New York State Route 78

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NYS Route 78 marker

NYS Route 78

Map of western New York with NY 78 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NYSDOT, Erie County, and the city of Lockport
Length: 73.49 mi[2] (118.27 km)
Existed: 1930[1] – present
Major junctions
South end: NY 19 near Gainesville village
  NY 400 in East Aurora
US 20 near West Seneca
I-90 / Thruway in Cheektowaga
NY 31 in Lockport
North end: NY 18 in Olcott
Location
Counties: Wyoming, Erie, Niagara
Highway system

Numbered highways in New York
Interstate • U.S. • N.Y. (former) • Reference • County

← I-78 NY 79 →

New York State Route 78 (NY 78) is a 73.49-mile (118.27 km) state highway in western New York in the United States. While it is signed north–south, the southern portion runs in an east–west direction across Wyoming and Erie counties, from its beginning at a junction with NY 19 north of the village of Gainesville to the village of East Aurora. The part of the route north of East Aurora follows a generally north–south alignment to an intersection with NY 18 in the Niagara County town of Olcott, just south of the Lake Ontario shoreline.

The route is most closely identified in the region with Transit Road, a major north–south trunk road through the center of Erie and Niagara counties; however, NY 78 does not follow Transit Road for its entire length, nor does Transit Road comprise more than half its length. The highway joins Transit Road north of East Aurora and stays with the road to its end in the city of Lockport.

Contents

[edit] Route description

Route 78 can be divided into three main segments: the east–west section mostly in Wyoming County, Transit Road, and the section north of Lockport to Lake Ontario.

[edit] Wyoming County to East Aurora

NY 78 begins just north of the small village of Gainesville, at a junction with NY 19. It heads due west, its north–south signage notwithstanding, across rural Wyoming County, its mostly straight route providing exciting dips and rises for the driver as it crosses the gently rolling uplands. At the hamlet of Hermitage, the route actually starts trending to the south. NY 78 is on this heading when it reaches its first junction, NY 362 west of Smiths Corners, running southward from there a short distance to Bliss.

A few miles further on, the southward trend stops. At Waldos Corners, NY 78 turns and for the first time runs north–south. This lasts only two miles as NY 98 intersects from the north at Five Corners and the combined wrong-way concurrency is once again heading west. That situation ends at Java Center, where NY 98 turns left to go south, NY 77 goes north and NY 78 continues straight ahead on a westerly track.

From this area, on clear days, the Buffalo skyline is sometimes visible. NY 78 begins to descend from the Allegheny Plateau as it once again turns north near Java Village and starts following the Buffalo Creek valley into Erie County. Shortly after crossing the county line, the road again begins to turn westward and finally returns to that orientation when it joins with U.S. Route 20A (US 20A). Thus joined, the two routes intersect NY 400 (the Aurora Expressway) and enter the busy village of East Aurora as Big Tree Road.

[edit] Transit Road

Route 20A parts company with NY 78 after East Aurora, but it nevertheless leaves the village still overlapped, this time with NY 16. The two routes parallel the NY 400 expressway until they reach Transit Road, at that point designated as US 20. NY 78 turns north to join US 20 while NY 16 continues toward the city.

Looking north along Transit Road near Williamsville from the Sheridan Drive (NY 324) overpass.

Just north of this intersection is another cloverleaf interchange with NY 400. Serious development begins past this point, and Transit is often four lanes, dividing towns, for many miles past this point as it heads due north along the transit line first surveyed by Joseph Ellicott of the Holland Land Company. This road is named after the instrument used for establishing a very accurate line pointing towards true north, the transit.

US 20 and NY 78 have only one other state highway junction, at Clinton Street, with NY 354, before US 20 goes east while NY 130 goes west at the Broadway junction outside Depew. Several miles to the north, a flurry of junctions with major regional roads — NY 33, the New York State Thruway (Interstate 90 or I-90) and NY 5, occur within two miles (3 km) in the towns of Lancaster and Cheektowaga.

After the NY 5 junction, a busy traffic light, Transit passes the Eastern Hills Mall. A gradual descent begins as Sheridan Drive, NY 324, crosses on an overpass just after the mall, and the road's inerrant, straight course ahead is briefly visible.

North of here, the development begins to ease and large strip malls vanish in favor of smaller mom-and-pop shops and restaurants. The road narrows again to two lanes as it enters the newly-trendy East Amherst area. There are no junctions with existing state highways until the Millersport Highway, NY 263, comes in at an oblique angle from the south. After this, Transit begins once again to widen as it crosses the Tonawanda Creek and enters Niagara County. NY 93 crosses just south of the city of Lockport, and finally the miles-long Transit strip comes to an end just past the NY 31 junction and the Erie Canal.

[edit] North of Lockport

Transit's northern end comes as a residential side street, but by then NY 78 has already left it, following Lake Avenue north from Lockport through some rolling countryside (mostly fields). It runs north, but no longer along the straight course set by Transit. Commercial development returns at the Wright Corners junction, where the highway is briefly concurrent with NY 104.

Beyond Wrights Corners, NY 78 continues north to the small hamlet of Newfane, slowly descending along with the terrain. It reaches its northern terminus at Olcott, a small hamlet on the shore of Lake Ontario once home to a small amusement park but now a collection of cottages. After the junction with NY 18, a short local street continues to the lake shore.

