WikiPortallus: New York State Route 28.html

NY 28 was originally assigned in 1924 to an alignment extending from Colliersville in the south to Utica in the north via Ilion. From Colliersville to Cooperstown, the highway followed its current routing (excluding minor realignments); north of Cooperstown, NY 28 was routed along several state highways that now have other designations. The route was extended south to Kingston and north to Warrensburg as part of the 1930 renumbering. At the same time, Route 28 was realigned between Cooperstown and Mohawk to follow its modern routing. Other than minor realignments in Kingston, Oneonta, and Oneida County, NY 28 has remained the same to this day.

Route description

Ulster County

New York State Route 28's southern terminus is with NY 32 (Albany Avenue) in the city of Kingston. The route heads north, then northwest on Colonel Chandler Drive, a four-lane limited-access highway. The roadway is also designated and signed as Interstate 587, which begins at NY 32 as well. Although Colonel Chandler Drive is built to Interstate Highway standards, it has no intermediary interchanges. After crossing over the Esopus Creek into Ulster, I-587 terminates at a roundabout linking I-587 and NY 28 to the New York State Thruway (Interstate 87) at exit 19.³

West of I-87, the route enters the Catskill Park limits and becomes the Onteora Trail. Although still four lanes wide, the route is no longer a limited-access highway as it has an at-grade intersection with Modica Lane, a local dead-end street, just west of where it passes over the Thruway. Not long afterward, the highway meets U.S. Route 209 by way of a cloverleaf interchange. Past US 209, the highway enters a rural area as it heads northwest into the center of the state park.³

Near the eastern tip of the Ashokan Reservoir, in the town of Kingston, Route 28 intersects the eastern terminus of NY 28A. West of NY 28A, Route 28 continues towards the north and west along the northern edge of the reservoir. In West Hurley, the route intersects the southern terminus of NY 375. It proceeds along the reservoir to its western end in the town of Olive community of Boiceville, where NY 28A reconnects to the route. North of the reservoir, the route continues along Esopus Creek into the town of Shandaken. Within Shandaken, NY 28 heads north through the hamlets of Mount Tremper (where it meets the southern terminus of NY 212) and Phoenicia (situated at the junction between Route 28 and the southern end of NY 214).³

Past Phoenicia, both Esopus Creek and Route 28 curve to the northwest as they approach the hamlet of Shandaken. Here, Route 28 intersects the southern terminus of NY 42's northern segment. The highway then heads southwest to the community of Big Indian. Esopus Creek turns south here; however, the road once again turns northwest along Birch Creek to the former village (now hamlet) of Pine Hill. After exiting Pine Hill, the route continues independent of a waterway for the first time as it passes the Belleayre Ski Center in Highmount on its way out of Catskill Park and into Delaware County.³

Delaware and Otsego Counties

Across the county line in Middletown, the highway shifts towards the west. Route 28 begins a concurrency with New York State Route 30 in Margaretville, with the routes paralleling the East Branch of the Delaware River. After crossing the Delaware River, the route ends its concurrency with Route 30, and NY 28 continues northwest through Andes as Main Street and Delaware Avenue. In the village of Delhi, the highway becomes known as Andes Road and has a short concurrency with New York State Route 10 in the village center. North of Delhi, it continues north towards the hamlet of Meredith, proceeding west past the hamlet. In Franklin, Route 28 makes a 90-degree turn to the north at the intersection with the eastern end of New York State Route 357.³

Once in Otsego County, it traverses an s-curve before veering to the east to follow the southern bank of the Susquehanna River through the town of Oneonta. The route initially connects to the city of Oneonta, which is located across the river from Route 28, via Main Street. Shortly afterward, Route 28 meets Route 23. The route turns north, overlapping Route 23 along the four-lane James F. Lettis Highway. The two routes cross the River and enter the Oneonta city limits before separating at Interstate 88 exit 15. NY 23 continues north on the arterial; however, NY 28 joins I-88 eastward out of the city.³

