. The route passes through the
village of Hamburg, which serves as the northern terminus of a
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 ...
between
U.S. Route 62 (US 62) and NY 75. Past Hamburg, NY 75 connects to the
New York State Thruway (
Interstate 90 or I-90) northwest of the village before ending a short distance from
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...
. The portion of NY 75 south of Hamburg is a two-lane rural highway; in contrast, the section north of the village is four lanes wide and serves commercial and residential areas.
The origins of NY 75 date back to 1930 when New York State Route 62 was assigned to an alignment extending from
Great Valley to
Buffalo via Hamburg and
Athol Springs. NY 62 was renumbered to NY 75 to eliminate numerical duplication with US 62, and the route was truncated to end in Hamburg in the late 1930s after most of it became part of
US 219. The section of modern NY 75 south of Hamburg was initially New York State Route 18A, an alternate route of then-
NY 18
New York State Route 18 (NY 18) is an east–west state highway in western New York in the United States. It runs parallel to the south shore of Lake Ontario for most of its length between Niagara County and Monroe County. NY 18, ...
through Collins and
Eden created in 1930. NY 18 was truncated on January 1, 1962 to begin in
Niagara County
Niagara County is in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 212,666. The county seat is Lockport. The county name is from the Iroquois word ''Onguiaahra''; meaning ''the strait'' or ''thunder of waters''.
Niaga ...
, at which time NY 18A became part of NY 75.
Route description
NY 75 begins at an intersection with
NY 39 in Collins Center, a small
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 ...
in the town of
Collins
Collins may refer to:
People Surname
Given name
* Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat
* Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration
* Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...
. It initially heads northeastward as the two-lane Sisson Highway, serving a handful of homes on the northern edge of the community prior to entering an open area dominated by farmland. About from NY 39, the road curves northward, taking on a due north alignment as it heads across the rolling terrain that comprises most of northern Collins. The highway serves just one community, the hamlet of Whites Corners, on its way into the adjacent
town of North Collins. Here, development along NY 75 remains limited at first, consisting of only a handful of isolated farms situated among fields or one of several forested areas. It quickly passes through
Marshfield, located just past the town line, on its way toward
Langford. A brief stretch of homes begins about into the town as the route enters Langford, located north of Collins Center.
![US 62-NY 75 south in Hamburg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/US_62-NY_75_south_in_Hamburg.jpg)
In the center of the community, NY 75 intersects Langford Road, designated as
NY 249
New York State Route 249 (NY 249) is a long state highway located within Erie County, New York, in the United States. It runs east–west across southwestern Erie County from the shores of Lake Erie in the village of Farnham to the ha ...
west of the junction and
County Route 39 (CR 39) east of NY 75. Past NY 249, the route exits Langford and heads across another stretch of fields and farms toward the
Eden town line. NY 75 breaks from its due north routing just south of it, taking on a more westerly heading to avoid a valley surrounding the south branch of Eighteenmile Creek. It ultimately enters the valley, however, winding its way northward down the depression's southwestern side to reach the creek floor. From here, NY 75 follows the base of the valley to the northwest for , serving a handful of homes situated along the forested creekside. The route eventually climbs out of the gully and heads due north for a short distance across more fields to a junction with
US 62.
At this point, NY 75 turns northeastward,
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 ...
ping with US 62 into the nearby
town of Hamburg along Gowanda State Road. Development along the highway quickly rises in density from a large farm and a pocket of homes at the start of the concurrency to a series of residential streets across the town line that make up the hamlet of
Water Valley. The influx of homes brings US 62 and NY 75 across the main channel of Eighteenmile Creek and into the
village of Hamburg, where the highway changes names to Pierce Avenue. The two routes remain concurrent for three blocks to an intersection with Lake Avenue, where Pierce Avenue becomes Main Street. While US 62 continues east into Hamburg's central business district on Main Street, NY 75 follows Lake Street northward along the mostly residential western edge of the village.