[edit] History

The north–south roadway connecting NY 5 in Amherst to the Lake Ontario shoreline in Olcott via Lockport was originally designated as NY 32 in the mid-1920s.[3][4] In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 32 became part of NY 78,[1] a new route extending from Gainesville in the south to Olcott in the north, mostly along existing but previously unnumbered roads. However, the portion between NY 362 and NY 19 was in the process of being built.[5] NY 78's early routing was identical to its modern alignment except from East Aurora to Depew. Initially, NY 78 headed north from East Aurora to Lancaster by way of Maple Street, Jamison and Bowen roads, and Clinton (NY 354) and Aurora streets before following NY 35 west to Transit Road in Depew.[6]

Ca. 1932, NY 78 was realigned to follow U.S. Route 20 (now U.S. Route 20A) west from East Aurora to Transit Road, where it turned north onto Transit Road and followed it to Depew. The former routing of NY 78 between East Aurora and Lancaster was redesignated as NY 78A.[7][8] NY 78 was rerouted one last time ca. 1939 to overlap with NY 16 northwest from East Aurora to its junction with Transit Road in West Seneca. The realignment bypassed the southernmost portion of Transit Road,[9][10] which became NY 187 in the early 1940s.[11][12]

[edit] NY 78A

NY 78A was an alternate route of NY 78 in Erie County between NY 78 in East Aurora and NY 35 (now U.S. Route 20) in Lancaster. The route began at the modern intersection of Main (then-US 20) and Maple streets in East Aurora and followed Maple Street, Jamison and Bowen roads, and Clinton (NY 354) and Aurora streets to a terminus at Broadway (NY 35) in Lancaster. It was assigned ca. 1932 after NY 78 was rerouted to follow US 20 and Transit Road instead between East Aurora and Depew.[7][8] The NY 78A designation was short-lived as it was removed ca. 1938.[9][13] Its routing is now part of several county routes as well as NY 354.

[edit] Major intersections

County Location Mile[2] Destinations Notes
Wyoming
 Town of Gainesville 0.00 NY 19
Wethersfield 6.67 NY 362 Northern terminus of NY 362
Java 12.58 NY 98 north Eastern terminus of NY 78 / NY 98 overlap
15.19 NY 77 south / NY 98 Hamlet of Java Center; western terminus of NY 78 / NY 98 overlap; southern terminus of NY 77
Erie
 East Aurora 27.77 US 20A east Eastern terminus of US 20A / NY 78 overlap
30.01 NY 400 Interchange
30.76 NY 16 south Eastern terminus of NY 16 / NY 78 overlap
31.82 US 20A west Western terminus of US 20A / NY 78 overlap
Elma 34.87 CR 574 (Jamison Road) Former western terminus of NY 422
West Seneca 37.36 US 20 north / NY 16 Western terminus of NY 16 / NY 78 overlap; southern terminus of US 20 / NY 78 overlap
37.86 NY 400 Interchange
Cheektowaga 39.65 NY 354
Depew 42.55 US 20 east / NY 130 Northern terminus of US 20 / NY 78 overlap; eastern terminus of NY 130
Cheektowaga 45.04 NY 33
45.67 I-90 / Thruway Exit 49 (I-90 / Thruway)
Amherst 46.94 NY 5
47.92 NY 324
54.99 NY 263 Hamlet of Millersport; northern terminus of NY 263
Niagara
 Town of Lockport 58.45 NY 93
City of Lockport 60.93 NY 31
Newfane 65.07 NY 104 west Hamlet of Wrights Corners; southern terminus of NY 78 / NY 104 overlap
65.38 NY 104 east Northern terminus of NY 78 / NY 104 overlap
Olcott 73.49 NY 18
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Dickinson, Leon A. (January 12, 1930). "New Signs for State Highways". The New York Times: p. 136. 
  2. ^ a b "2008 Traffic Volume Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. June 16, 2009. pp. 131–133. https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/hds-respository/Traffic%20Volume%20Report%202008.pdf. Retrieved January 31, 2010. 
  3. ^ "New York's Main Highways Designated by Numbers". The New York Times: p. XX9. December 21, 1924. 
  4. ^ State of New York Department of Public Works (1926). Official Map Showing State Highways and other important roads (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
  5. ^ Automobile Legal Association (ALA) Automobile Green Book, 1930–31 and 1931–32 editions, (Scarborough Motor Guide Co., Boston, 1930 and 1931). The 1930–31 edition shows New York state routes prior to the 1930 renumbering
  6. ^ Standard Oil Company of New York (1930). Road Map of New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
  7. ^ a b Kendall Refining Company (1931). New York (Map). Cartography by H.M. Gousha Company. 
  8. ^ a b Texas Oil Company (1932). Texaco Road Map – New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
  9. ^ a b Thibodeau, William A. (1938). The ALA Green Book (1938–39 ed.). Automobile Legal Association. 
  10. ^ Standard Oil Company (1939). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
  11. ^ Esso (1940). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
  12. ^ Esso (1942). New York with Pictorial Guide (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
  13. ^ Standard Oil Company (1937). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 

[edit] External links

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