New York State Route 5 is a 370.87 mile (596.86 km) long New York State Route that runs between the New York/Pennsylvania border at the Town of Ripley in Chautauqua County and downtown Albany in Albany County where it terminates at service roads for I-787. Prior to the construction of the New York State Thruway, it was one of two main east-west highways traversing upstate New York, the other being U.S. Route 20.

NY 5 overlaps with US 20 twice along its routing. The second, a 68-mile (108 km) overlap through western and central New York, is the second-longest concurrency in the state, stretching from Avon east to the city of Auburn in Cayuga County. The concurrency is known locally as "Routes 5 and 20".

West of New York, NY 5 continues as Pennsylvania Route 5 to Erie.

Route description

Although it is no longer commonly used for long distance travel, NY 5 is still regionally important. NY 5 is named Main Street in Buffalo, Erie Boulevard and West Genesee Street in Syracuse, State Street in Schenectady, and Central Avenue in Albany, the state capital. It is a major local road in many other locations along its path.

NY 5 runs concurrent to US 20 twice between its endpoints: for three miles (5 km) between Silver Creek and Irving and for across western and central New York. At 67.6 miles (108 km) in length, the eastern NY 5/US 20 overlap is the longest surface-road concurrency in New York State, behind only the concurrency of New York State Route 17 and Interstate 86 in the Southern Tier. When the length of east-west NY 17 is officially designated I-86 (scheduled for 2012), NY 17 will be truncated to a short north-south segment in downstate and the NY 5/US 20 concurrency will become the longest in the state. In addition, NY 5 will then overtake NY 17 as the longest New York state route.

Pennsylvania to Buffalo

At the New York-Pennsylvania border in Ripley, Pennsylvania Route 5 becomes NY 5 upon entering New York. It very closely follows the shore of Lake Erie through all of Chautauqua County. Once reaching the village of Silver Creek it briefly overlaps US 20 until entering Erie County at the Cattaraugus Reservation and Route 438 where the roads once again split. Once in Erie County it pulls slightly inward from the lake shore from Brant to the hamlet of Wanakah. Once past Wanakah, the road once again closely borders the lake shore and goes through steadily more heavily developed areas, particularly the Ford Stamping Plant and the Bethlehem Steel plant in the city of Lackawanna where the road is called the Hamburg Turnpike and eight wind powered turbines, which pump power into the national grid are visible. Near the northern edge of the city, NY 5 begins to ascend onto an elevated roadway as it interchanges with Ridge Road. Here, the route becomes the Skyway. After a quarter-mile, NY 5 passes seamlessly into Buffalo.

A short distance past the city line, NY 5 passes over the Union Ship Canal on a span of the elevated road known as the Father Baker Bridge. North of the waterway, the Skyway gains a pair of frontage roads, both named Fuhrmann Boulevard. Both the service roads and the Skyway run parallel to Lake Erie until the northern end of the Buffalo Outer Harbor. Here, the frontage roads end while NY 5 turns to the northeast, crossing the Buffalo River and entering downtown. On the north bank, the Skyway returns to a northerly routing as it passes HSBC Arena, located directly to the east, and Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, situated to the west, and interchanges with Interstate 190 at exit 7. Past the interchange, the Skyway ends and the route descends in elevation, becoming an at-grade roadway once more at Church Street in the shadow of Buffalo City Hall. New York State Route 384 begins here, following Delaware Avenue north into the heart of downtown, while NY 5 turns east onto Church.

At Main Street, Church Street splits into a pair of one-way streets and becomes North and South Division Street. The route follows South Division eastward for two blocks to an intersection with Ellicott Street located one block north of Coca-Cola Field. At the junction, which includes the northern terminus of New York State Route 16, NY 5 turns northward, rejoining NY 5 westbound one block later at North Division. The route continues on Ellicott for nine blocks to the unidirectional East Tupper Street, where NY 5 westbound separates from the route once more. NY 5 eastbound, however, continues north on Ellicott for an additional block to the one-way Goodell Street. NY 5 heads west on Goodell for two blocks before turning north onto Main Street, rejoining NY 5 westbound at the intersection.

The route continues along Main Street throughout the remainder of its length in Buffalo, cutting through the city diagonally from southwest to northeast until it enters the town of Amherst at the intersection of Bailey Avenue (US 62) at the Main campus of the University at Buffalo.