![NY 75 north in Hamburg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/NY_75_north_in_Hamburg.jpg)
Outside of the village, NY 75 becomes Camp Road and begins to parallel the
Buffalo Southern Railroad, separated from NY 75 by only a row of homes and businesses. While on this stretch, the highway widens from two to four lanes. After , the route makes a turn to the northwest, passing under the railroad and entering the southeastern portion of a commercial strip that follows NY 75 for to
New York State Thruway (
I-90) exit 57. It continues past the Thruway for another before ceasing at a junction with
US 20. Continuing on, the highway remains four lanes wide but serves primarily residential areas located in and around
Athol Springs, a hamlet on the shores of
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also h ...
.
Just outside Athol Springs, NY 75 passes under two railroad bridges, carrying the
Norfolk Southern Railway-owned Lake Erie District line and the
CSX Transportation-owned
Lake Shore Subdivision line over the highway. On the other side of the overpasses, NY 75 curves northeastward as it becomes Saint Francis Drive, leaving Camp Road to continue northwestward to the lake as a two-lane street. The route continues on, passing south of
Saint Francis High School before ending shortly afterward at a partial interchange with
NY 5
New York State Route 5 (NY 5) is a state highway that extends for across the state of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley and passes through Buffalo, Sy ...
. NY 75 northbound merges directly into NY 5 eastbound, a limited-access highway, while NY 75 southbound begins as an offshoot of NY 5 westbound. The remaining connections are made by way of a loop road leading from Big Tree Road, which NY 5 and NY 75 both intersect just south of the interchange.
History
![Former NY 18A alignment in Athol Springs](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Former_NY_18A_alignment_in_Athol_Springs.jpg)
All of what is now NY 75 was state-maintained by 1926. In the
1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the portion of modern NY 75 north of the
village of Hamburg was designated as part of
NY 62, a highway extending from
Great Valley north to
Buffalo.
The section between Collins Center and
Eden gained a designation in 1930 when it became part of NY 18A, an alternate route of then-
NY 18
New York State Route 18 (NY 18) is an east–west state highway in western New York in the United States. It runs parallel to the south shore of Lake Ontario for most of its length between Niagara County and Monroe County. NY 18, ...
between
Collins
Collins may refer to:
People Surname
Given name
* Collins O. Bright (1917–?), Sierra Leonean diplomat
* Collins Chabane (1960–2015), South African Minister of Public Service and Administration
* Collins Cheboi (born 1987), Kenyan middle- ...
and Eden.
NY 18A
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 39 between 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 ...
s of Collins (where NY 18A began at NY 18) and Collins Center,
from where the route followed Sisson Highway north to rejoin NY 18 in Eden.
US 62 was extended into
New York . As a result, the portion of NY 62 south of 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
Athol Springs was renumbered to NY 75 to eliminate numerical duplication with the new U.S. Highway. The remainder of old NY 62 became part of an extended
NY 5
New York State Route 5 (NY 5) is a state highway that extends for across the state of New York in the United States. It begins at the Pennsylvania state line in the Chautauqua County town of Ripley and passes through Buffalo, Sy ...
.
When
US 219 was extended into New York , it was overlaid on the pre-existing NY 75 from Great Valley to Hamburg, creating a lengthy overlap with the route. The overlap was eliminated in the late 1930s when NY 75 was truncated on its southern end to the village of Hamburg. Similarly, NY 18A was truncated to Collins Center on its southern end in the 1950s, eliminating its overlap with NY 39.
NY 18 continued to extend south of
Niagara County
Niagara County is in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 212,666. The county seat is Lockport. The county name is from the Iroquois word ''Onguiaahra''; meaning ''the strait'' or ''thunder of waters''.
Niaga ...
until on January 1, 1962 when it was truncated to begin north of Hamburg in
Lewiston. NY 18A, now separated from its parent route, became an extension of NY 75, which connected to NY 18A's former routing by way of an overlap with US 62 between Hamburg and Eden.
Major intersections
See also
*
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:New York State Route 075
075
Transportation in Erie County, New York