New York State Route 425

NYS Route 425
Map of western New York with NY 425 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NYSDOT and the city of North Tonawanda
Length:	23.85 mi[2] (38.38 km)
Existed:	1930[1] – present
Major junctions
South end:	I-290 in Tonawanda
	US 62 in North Tonawanda
North end:	NY 18 in Wilson
Location
Counties:	Erie, Niagara
Highway system
Numbered highways in New York Interstate • U.S. • N.Y. (former) • Reference • County ← NY 424 NY 426 →

New York State Route 425 (NY 425) is a 23.85-mile (38.38 km) New York state highway that runs from NY 18 in Wilson, New York on the shore of Lake Ontario to a connection with Interstate 290 in the Town of Tonawanda. Between North Tonawanda and Tonawanda it is known as the Twin Cities Memorial Highway.

Route description

Southern terminus of NY 425 at I-290

Route 425 has two distinct sections, the Twin Cities Highway section in the Tonawandas, short but heavily trafficked; and the more lightly used two-lane stretch through most of Niagara County. Niagara Falls Boulevard (U.S. Route 62) makes a rough divider between the two sections.

Tonawandas

NY 425 begins in the town of Tonawanda where Colvin Boulevard crosses the Youngmann Expressway (Interstate 290). It immediately becomes a divided four-lane highway with exits as it crosses the eastern half of the city of Tonawanda, running due north. Once past Tonawanda Creek and into North Tonawanda, there are traffic lights and at-grade intersections.

At Wheatfield Street, 425 forks to the northeast and becomes two-lane Erie Avenue, which is maintained by the City of North Tonawanda, still passing very well-developed terrain all the way to Niagara Falls Boulevard.

North to Wilson

As Shawnee Road, 425 returns to its northerly course, passing one major community, Wheatfield, as it continues through the open fields of central Niagara County. Traffic in the Wheatfield section has increased due to urban sprawl, as suburbs are developing northward. The only major highway junction is at NY 31. North of there, it descends the Niagara Escarpment, then briefly follows the east–west Lower Mountain Road to get to its final route north along Cambria-Wilson Road.

This crosses both NY 104 and NY 93 in close succession, near the western end of their concurrency. A few miles beyond, it finally reaches Wilson and becomes Lake Street before ending at NY 18 near the shores of Lake Ontario.

History

Misshaped Interstate 290 shields in Tonawanda along East Niagara Street at NY 425

The portion of modern NY 425 between U.S. Route 62 in North Tonawanda and the intersection of Cambria–Wilson Road and Lower Mountain Road in Cambria was designated as part of Route 20, an unsigned legislative route, by the New York State Legislature on March 1, 1921.^[3][4] When the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, all of legislative Route 20 west of Rochester became part of NY 3, a cross-state route that began in North Tonawanda and ended in Plattsburgh.^[5][6] In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 3 was realigned to follow what is now NY 31 to Niagara Falls.^[7] The former routing of NY 3 between North Tonawanda and Cambria became part of NY 425, a new route that continued north to NY 18 in Wilson by way of Cambria–Wilson Road and an overlap with NY 3.^[1][8]

Initially, NY 425 overlapped NY 93 between North Ridge and Lower Mountain Roads.^[1] Ca. 1932, NY 3 was realigned in the towns of Cambria and Lockport to follow Saunders Settlement Road (now NY 31) between NY 425 and the city of Lockport. Its former routing to the north became NY 3A even though the entirety of the alignment was already part of either NY 425 or NY 93.^[9][10] The NY 3A designation was eliminated ca. 1935 when NY 3 was truncated eastward to a new western terminus in central New York.^[11][12] The overlap with NY 93 was eliminated in the early 1940s after that route was realigned onto North Ridge Road, U.S. Route 104, and Junction Road between NY 425 and Upper Mountain Road.^[13][14] NY 425 was extended southward into North Tonawanda by 1947, following Erie Avenue and Wheatfield Street to a new terminus at NY 429 (Oliver Street) in downtown.^[15]