Buffalo to Avon

Once leaving the city of Buffalo, NY 5 heads east through the densely populated suburban town of Amherst, including the hamlets of Snyder and Eggertsville and the village of Williamsville and is heavily developed through the entire length of the town, particularly at the intersection of Transit Road. In the town of Clarence, the road dips into a significant depression known as Clarence Hollow. Once leaving Clarence, NY 5 goes through predominantly rural areas until reaching the city of Batavia in Genesee County, closely paralleling the New York State Thruway through much of the county. The road travels eastward until reaching Livingston County and the village of Caledonia.

NY 5 heads southeast from the village of Caledonia, paralleling the former right-of-way of an Erie-Lackawanna Railroad branch line that connected the villages of Caledonia and Avon as it heads through spacious fields containing little more than farmland. At a rural intersection controlled by single-head flashing traffic signals west of Avon, NY 5 meets U.S. Route 20 for the second time. The routes embark on a second concurrency, merging onto the right-of-way of NY 5 as they cross the Genesee River and enter both the town and village of Avon.

Avon to Ontario County

NY 5 and US 20 become West Main Street upon entering the village, underscoring the road's status as the primary east-west highway through the town. The route continues southeast from the Genesee, passing through the forested but sparsely populated western area of the village. As the route approaches the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad (LAL) grade crossing, the number of homes increases rapidly, only to be replaced by businesses in the area surrounding the LAL mainline. Located on the western edge of this transition is New York State Route 39, which terminates at the NY 5/US 20 concurrency. Past the tracks, West Main intersects Rochester Street, a locally important north-south two-lane arterial that continues north of the village to the Rochester suburb of Brighton as East River Road. Shortly after this intersection, the homes return, following NY 5 and US 20 as West Main enters the heart of the village.

In the center of Avon, West Main feeds into Park Place, a large traffic circle providing access to two local streets from NY 5 and US 20. The routes follow the circle counter-clockwise, departing the roundabout on East Main Street. The street proceeds east, passing through four blocks of densely populated neighborhoods before exiting the village and abruptly entering vast, barren fields to the east. NY 5 and US 20, now named Avon-Lima Road, intersects New York State Route 15 two miles (3 km) to the east in East Avon, a community based around the intersection and the streets comprising it, and interchanges with Interstate 390 exit 10 a half-mile from NY 15. Continuing on, the road intersects a number of county routes over the next four miles (6 km) before becoming West Main Street once more, this time for the village of Lima. At an intersection with New York State Route 15A in the village center, NY 5 and US 20 become East Main Street, retaining the name to the Ontario County line at Honeoye Creek.

Western Ontario County

In the town of West Bloomfield, Routes 5 and 20 go unnamed as they proceed eastward. Roughly one mile from the county line in the hamlet of West Bloomfield, Routes 5 and 20 meet the southern terminus of New York State Route 65. Exiting the hamlet, NY 5 and US 20 head through another area dominated by open land, intersecting County Route 38 before passing seamlessly into East Bloomfield. A mile and a half from the town line, Routes 5 and 20 intersect New York State Route 64, a road running northwest-southeast from the Monroe County line south to NY 5 and US 20. NY 64, whose right-of-way ends at Routes 5 and 20 at the foot of a small hill, joins the two routes eastward on a triple overlap, entering the village of Bloomfield and intersecting the southern terminus of New York State Route 444 south of the portion of Bloomfield once known as Holcomb. Near the junction with NY 444, Routes 5, 20 and 64 take on a due east alignment, absorbing the routing used by Gauss Road west of this point.

A mile to the east at Whalen Road, NY 64 separates from NY 5 and US 20, following the road, and U.S. Route 20A, which has its eastern terminus at this intersection, south toward Bristol. Routes 5 and 20 continue on through rural Ontario County before splitting from its easterly alignment at an intersection four miles (6 km) west of NY 64 and US 20A in the town of Canandaigua. West Avenue, the former routing of NY 5 and US 20 into downtown Canandaigua, continues east from the junction while NY 5 and US 20 turn south onto a bypass around Canandaigua.

