New York State Route 79 (NY 79) is a east–west state highway in the

Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York region of New York State, consisting of counties west of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County and geographically situated along or very near the northern borde ...

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. The western terminus of the route is at the intersection with NY 414 near the southern end of Seneca Lake just northeast of Watkins Glen. Its eastern terminus is at the Pennsylvania state line in the town of Windsor in Broome County, where it connects to

Pennsylvania Route 92 Pennsylvania Route 92 (PA 92) is a north–south state highway located in northeast Pennsylvania. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 11 (US 11) in West Pittston. The northern terminus is at the New York-Pennsylvania border i ...

(PA 92). NY 79 passes through three regions; it starts in the Finger Lakes region, runs through

Central New York Central New York is the central region of New York State, including the following counties and cities: With a population of about 773,606 (2009) and an area of , the region includes the Syracuse metropolitan area. Definitions The New York S ...

and ends on the western fringes of the

Catskills The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined as those areas cl ...

. The route is signed east–west, but from Whitney Point to the state line it runs in a north–south orientation and is signed north-south a few miles south of Center Village, a hamlet that is a few miles south of Harpursville. Portions of NY 79 parallel waterways. Between Whitney Point and Chenango Forks, it runs along the eastern bank of the

Tioughnioga River The Tioughnioga River () is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Chenango River in central New York in the United States. It drains a dissected ...

. From the town of Colesville to the Pennsylvania border, NY 79 runs along the western bank of the Susquehanna River. NY 79 also begins adjacent to Seneca Lake and passes near

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 a ...

. NY 79 serves the city of Ithaca and connects to three

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

s: Interstate 81 (I-81) near Whitney Point;

I-88 Interstate 88 may refer to either of two United States Interstate highways: * Interstate 88 (Illinois), running from East Moline to Hillside * Interstate 88 (New York) Interstate 88 (I-88) is an Interstate Highway located entirely with ...

in Harpursville; and I-86 in the village of Windsor. The route also passes through the villages of Lisle and Burdett.

Route description

Tompkins County Public Library, Ithaca NY

Schuyler and Tompkins counties

NY 79 begins at an intersection with NY 414 just north of the Watkins Glen village limits in the Schuyler County town of Hector. The route heads north, climbing the side of the large bluff along the eastern edge of Seneca Lake. At the top of the hill, NY 79 enters the village of Burdett as Main Street. As it passes through the village, NY 79 turns eastward as Lake Avenue. East of Burdett, the route passes through the hamlet of Bennettsburg prior to intersecting NY 227. While NY 227 heads north to serve Reynoldsville, NY 79 continues east to Mecklenburg, the site of its junction with NY 228. East of Mecklenburg, NY 79 passes into Tompkins County and the town of Enfield. As Mecklenburg Road, it heads eastward through rolling farmland and hills toward the city of Ithaca. It intersects NY 327 at Enfield Corners in this stretch. As NY 79 approaches downtown Ithaca, it becomes Hector Street and curves to the northeast, then to the southeast as it descends to

. At the base of the hill, the route crosses the Cayuga Inlet and enters downtown, where it splits into a one-way couplet along State Street (eastbound) and Seneca Street (westbound). NY 79 eastbound shifts one block south at Fulton Street ( NY 13,

NY 34 New York State Route 34 (NY 34) is a north–south New York state route located in Central New York. Its southern terminus is at the Pennsylvania state line in the village of Waverly, where it connects to Pennsylvania Route&nbs ...

, and NY 96 southbound) to use Green Street. The one-way couplet ends one block east of Aurora Street at the "Tuning Fork" as Green and Seneca streets merge into East State Street, recently double-named Martin Luther King Jr. Street. NY 79 follows State Street southeastward through eastern Ithaca into the

town of Ithaca The Town of Ithaca is a former local government area of Queensland, Australia, located in inner western Brisbane. History The Ithaca Division was first proclaimed in 1879, and originally covered an area that stretched from Windsor, Kelvin Gr ...

. The portions of NY 79 between the Ithaca west city line and NY 13A, between NY 89/96 and Meadow Street (NY 13/34/96 northbound) and between Green Street and the Ithaca east city line are maintained by the city. The portion of NY 79 east of the city limits is markedly more rural. It heads southeastward as Slaterville Road through the towns of Ithaca,

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 ...

, and

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, serving several small communities along the route. NY 79 crosses into Tioga County upon passing over the west branch of Owego Creek.