In the mid-1960s, construction began on a new divided highway connecting NY 425 in North Tonawanda to Interstate 290 in Tonawanda.^[16][17] The highway, known as the Twin Cities Memorial Highway, was initially designated as NY 950H, an unsigned reference route,^[2] upon opening in the early 1970s.^{[citation needed]} It became part of a rerouted NY 425 between 1970 and 1977.^[18][19] When first built, the Twin Cities Memorial Highway was planned to continue as a divided highway north through North Tonawanda and Wheatfield to connect with the LaSalle Expressway in Niagara Falls via the Belt Expressway.^[20] Although the connection was never built, evidence of the initial plans are visible at the respective termini of each highway.^[21][22] The Twin Cities Expressway, along with the LaSalle Expressway and the Milestrip Expressway were intended to be part of an "outer loop" similar to the one in Rochester linking Buffalo's outer suburbs, but it was never completed due to lack of funding.

Major intersections

County	Location	Mile[2]	Destinations	Notes
Erie	Town of Tonawanda	0.00	I-290	Exit 2 (I-290)
	City of Tonawanda	0.98	CR 580 (Ellicott Creek Road)	Interchange; former routing of NY 356
Niagara	North Tonawanda	4.80	US 62
	Cambria	10.72	NY 31
		15.87	NY 104	Hamlet of Streeters Corners
		16.58	NY 93
	Village of Wilson	23.85	NY 18
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

New York Roads portal

1. ^ ^{a b c} Standard Oil Company of New York (1930). Road Map of New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "2008 Traffic Data Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. June 16, 2009. p. 312. https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/hds-respository/NYSDOT_Traffic_Data_Report_2008.pdf. Retrieved January 10, 2010. 
3. ^ New York State Department of Highways (1920). Report of the State Commissioner of Highways. Albany, New York: J. B. Lyon Company. pp. 529–530. http://books.google.com/books?id=Sj4CAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA529. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
4. ^ New York State Legislature (1921). "Tables of Laws and Codes Amended or Repealed". Laws of the State of New York passed at the One Hundred and Forty-Fourth Session of the Legislature. Albany, New York: J. B. Lyon Company. pp. 42, 58–59. http://books.google.com/books?id=6pE4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA42. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
5. ^ "New York's Main Highways Designated by Numbers". The New York Times: p. XX9. December 21, 1924. 
6. ^ Rand McNally and Company (1926). Rand McNally Auto Road Atlas (western New York) (Map). http://www.broermapsonline.org/members/NorthAmerica/UnitedStates/Midatlantic/NewYork/unitedstates1926ra_008.html. Retrieved May 13, 2010. 
7. ^ Dickinson, Leon A. (January 12, 1930). "New Signs for State Highways". The New York Times: p. 136. 
8. ^ Standard Oil Company of New York (1929). New York in Soconyland (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
9. ^ Kendall Refining Company (1931). New York (Map). Cartography by H.M. Gousha Company. 
10. ^ Texas Oil Company (1932). Texaco Road Map – New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
11. ^ Texas Oil Company (1934). Road Map of New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
12. ^ Sun Oil Company (1935). Road Map & Historical Guide – New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
13. ^ Esso (1940). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
14. ^ Esso (1942). New York with Pictorial Guide (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
15. ^ State of New York Department of Public Works. Official Highway Map of New York State (Map). Cartography by General Drafting (1947–48 ed.). 
16. ^ Sinclair (1964). New York and Metropolitan New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
17. ^ Esso (1968). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting (1969–70 ed.). 
18. ^ State of New York Department of Transportation (January 1, 1970) (PDF). Official Description of Touring Routes in New York State. http://www.greaternyroads.info/pdfs/state70.pdf. Retrieved January 3, 2010. 
19. ^ Exxon (1977). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting (1977–78 ed.). 
20. ^ http://www.gribblenation.net/nypics/planned/buffalo/buffalo.jpg
21. ^ http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Richmond,+Virginia&ll=43.073097,-78.941488&spn=0.006842,0.013057&t=h&z=17
22. ^ http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Richmond,+Virginia&ll=43.040391,-78.865271&spn=0.006846,0.013057&t=h&z=17

External links

• New York Routes – New York State Route 425
• New York State Highway Termini – New York State Route 425