Canandaigua area

Half a mile from the start of the bypass and a short distance before the arterial makes a turn eastward to traverse Canandaigua Lake to the southeast, NY 5 and US 20 meet New York State Route 21 at a four-way intersection. Like Routes 5 and 20, NY 21 once continued directly into downtown, in this instance via Bristol Street to the east of the junction, but now follows Routes 5 and 20 along the east-west leg of the bypass. Past Bristol Street, the bypass widens from two to four lanes and, after meeting two local streets, enters the city of Canandaigua as the limited-access Western Boulevard, albeit with no exits. The route loses this distinction prior to intersecting South Main Street, where Routes 5 and 20 meet the southern terminus of New York State Route 332. NY 21 departs the bypass, following NY 332 into downtown, while NY 5 and US 20 continue onto the four-laned, median separated Eastern Boulevard, the original section of the Routes 5 and 20 bypass of Canandaigua. The roadway acts a center of commerce for the city, sporting restaurants, hotels, and supermarkets along its length within the city limits.

Upon exiting the city, the establishments become a pair of shopping plazas centered around the intersection with the northern terminus of New York State Route 364. Across the town line in Hopewell a quarter-mile to the east, a third plaza, anchored by a Wal-Mart, dominates the northeast corner of County Road 10 and Eastern Boulevard. On the adjacent parcel, another plaza has begun to take shape. At the entrance to the second plaza, Routes 5 and 20 intersect Lakeshore Drive, the former routing of NY 5 and US 20 to the south of the bypass. Past the junction, the divided highway comes to an end and, after another half-mile, narrows to two lanes.

Canandaigua to Auburn

Deeper into Hopewell, the area surrounding Routes 5 and 20 become rural once more. Roughly from the end of the bypass, NY 5 and US 20 meet New York State Route 247. After of eastward progression through open land, the routes meet the northern terminus of both New York State Route 14A and New York State Route 245, concurrent at this location, in the town of Geneva. A half-mile past NY 14A and NY 245, Routes 5 and 20 enter the city of Geneva and widens into a four lane road. In the city, NY 5 and US 20 intersect New York State Route 14 by way of a pseudo-interchange on the bank of Seneca Lake. Routes 5 and 20 turn into a divided highway again at this point. At the interchange, New York State Route 14 Truck joins 5 and 20, bypassing a sharp turn on NY 14 downtown. NY 5 and US 20 continues as a divided highway around the northern tip of Seneca Lake, crossing the Preemption Line and entering Seneca County at its midpoint. A mile to the east in East Geneva, just east of a railroad underpass, Routes 5 and 20 meet the northern terminus of New York State Route 96A at a former trumpet interchange that has been converted to an intersection with a traffic signal.

From NY 96A east to the village of Waterloo, a distance of roughly four miles, Routes 5 and 20 becomes a two lane road and runs parallel to the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. In Waterloo, the concurrency meets New York State Route 96 in the village center. East of the village, the distance between the canal and the roadway decreases, making NY 5 and US 20 the closest road to the water for the next one and a half miles to New York State Route 414 in the town of Seneca Falls. NY 414 joins NY 5 and US 20, overlapping the road for into the village of Seneca Falls. At Cayuga Street, NY 414 turns south, crossing the water body that is the canal and the Seneca River and becoming Ovid Street while NY 5 and US 20 turns north onto Cayuga, following the street around the small Van Cleef Lake, through the Finger Lakes Railroad grade crossing, and exiting the village. Three miles from NY 414, just west of Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, NY 5 and US 20 meets New York State Route 318 and New York State Route 89 at intersections close enough to be considered a single junction. The intersection with Route 89 has a traffic signal.

About three miles (5 km) later, after entering Cayuga County over the Seneca River/Cayuga and Seneca Canal, just north of Cayuga Lake, the two routes meet New York State Route 90 in the town of Aurelius, at a traffic signal. A few miles east of that intersection, the highway meets the Finger Lakes Railroad again, but crosses it via an overpass. The routes continue eastward through Aurelius to the city of Auburn where it turns into a divided four lane highway again. On the western edge of the city, just after passing Finger Lakes Mall, NY 5 and US 20 meet the eastern terminus of New York State Route 326, which is also a four lane divided highway for a short stretch. In downtown Auburn, NY 5 and US 20's east and west lanes split apart from each other for a short distance as an arterial over the alignments of Clark Street, Franklin Street, and Grant Avenue. The arterial runs concurrent with New York State Route 38 for . NY 38 then splits from the concurrency and joins New York State Route 34. A quarter-mile to the east, US 20 separates from NY 5 at the northern terminus of New York State Route 38A. Route 5 continues on after the split as four lane Grant Avenue passing by a high number shopping areas.