Tioga, Broome, and Chenango counties

NY 79's stay in Tioga County is wholly confined to the town of Richford. The routing of NY 79 in Richford is hilly and heavily rural, with the one exception being at NY 79's junction 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 nort ...

in the hamlet of Richford. The route heads into Broome County, where it meets U.S. Route 11 (US 11) in the town of Lisle just east of the Lisle village limits. NY 79 joins US 11 southward along the

to a partial interchange with

I-81 Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Islan ...

at exit 8. The overlap continues to Whitney Point, a village situated at the confluence of the Tioughnioga and

Otselic River The Otselic River (aht-SEEL-ik), formerly known as Otselic Creek, is a tributary of the Tioughnioga River in central New York in the United States. It drains a hilly area, mostly forested and agricultural, east of the Finger Lakes at the norther ...

s. In the village, NY 79 leaves US 11 in favor of a short overlap with

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 Broom ...

across the Tioughnioga River. On the opposite bank, NY 26 and NY 79 split at a junction that also features NY 206. South of Whitney Point, NY 79 continues southeast along the Tioughnioga River to the vicinity of Chenango Forks, where it intersects

NY 12 New York State Route 12 (NY 12) is a state highway extending for through central and northern New York in the United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 11 (US 11) in the town of Chenango (just nor ...

. It briefly joins NY 12 along the banks of the

Chenango River The Chenango River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 tributary of the Susquehanna River in central New York in the United States. It drains a dissecte ...

, then crosses the river and enters the town of Fenton. About , NY 79 veers into

Chenango County Chenango County is a county located in the south-central section U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 47,220. Its county seat is Norwich. The county's name originates from an Oneida word meaning 'large bull-thistl ...

for just under before reentering Broome County. The route heads onward through the rural towns of Fenton and Colesville, where it meets NY 7. NY 79 runs concurrent with NY 7 to Harpursville. Here, NY 79 turns southeast and connects to

. Past I-88, the route follows the western bank of the Susquehanna River southward through Ouaquaga, once a large Iroquois village which was destroyed by the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

in 1778, to the village of Windsor. Inside the village, NY 79 meets NY 17 at an interchange that is also the temporary eastern terminus of I-86's eastern segment. NY 79 continues along the Susquehanna River to the

New York–Pennsylvania border The New York–Pennsylvania border is the state line between the U.S. states of New York and Pennsylvania. It has three sections: * Along the center line of the Delaware River from the Tri-States Monument tripoint with New Jersey at the confluenc ...

, where the road becomes PA 92 upon crossing the state line.

History

From Lisle to its western end, NY 79 almost exactly follows the Catskill Turnpike, originally maintained by the Susquehanna and Bath Turnpike Company, which also maintained the Catskill Turnpike east to Bainbridge along NY 206, and east along local roads and NY 54 to Bath. The only notable deviations are local, for easier grades, including along the "hogback" eskers near Center Lisle, and the westbound climb out of Ithaca as a looping Hector Street in place of the original straight climb from halfway up that street (still visible as a right-of-way). NY 79 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. It initially began at NY 15 (modern NY 96) in

Trumansburg Trumansburg is a village in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 1,797 at the 2010 census. The name incorporates a misspelling of the surname of the founder, Abner Treman. The Tremans spelled their surname several different ...

and ended at the Pennsylvania state line south of the village of Windsor. In between, NY 79 passed through Mecklenburg,

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, and Harpursville. Also assigned as part of the renumbering was NY 227, a highway connecting NY 79 in Perry City to NY 44 (now NY 414) in Watkins Glen. The Perry City–Trumansburg portion of NY 79 became an extension of NY 227 in the early 1940s. NY 79 was then truncated southward to its junction with NY 227 in Perry City. In the early 1960s, NY 79 was rerouted to follow a previously unnumbered highway west of Mecklenburg to NY 227. From there, NY 79 continued to Watkins Glen over the routing of NY 227. As a result, NY 227 was truncated to its current southern terminus south of Reynoldsville. The former routing of NY 79 from Mecklenburg to Perry City became part of an extended NY 228. On April 4, 2022, work began to replace the bridge that carries NY 79 over the Chenengo River. The new bridge will be built about upstream of the current bridge. The $12.6 million project is expected to be completed by Fall 2023.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:New York State Route 079 079 Transportation in Broome County, New York Transportation in Chenango County, New York Transportation in Schuyler County, New York Transportation in Tioga County, New York Transportation in Tompkins County, New York