New York State Route 39 (NY 39) is an east–west
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
western portion of
New York in the United States. It begins and ends at intersections with
U.S. Route 20 (US 20) apart. The western terminus of NY 39 is east of
Fredonia in the
Chautauqua County town of
Sheridan
Sheridan may refer to:
People
Surname
*Sheridan (surname)
*Philip Sheridan (1831–1888), U.S. Army general after whom the Sheridan tank is named
*Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), Irish playwright (''The Rivals''), poet and politician
...
, while the eastern terminus is in the
Livingston County village of
Avon. At its east end, NY 39 also ends at
NY 5, which is
concurrent to US 20 at this point. NY 39 serves several villages, including
Gowanda and
Geneseo, and intersects a handful of major north–south highways, such as
US 219 in
Springville and
NY 19 near
Pike. Most of the route is a two-lane highway that passes through rural, undeveloped areas.
NY 39 was assigned as part of the
1930 renumbering of state highways in New York to an alignment extending from
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France. in the west to
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...
in the east via Pike,
Dansville, and
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...
. From Pike eastward, NY 39 used large parts of modern
NY 436 and
NY 245. At the time, what is now NY 39 northeast of Pike was part of then-NY 245 from Pike to
Perry and US 20 from outside of
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
to Avon. US 20 was realigned between Geneseo and East Avon to follow a more easterly alignment via
Lakeville Lakeville may refer to:
Canada
*Wilmot Parish, New Brunswick#Lakeville, Lakeville, a local service district north of Woodstock, New Brunswick
**Lakeville, Carleton County, New Brunswick, a community within the local service district
*Lakeville, Wes ...
, at which time the Geneseo–Avon highway became New York State Route 20D. Over the next decade, the Pike–Perry–Avon highway underwent several designation changes, culminating with the realignment of NY 39 onto it . The route was cut back to its current western terminus in the mid-1960s.
Route description
All but of NY 39 is maintained by the
New York State Department of Transportation
The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is the department of the Government of New York (state), New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, Rail transport, railroads, mass transit systems ...
(NYSDOT). The lone non-state-maintained segment lies within the
village of Geneseo, where the route is maintained by the village from the east end of the
overlap with
US 20A to North Street, a local east–west street four blocks to the north of US 20A.
Sheridan to Gowanda
NY 39 begins at an intersection with
US 20 at the southern extent of the town of
Sheridan
Sheridan may refer to:
People
Surname
*Sheridan (surname)
*Philip Sheridan (1831–1888), U.S. Army general after whom the Sheridan tank is named
*Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816), Irish playwright (''The Rivals''), poet and politician
...
, located northeast of the village of
Fredonia and southeast of the city of
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France. . Heading east, NY 39 passes farmland and other undeveloped areas as it intersects a number of
Chautauqua County routes. The most notable of these is
County Route 85 (CR 85),
which was once
NY 428 north of where it meets NY 39 in the hamlet of
Forestville.
Although NY 39 crosses many county routes as it makes its way across the towns of Sheridan and
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
, it does not intersect another state-maintained route until it crosses into
Cattaraugus County
Cattaraugus County (locally known as Catt County) is a county in Western New York, with one side bordering Pennsylvania. As of the United States 2020 census, the population was 77,042. The county seat is Little Valley. The county was create ...
. Across the county line, NY 39 enters the
hamlet of Perrysburg, centered around the route's junction with
CR 58, locally known as North Road.
South of this point, CR 58 was once part of
NY 353.
To the east, NY 39 briefly turns northward before following West Main Street eastward into the creekside village of
Gowanda. It continues east to the village's business district, located adjacent to
Cattaraugus Creek, where the route intersects
US 62. The two routes form a northward
concurrency, jointly occupying West Main Street to the bridge traversing Cattaraugus Creek a mere to the northeast, where the road name becomes East Main Street and the county becomes
Erie County on the other side of the waterway. US 62 and NY 39 break from East Main Street later, following Buffalo Street northward through a mostly residential neighborhood. At the northern edge of the village, the two routes change direction again, turning east onto Sandhill Road. Buffalo Street continues to be a touring route, however, as
NY 438 continues north on Buffalo Street toward the
Cattaraugus Indian Reservation
Cattaraugus Reservation is an Indian reservation of the federally recognized Seneca Nation of Indians, formerly part of the Iroquois Confederacy located in New York. As of the 2000 census, the Indian reservation had a total population of 2,412. Its ...
.