Auburn to Syracuse

From New York State Route 174 in Camillus to Fairmount, NY 5 is a 5 mile (8 km) long limited-access highway traversing the western suburbs of Syracuse. At one time, the highway was to be extended to West Street in Syracuse, via the current Grand Avenue. The freeway has partial access to New York State Route 173 from westbound NY 5. East of NY 173, the freeway interchanges New York State Route 695 and passes over New York State Route 297 without access. East of Fairmount, NY 5 alters to the south before turning east onto West Genesee Street and converting to grade-level intersections.

In Syracuse, NY 5 is parallel to Interstate 690 for much of its routing but never encounters the highway, thus making the north-south streets that intersect NY 5 entry points to and from I-690. In downtown Syracuse, West Genesee Street becomes James Street. At the southern tip of the I-690/I-81 interchange, NY 5 transfers onto Erie Boulevard and intersects State Street (U.S. Route 11), but passes under Interstate 81 without access. From the downtown area to DeWitt, NY 5 is divided. At the Syracuse-DeWittt boundary, NY 5 intersects New York State Route 635 and eastward, it curves to a southeast course. Near Shoppingtown Mall, NY 5 turns east onto Genesse Street to begin an overlap with New York State Route 92. Less than a mile east of the mall, NY 5 and NY 92 intersect Interstate 481, at a cloverleaf interchange.

Syracuse to Utica

NY 5 and NY 92 remain concurrent up to Highbridge Road, where NY 92 splits from NY 5 and heads southeast to Manlius. The segment of the NY 5/NY 92 overlap between I-481 and the eastern split is the busiest area of NY 5 in the Syracuse area and in all of Onondaga County. Past the split, NY 5 continues east through Onondaga and Madison counties, passing Fayetteville, Chittenango, and Canastota before entering the vicinity of Oneida. West of the city, NY 5 intersects NY 365A, a spur route of NY 365 leading directly into downtown. To the east, NY 5 (which forms the southern boundary of the city) meets NY 46 before crossing over Oneida Creek and into Oneida County.

Just past the county line in Oneida Castle, NY 5 intersects NY 365, a route leading northward to the New York State Thruway in Verona. NY 5 presses on, passing through the villages of Sherrill and Vernon (briefly overlapping NY 31) and the town of Westmoreland to the town of Kirkland, where NY 5 intersects NY 233, crosses over Oriskany Creek, and meets the western terminus of NY 5B. The spur of NY 5 later rejoins its parent yards from where NY 5A departs NY 5 to serve western Utica. NY 5 itself continues eastward through New Hartford, meeting NY 12B prior to merging with NY 12 at Genesee Street. Both routes continue eastward across the Sauquoit Creek into Utica.

Utica to Albany

NY 5 enters the city of Utica on a concurrency with NY 12 heading in a northeast direction. It shortly picks up NY 8, and all three cross the city together. NY 5 also intersects with the terminus of NY 840 at this point. Just south of the New York State Thruway, the I-790 begins as a short expressway, also including NY 5, 8, and 12. After crossing out of the city, they meet the Thruway, with NY 8 and 12 continuing northeast, while NY 5 and I-790 turn to the east-south-east, picking up the tail-end of NY 49. These three, still as an expressway, straddle each side of the Thruway for a short way, with I-790 technically ending at the ramps for I-90. NY 5 continues to the end of the expressway, only a few hundred feet later, dropping to Leland Ave. A few hundred feet to the north of the Thruway, NY 5 turns eastward again to continue down Herkimer Rd. It closely parallels the Thruway all the way to Herkimer, where NY 5 moves slightly northward through the center of the village, becoming State Street, while I-90 crosses the Erie Canal and goes south for a short distance. There is a short concurrency with NY 28 in the village.