Back in the town of Oneonta, the overlap between Route 28 and I-88 continues along the northern bank of the Susquehanna toward the hamlet of Emmons, where the expressway interchanges with County Route 47 at exit 16. The overlap ends at exit 17 in Milford; however, New York State Route 28 remains in close proximity to the Susquehanna River, which turns northward at the interchange. Roughly 0.75 miles (1.21 km) north of I-88, the highway passes over Route 7 with no access between the two. After another 0.75 miles (1.21 km), the route meets D.K. Lifgren Drive³ (unsigned Route 992G),⁴ a connector providing access between Routes 7 and 28. North of Goodyear Lake, a body of water situated 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Lifgren Drive, the highway parallels the Susquehanna to the village of Milford, where it intersects the southern terminus of Route 166.³

The highway continues northward along the banks of the Susquehanna to the village of Cooperstown, home to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Inside the village, the route is initially known as Chestnut Street. Two blocks from the business district of the village, it intersects Route 80, which occupies Chestnut Street north of this point. Both routes turn west, overlapping each other as the routes leave the village.³ The portion of the highway between the southern border of the village of Cooperstown and the northern intersection with Grove Street is maintained by the village, and is the only section of the route not maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT).⁵ Routes 28 and 80 head towards the northwest, passing by the now-abandoned Cooperstown Airport. In Otsego, the Route 28/80 concurrency ends. It continues northward as it passes Canadarago Lake. In Richfield Springs, the highway has a concurrency with U.S. Route 20 for 0.5 miles (0.80 km). North of Route 20, the highway exits Otsego County.³

Herkimer and Oneida Counties

Route 28 briefly reenters Herkimer County, but does not have any major junctions. Route 28 passes the Fulton Chain Lakes, among several other large lakes, as it winds through the Adirondack Park.³

Hamilton and Warren Counties

The Fulton Chain Lakes which Route 28 has been following extend into Hamilton County. The highway soon reaches the settlement of Long Lake as it passes south of Raquette Lake. In the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake, the route begins a concurrency with New York State Route 30; the concurrency ends in the hamlet of Indian Lake. East of Route 30, Route 28 begins to shift towards the south.³

Route 28 enters Warren County paralleling the Hudson River. In North Creek, it intersects the southern terminus of New York State Route 28N. The highway continues towards the south opposite to its original course. In Wevertown, it intersects New York State Route 8. It continues towards the southeast paralleling the Hudson River and in Warrensburg, Route 28 comes to an end at a "Y" intersection with U.S. Route 9.³

History

Ulster and Delaware Turnpike

In 1802, the Ulster and Delaware Turnpike was chartered by the New York State Legislature "for improving and making a road from the west line of the Town of Salisbury in the State of Connecticut to the Susquehanna River at or near the Town of Jericho (now Bainbridge)".⁶ The portion of the Ulster and Delaware Turnpike east of the Hudson River was also commonly known as the Ulster and Salisbury Turnpike or the Salisbury Turnpike. West of the river, the turnpike connected Kingston to modern-day Bainbridge. It then followed modern NY 28 west from Kingston up to the hamlet of Andes. From Andes, the turnpike alignment left NY 28 to follow modern Delaware County Road 2 to De Lancey, NY 10 to Walton, and NY 206 to the Village of Bainbridge.⁷ The turnpike crossed the river via the Kingston-Rhinecliff Ferry and used modern Rhinecliff Road and West Market Street to the village center of Rhinecliff, then roughly followed modern-day NY 308 to the hamlet of Eighmyville.⁸ It continued east from there using part of present-day County Route 52 to eventually connect with and follow the route of current NY 199.⁹ The turnpike corporation operated through the late 19th century.

Designation

NY 28 was designated in 1924 by the New York State Department of Transportation from Colliersville (near Oneonta) north to Utica.² At the time, NY 28 began at then-NY 9 in Colliersville and headed north on its current alignment to Cooperstown. NY 28 separated from its modern routing and continued to Springfield north of Cooperstown on what is now NY 80. Between Springfield and Richfield Springs, the highway utilized what is now U.S. Route 20. At Richfield Springs, the highway turned north onto modern NY 167 and followed the current alignments of NY 167—NY 168, and NY 5S, as well as a small portion of its current alignment in Mohawk—north, then west, through Ilion to its terminus in Utica.¹⁰

