New York State Route 55
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| Basic data | |
| Overall length: | 122.45 mi. / 197 km |
| Opening: | 1930 |
| Starting point: |
 NY 97 / PA 434 in Barryville
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| End point: |
 CT 55 in Wingdale
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| Counties: |
Sullivan County , Ulster County , Dutchess County |
New York State Route 55 (NY 55) is a state route in the south of the US state of New York . It runs from the Pennsylvania border on the Delaware River in Barryville to the Connecticut state border at Wingdale . The road is the only state route along with New York State Route 7 that completely traverses the state from west to east.
Together with New York State Route 52 , the course of which is almost parallel and with which there is a short common section within Liberty , it forms the backbone of internal traffic in the Hudson Valley in an east-west direction. The landscapes change along the route; From farmland and forests on the Pennsylvania border to urbanized Poughkeepsie , the route passes two reservoirs for New York City in the Catskill Mountains and crosses Shawangunk Ridge and Mid-Hudson Bridge .
Route description
From the Delaware River to Liberty
NY 55 begins at the Barryville – Shohola Bridge over the Delaware River, where Pennsylvania State Route 434 ends in Shohola Township in Pennsylvania and continues as NY 55 in the south of Sullivan County on the New York side in the hamlet of Barryville. There she crosses the New York State Route 97, which runs along the riverside . From here on, the route leads almost due north through the south-western, heavily forested corner of the county.
After passing the Toronto Reservoir , which serves the nearby communities, the route reaches the junction with New York State Route 17B in White Lake , approximately 15 miles from the starting point. NY 55 and NY 17B run together about 1.4 km eastwards around the southern end of the reservoir before NY 55 again takes a northerly direction. As the route leaves the lake behind, it heads northeast through a quiet resort, Swan Lake, and finally after 17.6 km it reaches Liberty .
In Liberty, NY 55 meets NY 52, which shares two blocks of streets before eventually taking a more direct east course and out of town. Until 2000, New York State Route 17 , the future Interstate 86 , was accessed via NY 52 or a neighboring street, then an exit was built with Exit 100A that enabled access from NY 55 to NY 17 eastwards .
Catskill Montains
After Liberty, Route 55 enters a less densely populated region of the county, climbs up to Neversink Reservoir , where it is the only state route to cross the dam of a New York City drinking water reservoir. The track then crosses the Blue Line into Catskill Park .
Just a short distance from it, Sullivan County Route 19 joins here from the north - the street was once the middle section of New York State Route 42 , and in fact there are old traffic signs in this area after the confluence, on which the two road numbers 42 and 55 together are shown. In the next settlement, the hamlet of Grahamsville , 13 miles east of Liberty, the current New York State Route 42 joins from the south.
The highway runs through the Grahamsville Historic District and past the Tri-Valley Central School . At Rondout Reservoir , New York State Route 55A branches off to follow the north bank, while NY 55 follows the south bank into Ulster County for 9 miles .
Not far from the Merriman Dam at the eastern end of the Rondout Reservoir, both roads meet again. NY 55 then slowly descends into the valley and winds the next 9 km along Rondout Creek to Napanoch , where it joins the northeastern US Highway 209 .
US 44 and Shawangunks
At a Valero Energy Corporation gas station directly south of Kerhonkson , 6.4 km north of Napanoch, NY 55 swings eastwards again, along with US Highway 44 , which begins at this point. Both highways run together over a longer section and start the ascent to Shawangunk Ridge .
About three and a half kilometers further, in a section in which the road is only limited on one side by a stone wall, a wide panoramic view to the northwest opens up, covering a large area of the Catskill Mountains. Slide Mountain is the highest mountain in the mountain range, and a little further north, Devil's Path is visible in all its glory. This section of the route is more than 1500 meters long and rest areas at the roadside allow you to stop and enjoy the view.
The highway continues through the landscape of gnarled forests and scattered rocks that make up the north of the Shawangunks. The road passes the main entrance to the Minnewaska State Park Preserve , which has miles of hiking trails, picnic areas, and a popular glacial lake . The forests along the highway grow higher up the road before the parking lots at the Mohonk Preserve are reached, just under two kilometers further.
Here on the eastern flank of the mountain range are the white cliffs that lure hikers to the area. A parking lot allows you to stop and take a look at these rocks and the landscape of the Hudson Valley below.
Immediately afterwards, the road bends and drops steeply to an extremely tight hairpin bend , where the signposted maximum speed is 5 miles per hour (around 8 km / h). This corner was incorrectly referred to as the site of the serious motorcycle accident in which Bob Dylan was injured in 1966 .