After exiting Herkimer, 5 continues East, closely paralleling this time the canal, through the city of Little Falls as Main Street, where two more concurrencies occur, with NY 167 and NY 169. 5 continues to parallel the canal, and in some instances again, the Thruway, through Amsterdam, becoming Amsterdam Road all the way to Scotia, where it crosses the canal into Schenectady as Mohawk Ave, turning into State Street upon the city limits. It continues fairly straight on a south east course into downtown Albany as Central Ave until it reaches US 9W. At this point 5 turns into Washington Ave and all signage referring to NY 5 ceases. The New York State Department of Transportation recognizes the route, however, as it continues down Washington Ave past the New York State Capitol building, turning south for a short distance as Eagle Street. NY 5 then continues east on State St to Broadway, where it again turns south east shortly before returning east on a small spur of Broadway, traveling underneath US 9 and I-787. NY 5 ends at the Hudson River.

History

Early roads

Soon after the end of the American Revolution in 1783, a surge of westward migration into Central and Western New York began. At the time, most travel west of the Albany area was by water. While rudimentary roads were laid out following the Mohawk River, there were no major land routes west of Fort Schuyler (present day Utica), except for an old Iroquois trail that was a simple foot path. By the late 1780s many companies began to set up their operations in the new settlements in the Central and Western New York. As a result, there was a clamor for the building of a main road running west from Utica. On March 22, 1794, the New York state legislature passed a law calling for the laying out and improvement of a public road from old Fort Schuyler on the Mohawk River to the settlement of Canawaugus on the Genesee River, in as straight a line as the topography of the land will allow. This road was officially known as the "Great Genesee Road" and is one of the earliest state roads in New York. Four years later, another legislative act authorized the extension of the Genesee Road to Buffalo.

By the end of the 18th century, while the Genesee Road has been greatly improved, many portions were still substandard and some sections had still not been completed. Partly because of this, and also because of the success of the Lancaster Turnpike in Pennsylvania, the state outsourced the task of improving and maintaining the Genesee Road to a private company. On April 1, 1800, the Seneca Road Company was chartered for this purpose and the portion of the Genesee Road from Utica to Canandaigua was improved and operated as a toll road known as the Seneca Turnpike. Three days later, the old road following the Mohawk River between Utica and Schenectady also became a turnpike, known as the Mohawk Turnpike. The road leading from Albany northwest to Schenectady having been already established as a turnpike (the Albany and Schenectady Turnpike) in 1797, an all-turnpike route over good quality roads was now available from Albany to Canandaigua. The western extension of the Genesee Road to Buffalo soon followed suit and also became an improved Macadam toll road, the Ontario and Genesee Turnpike, in 1805. The Seneca Road Company was later authorized to create a more northerly alternate route of the Seneca Turnpike in 1806, through what is now Syracuse. As Syracuse developed, traffic patterns changed and the northern branch route became more heavily used than the original road.

The construction and opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 along the same alignment as the Albany to Buffalo route began to eat away at the revenues of these turnpike companies. In time, the turnpike business had become unprofitable and the companies were dissolved by 1852, causing the roads to revert to public control.

Route designation

The improvement of the road from Buffalo southwest to Pennsylvania in the mid-19th century soon allowed for continuous travel across the entire state of New York. With the advent of the automobile, the state began to pave major throughfares at the beginning of the 20th century. The automobile allowed people to quickly travel long distances and a way to mark routes became needed. One early means of marking routes was the establishment of various auto trail associations in the 1910s. These associations selected good quality roads and marked them with symbols or colors on telephone poles. Most of modern Route 5 became part of a cross-country auto trail known as the Yellowstone Trail. It ran from Seattle, Washington to Plymouth, Massachusetts. In New York it used modern US 20 from Pennsylvania to Silver Creek, then mostly modern NY 5 from Silver Creek to Albany, then modern US 20 again from Albany to Massachusetts.