In 1924, what is now NY 28 was part of New York State Route 19 from Kingston to Margaretville (where NY 19 turned north to follow modern NY 30 to Grand Gorge), NY 9 from Oneonta to Colliersville, Route 28 from Colliersville to Cooperstown, NY 2 from Trenton to Forestport, and NY 10 from North Creek to Wevertown. The remaining portions of modern NY 28 were unnumbered.²¹⁰ By 1926, the portion of current NY 28 from Margaretville to Meredith was designated as part of New York State Route 64. Past Meredith, NY 64 continued north to NY 23 on Palmerville Road, McDougal Road, Rathbun Road, and Prosser Hollow Road. Additionally, the segment of modern Route 28 from Middleville to Trenton was designated as part of NY 29.¹⁰

In the 1930 renumbering, NY 28 was extended south from Colliersville to Kingston largely by way of its current alignment along the Ulster and Delaware Turnpike. North of Cooperstown, the route was realigned to follow its modern routing between Cooperstown and Mohawk, then extended into the North Country through Wevertown¹¹ to Warrensburg along its present alignment.¹² Between Colliersville and Cooperstown, the route remained unchanged.¹¹

Realignments

In Oneida County, NY 28 originally broke from its modern alignment southeast of Barneveld to follow modern County Route 56 into the village. At Mappa Avenue, then carrying NY 12, NY 28 turned north, overlapping NY 12 north along Mappa Avenue through the village. Outside of Barneveld, NY 12 and NY 28 were routed on Plank Road and what is now County Route 82 before rejoining their modern alignment near the Remsen community of East Steuben.¹³ By 1947, NY 28 was rerouted slightly to enter Barneveld via an extension of Trenton Falls Road and Mappa Avenue.¹⁴ Both NY 12 and NY 28 were realigned onto a new four-lane roadway from Barneveld to East Steuben in the 1950s.¹⁵¹⁶

Within Kingston, NY 28 initially began at the intersection of Broadway and East Chester Street, which was part of U.S. Route 9W at the time. From there, NY 28 followed Broadway, Albany Avenue, Clinton Avenue, North Front Street, and Washington Avenue through the city to Ulster, where it joined its modern routing at what is now the roundabout leading to New York State Thruway exit 19.¹⁴ When the initial plans for the Interstate Highway System were outlined by the Bureau of Public Roads in the 1955 Yellow Book, a highway was planned for the NY 28 corridor.¹⁷ This highway was included as part of the 1,500-mile (2,400 km) expansion to the system in 1957. Construction began on the roadway, which became Colonel Chandler Drive, in December 1958. It was designated as I-587 and became part of a rerouted NY 28 upon its completion in July 1960.¹⁸¹⁹ NY 28 continued to extend eastward from Colonel Chandler Drive along Broadway to US 9W until its truncation to NY 32 in the early 1980s.²⁰²¹ Washington Avenue, bypassed by the new limited-access highway, is now designated as New York State Route 981K, an unsigned reference route 0.41 miles (0.66 km) in length, from Hurley Avenue to NY 28.¹

In the vicinity of Oneonta, NY 28 originally crossed the Susquehanna River by way of Main Street. The route then followed Main through the city to Colliersville, where it turned north onto D.K. Lifgren Drive to rejoin its modern alignment. From downtown Oneonta to Colliersville, NY 28 overlapped NY 7. NY 28 was rerouted to follow its current alignment between Main Street south of Oneonta and D.K. Lifgren Drive near Colliersville in the early 1980s following the completion of what is now NY 28 from Interstate 88 exit 17 to D.K. Lifgren Drive.²²²³²⁴²⁵ The portion of Main Street between NY 28 and NY 7 (0.67 miles (1.08 km) long) is now designated as New York State Route 992D while D.K. Lifgren Drive (0.50 miles (0.80 km) in length) is now New York State Route 992G.¹

Memorial designations

On June 14, 2004, Governor George E. Pataki announced that a 1 mi (1.6 km) portion of the highway in the Town of Hurley in Ulster County was to be designated as the New York State Troopers T. Michael Kelly and Kenneth A. Poorman Memorial Highway. During May 2000, troopers Kelly and Poorman were killed on this stretch of Route 28, when their police cruiser was struck by a tractor-trailer.²⁶

Suffixed routes