Erie County and vicinity
Outside of Gowanda, US 62 and NY 39 take on a more northerly routing to the town of
Collins, where the two routes split in the town center. US 62 continues northward towards
Buffalo on Gowanda–Buffalo Road while NY 39 takes Main Street east out of town. In Collins Center to the east, NY 39 intersects the southern terminus of the Sisson Highway,
NY 75. Past the hamlet, NY 39 heads generally northeastward across of open areas to the village of
Springville. West of the village, NY 39 meets the
Southern Expressway (
US 219) at an interchange. Not far to the east is a junction with the heavily commercialized Cascade Drive,
the newer of US 219's two former routings through Springville.
NY 39 continues east past Cascade Drive and into the village, where it becomes Main Street. In the village's central business district, NY 39 crosses Buffalo Street,
US 219's original alignment through Springville.
The route continues on, meeting
NY 240 at the eastern village line before proceeding into another rural area dominated by farmlands. From Springville to
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, NY 39 closely parallels the northern bank of Cattaraugus Creek as it heads to the northeast. The route crosses the creek later in the town of
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, aft ...
, where it intersects
NY 16 east of the town center. NY 16 and NY 39 come together for a brief overlap that leads NY 39 south across the creek and back into Cattaraugus County. They split just south of the creek in the town of
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
, at which point NY 39 heads east for to enter
Wyoming County.
Wyoming County
In the neighboring
village of Arcade, NY 39 remains Main Street, acting as the primary east–west road through town. It crosses two railroad lines, the
Buffalo Line
The Buffalo Line is a railroad line owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway in the U.S. states of New York and Pennsylvania. The line runs from Buffalo, New York southeast to Rockville, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania along a former Penn ...
that is owned by the
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...
and operated by the
Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad
The Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad is a Class II railroad operating in New York and Pennsylvania.
The BPRR is owned by Genesee & Wyoming. Its main line runs between Buffalo, New York and Eidenau, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. Here, conne ...
and the
Arcade and Attica Railroad (ARA), by way of two
grade crossing
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term a ...
s immediately after entering the village. The route continues on through the lightly developed western half of Arcade, crossing the ARA a second time before both reach the more populated village center. Here, the railroad crosses NY 39 a third and final time before connecting to
NY 98
New York State Route 98 (NY 98) is a state highway in the western part of New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at an intersection with U.S. Route 219 (US 219) in the town of Great Valley in C ...
at Liberty Street.
That route overlaps with NY 39 for a mere east to Water Street, where NY 98 resumes its northward trek toward
Batavia. After another , Arcade abruptly ends, giving way to more fields of farmland, a common sight along NY 39 from here eastward.
About northeast of Arcade in the hamlet of
Bliss, NY 39 intersects the southern terminus of
NY 362, a short north-south connector linking NY 39 to
NY 78. After another , NY 39 connects to the north–south
NY 19 outside of the hamlet of
Pike. At this point, NY 39 turns to the northeast, a direction that it proceeds in for most of the remainder of its routing. The first of this stretch overlaps with NY 19, which eventually splits from NY 39 to proceed north to
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
. NY 39 continues on, connecting to the western terminus of
NY 436 in the hamlet of
Lamont before intersecting
NY 19A southwest of the
village of Castile.
NY 19A, an easterly alternate route of NY 19, merges with NY 39, following the latter for to an unorthodox intersection southwest of the village. Heading west on NY 39, traffic is diverted onto a ramp leading to NY 19A, where commuters must turn left onto NY 19A to continue west on NY 39. Eastbound NY 39, however, has no such configuration, allowing eastbound traffic to remain on NY 39 through the intersection. Between Castile and the
village of Perry, NY 39 assumes a slightly more northerly alignment, paralleling the edges of
Silver Lake a half-mile to the northwest and
Letchworth State Park to the southeast. Upon entering Perry, NY 39 shifts to a northeasterly alignment once again as it intersects
NY 246 in the village center. East of the village, NY 39 switches counties for the final time as the road crosses into
Livingston County.
Livingston County
Northeast of where NY 39 enters the county but southwest of the
village of Leicester, NY 39 intersects
US 20A in an area known as Pine Tavern. The two routes fuse together and head northeast to Leicester, where they descend into a valley surrounding the
Genesee River and form a short concurrency with
NY 36 in the village center. NY 36 enters from the north and travels east along US 20A and NY 39 for prior to continuing south to Pennsylvania, leaving US 20A and NY 39 to continue east. They serve
Cuylerville, a small hamlet on the outskirts of Leicester, before crossing over the Genesee River and climbing the eastern face of the valley to reach a junction with
NY 63. Like NY 19A near Castile, NY 63 overlaps US 20A/NY 39 for just before it forks from the route at the southernmost point of the
SUNY Geneseo campus.
