New York State Route 85A (NY 85A) is an east–west state highway in Albany County, New York, in the United States. It serves as a , two-lane

alternate route An official alternate route is a special route in the United States that provides an alternate alignment for a highway. They are loop roads and found in many road systems in the United States including the U.S. Highway system and various state a ...

of NY 85 through the town of New Scotland, running from 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 New Salem to the hamlet of New Scotland. While NY 85 bypasses the village of Voorheesville to the south, NY 85A directly serves it, connecting to two state routes inside of the village limits. The route was assigned to its current alignment.

Route description

NY 85A begins at an intersection with NY 85 in the

of New Salem, located in the northwestern portion of the town of New Scotland. It heads northward from the site of the Punkintown Fair as New Salem Road, leaving New Salem for slightly more open areas north of the hamlet. Development along the route remains high, however, as the two-lane road passes by several residential street and serves Clayton A. Bouton High School. About north of New Salem, the route makes a sharp turn to the east, running by another line of homes on its way into the village of Voorheesville. Inside the village, NY 85A becomes known as Helderberg Parkway. As it approaches the center of the village, NY 85A serves Voorheesville Elementary School and meets the eastern end of NY 156. While NY 156 heads northwest out of the village on Altamont Road, NY 85A continues east through Voorheesville's commercial and residential center on Maple Avenue. Along the way, the route passes by a village park and passes under the CSX Transportation-owned Selkirk Subdivision rail line. On the eastern fringe of the village, the route connects to the western terminus of

NY 155 New York State Route 155 (NY 155) is a state highway located entirely within Albany County in the Capital District of New York. The western terminus of the route is at NY 85A in Voorheesville. The eastern terminus is at NY 3 ...

by way of a roundabout. Now under the name Maple Road, NY 85A heads southeast from the village, connecting to several

housing tract Tract housing is a type of housing development in which multiple similar houses are built on a tract (area) of land that is subdivided into smaller lots. Tract housing developments are found in suburb developments that were modeled on the "Levit ...

s and passing by Colonie Country Club. Roughly from NY 155, the highway turns due southward, traversing open fields to return to NY 85 at a junction east of the hamlet of New Scotland.

History

The entirety of modern NY 85A was taken over by the state of New York by 1926 and designated as NY 85A . East of Voorheesville, NY 85A was originally

concurrent Concurrent means happening at the same time. Concurrency, concurrent, or concurrence may refer to: Law * Concurrence, in jurisprudence, the need to prove both ''actus reus'' and ''mens rea'' * Concurring opinion (also called a "concurrence"), a ...

with NY 156 to NY 85, where both routes ended. The overlap between the two routes was eliminated when NY 156 was truncated to Voorheesville at some point between 1950 and 1965.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:New York State Route 085a 085A Transportation in Albany County, New York

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links