Hudson Valley
Below the curve, after the highway passed the Mohonk Preserve visitor center, New York State Route 299 branches off eastwards towards New Paltz . US 44 / NY 55 continue south, but return to a more easterly course, cross the Wallkill River and run through the calm Gardiner and cross New York State Route 208 , about 1,500 m east of the hamlet at an intersection, known as Ireland Corners.
From then on, the road winds through the farmland and apple orchards in this region, crossing under the New York State Thruway between the hamlets of Modena and Ardonia. There is no direct driveway, but further east there is an access via New York State Route 299 . In Modena, NY 55 crosses New York State Route 32 , a major north-south connection on the Hudson River.
East of Modena, the road begins to climb through Clintondale to the glacial ridge that separates the area from the river. A short descent in the further course of the route leads after another three kilometers down to Highland , a small unincorporated settlement directly across from Poughkeepsie . Immediately after the village, the route makes a curve to connect to US Highway 9W, which leads south . The highways run for around one and a half kilometers to the ramp to the Mid-Hudson Bridge tollbooth, past petrol stations and fast-food restaurants .
Poughkeepsie
The road then goes down and bends south. In a deep rock cut it leads to the bridge, which it crosses eastwards. Immediately after reaching the city limits, driveways lead to the highway-like US Highway 9 , which runs along the river and to the nearby train station.
In Poughkeepsie, where NY 44 and NY 55 are the main highways, both highways share, with one route serving westbound traffic and the other serving eastbound traffic. In the eastern part of the city, both routes run together again between the junction with New York State Route 376 and Vassar College , then they finally separate.
Prior to the construction of the east-west thoroughfare in the 1970s, NY 44 and NY 55 followed Church Street to the intersection with Main Street and then eastwards to the outskirts of the city where the two routes forked.
Dutchess County
From the separation of the two routes, NY 55 initially runs eastward via LaGrange and the connection with the Taconic State Parkway to New York State Route 82 near Billings, from where the highway follows a more south-easterly direction.
It thus leads to the eastern endpoint of New York State Route 216 in Poughquag and then into the hill country of the Town of Beekman , where the route crosses the Appalachian Trail and the north end of New York State Route 292 is. The route then leads down into the Harlem Valley and reaches just south of Pawling the New York State Route 22 .
Instead of ending at this main link in a north-south direction, NY 55 follows the route for about eleven kilometers and turns east at Webutuck. From there NY 55 winds to the state line in Connecticut, which it reaches after three miles. From there, the highway continues eastwards as Connecticut State Route 55 and ends at the intersection with US Highway 7 .
history
Farmers' Turnpike
Between the junction with Ulster County Route 7 west of Gardiner and US Highway 9W, US 44 / NY 55 follows the Farmers' Turnpike, which was built in March 1808 by a private company to transport agricultural goods from the area around Gardiner and to facilitate the loading facilities on the Hudson River in Milton .
At that time the route followed the northern section of the Albany Post Road (Ulster County Route 9) over the Shawangunk Kill and then on its southern bank to the ford at Wallkill just south of the confluence.
Previous history
The section between Pawling and Wingdale was part of New York State Route 22 in 1924 . In 1926, the short section between what is now New York State Route 216 and New York State Route 292 at Poughquag was signposted as part of what was then State Route 39 . The remainder of today's route was not a state route until re-numbering in 1930.
When the route was renumbered, New York State Route 55 was set as it is today, with the exception of minor changes east of Poughquag, between New York State Route 97 in Barryville and State Route 22 in Pawling. The route was expanded before 1935 along NY 22 to Wingdale and eastward to Connecticut.
NY 55A
The New York State Route 55A is a 15.3 km long alternate route on the north bank of Rondout reservoir between Graham Ville and Napanoch .
See also
Web links
- Mid-Hudson Bridge Official Site
- Mid-Hudson Bridge @ NYCROADS.com
- NY 55 @ State-Ends.com
- New York Routes - New York State Route 55
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b History ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) at mylocalgov.com.
- ^ New York's Main Highways Designated by Numbers . In: The New York Times , December 21, 1924, pp. XX9.
- ^ Rand McNally Auto Road Atlas (eastern New York) . Rand McNally , 1926 (Retrieved October 18, 2007).
- ^ Automobile Legal Association (ALA) Automobile Green Book. Issues from 1930/31 and 1931/32, (Scarborough Motor Guide Co., Boston, 1930 and 1931).
- ^ Sun Oil Company (1935). Road Map & Historical Guide - New York [map]. Cartography by Rand McNally and Company.
- ↑ 2007 Traffic Data Report for New York State ( English , PDF) New York State Department of Transportation . SS 189. July 25, 2008. Retrieved February 7, 2009.