While NY 63 runs along the western edge of the college, US 20A and NY 39 follow the eastern edge of SUNY Geneseo northward to the village center. Here, the two routes meet
Mary Jemison Drive, an east–west street that serves that the only connection between NY 39 west and NY 63 north. At the same intersection, US 20A and NY 39 turn east onto South Street; however, the concurrency terminates just one block later at Main Street. Here, NY 39 turns north, leaving US 20A to proceed east toward the
Finger Lakes.
Outside of Geneseo, NY 39 becomes Avon Road, a name it retains to the outskirts of the
village of Avon. As it enters Avon, the farmlands give way to more developed, mostly residential areas. Now named Wadsworth Avenue, NY 39 passes west of a large
Kraft Foods plant that occupies a large portion of southwestern Avon. North of the plant, the route heads past residential neighborhoods to the west and commercial establishments situated on the
Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad (LAL) to the east. NY 39 ends about from the plant at a junction with US 20 and
NY 5 west of the center of Avon and just west of where those two routes cross the LAL at-grade.
History
The modern routing of NY 39 between
Geneseo and
Avon was originally designated as part of
NY 36 in the mid-1920s. Around the same time, the piece between Pine Tavern and Geneseo became part of
NY 35. In 1927, the portion of NY 35 between
East Aurora
East Aurora is a village in Erie County, New York, United States, southeast of Buffalo. It lies in the eastern half of the town of Aurora. The village population was 5,998 per the 2020 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metr ...
and Geneseo and the segment of NY 36 from Geneseo to Avon were incorporated into
US 20, a new cross-state
U.S. Highway that continued east from Avon toward
Albany and west from Pine Tavern toward
Buffalo. As a result, NY 36 was truncated to its junction with US 20 in Leicester. In Avon, US 20 was routed on Wadsworth Avenue, Spring Street, and Genesee Street.
NY 39 was assigned as part of the
1930 renumbering of state highways in New York and originally extended from
NY 20A (now
NY 5) in
Dunkirk
Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France. to US 20 and NY 5 west of the
city of Geneva. In between, NY 39 passed through the villages of
Pike,
Dansville,
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...
, and
Rushville. The portion of the route from Dansville to Geneva had previously been designated as
NY 52.
At the same time, a highway connecting Pike to Perry Center via
Castile and
Perry village was designated as
NY 245.
US 20 was realigned between Geneseo and East Avon to use
NY 254 (current
US 20A) and
NY 2 (now
NY 15) instead. The former routing of US 20 between Geneseo and Avon was redesignated as NY 20D.
NY 245 was realigned north of Perry to follow a new highway (modern NY 39) to an intersection with US 20 southwest of Leicester .
US 20 was realigned to follow its modern routing between Hamburg and Avon. Its former alignment between Hamburg and Geneseo became part of
NY 20A, which continued north from Geneseo to Avon over NY 20D. By the following year, the Hamburg–Geneseo segment of NY 20A was included in the new US 20A while the Geneseo–Avon portion became part of a realigned
NY 254.
The routings of NY 39 and NY 245 east of Pike were swapped in the fall of 1939,
placing NY 245 on a routing extending from Pike to Geneva and NY 39 on its modern alignment to Leicester. NY 39 was also extended northeast to Avon as part of the change, supplanting NY 254.
The portion of NY 39 within Avon was rerouted to follow Wadsworth Avenue to West Main Street (US 20 and NY 5) in the early 1950s.
In Dunkirk, NY 39 originally began at the intersection of East Lake Shore Drive (NY 5) and Main Street. From there, it followed Main Street, Franklin Avenue, and Roberts Road to US 20.
NY 39 was truncated to its current western terminus east of the city in the mid-1960s; however, the portion of its former routing outside of the Dunkirk city limits remained state maintained as an unsigned
reference route, NY 837.
On April 1, 1980, ownership and maintenance of it was transferred from the state of
New York to
Chautauqua County as part of a highway maintenance swap between the two levels of government. The Roberts Road segment of NY 39's former alignment is now part of
CR 81 while the Main Street portion is now the northernmost part of
NY 60.
Major intersections
See also
*
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:New York State Route 039
039
Transportation in Erie County, New York
Transportation in Wyoming County, New York
Transportation in Chautauqua County, New York
Transportation in Cattaraugus County, New York
Transportation in Livingston County, New York
U.S. Route 20