In 1924, following what other states did, New York began to assign route numbers to its main thoroughfares. The Albany to Buffalo portion of the Yellowstone Trail, which ran through the cities of Syracuse and Utica, was assigned the number "Route 5A". The portion of the Yellowstone Trail southwest of Buffalo and east of Albany had become part of the 1924 alignment of Route 5, which bypassed Syracuse and Utica. The Buffalo to Albany portion of the 1924 Route 5 alignment used a new road, Broadway Road, from Buffalo to Avon, and the old Cherry Valley Turnpike alignment from Skaneateles to Albany. In between Avon and Skaneateles, Routes 5 and 5A overlapped. By 1926, however, this designation had been altered. The Buffalo to Albany section of Route 5 was relocated to the Genesee Road alignment (modern NY 5), while the southern alignment became renumbered to Route 7 (Route 5A was deleted). By the beginning of 1927, the establishment of U.S. Highways nationwide created more numbering changes. U.S. Route 20, which mainly followed the Yellowstone Trail elsewhere in the country, was designated in New York along Route 5 southwest of Hamburg and east of Albany and along old Route 7 from Skaneateles to Albany. Between the towns of Hamburg and Avon, the new US 20 used an even more southerly alignment, running via East Aurora and Warsaw. This truncated both ends of Route 5 to Athol Springs (south of Buffalo in the town of Hamburg) in the west, and to Albany in the east.

In the 1930 state highway renumbering, the west end of Route 5 was shifted to end in downtown Buffalo. The portion between Buffalo and Athol Springs was assigned as part of New York State Route 62. Southwest of Buffalo, US 20 was also relocated to use a new road, Southwestern Boulevard, between Irving and Big Tree (east of Athol Springs). The old US 20 alignment became New York State Route 20B. Further southwest, an alternate route of US 20 between the Pennsylvania line and Silver Creek, running along the shore of Lake Erie, was designated as New York State Route 20A. The 20A and 20B designations were, however, short-lived. In 1932, US 62 was extended into New York, causing NY 62 to be renumbered. NY 5 was extended along part of old NY 62 to Athol Springs, then incorporated the alignments of NY 20B and NY 20A to the Pennsylvania state line. The section of old NY 20B between Athol Springs and Big Tree that did not become part of NY 5 is now Erie County Route 576 (NY 5 to Bayview Road) and unsigned reference route, NY 951E (US 62 to US 20A).

Expressway relocations

Originally, NY 5 entered Buffalo from the south on Fuhrmann Boulevard and Michigan Avenue and followed South Park Avenue and Main Street through the city before rejoining its modern alignment at Goodell Street. In the late 1950s, a new limited-access highway was constructed along Furhmann Boulevard from Lackawanna to the Buffalo River. At the river, the new roadway broke from Fuhrmann and continued directly into downtown, returning to grade level two blocks south of Niagara Square. The expressway, known as the Buffalo Skyway, became part of a rerouted NY 5 by 1962.

Farther east in Utica, construction was underway by the early 1960s on a new arterial highway through the city center bypassing NY 5, then routed on Genesee Street and Herkimer Road through Utica. By 1964, the North-South Arterial was open to traffic, carrying both a rerouted NY 5 and NY 12 through New Hartford and Utica. Two portions of Genesee Street, from NY 12 in New Hartford to the Utica city line and from NY 5S to Herkimer Road in Utica, remain state maintained to this day as unsigned New York State Route 921E and New York State Route 921C, respectively.

In the Syracuse suburbs of Camillus and Geddes, NY 5 was initially routed on West Genesee Street between the villages of Camillus and Solvay. Construction on a bypass of this segment of NY 5 began in the mid-1970s and was completed between NY 695 and Genesee Street by 1977. By the following year, the freeway was open to traffic up to Hinsdale Road; however, NY 5 remained on Genesee Street between Hinsdale and the Solvay village limits. By 1985, the remainder of the Camillus Bypass was completed and had become part of a realigned NY 5. Genesee Street is now largely Onondaga County Route 98; however, two portions of the street remain state maintained. Near the western end of the expressway, the former routing of NY 5 became part of an extended NY 174. Between the Camillus town line and the eastern end of the bypass, Genesee Street is unsigned New York State Route 930W.

Smaller realignments also took place in other cities along the route. In Canandaigua, NY 5 originally entered the city on West Avenue and followed South Main Street and Lakeshore Drive through the city limits before rejoining its current routing in Hopewell. In the late 1950s, a new bypass was built north of Lakeshore Drive from South Main Street to Hopewell and became part of NY 5 by 1962. The remainder of the bypass around the southwestern extents of the city was built in the early 1980s and opened to traffic by 1985. The former routing of NY 5 on South Main Street remains state maintained as New York State Route 942T; until 1996, the portion of West Avenue between the west end of the bypass and the Canandaigua city line was maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) as New York State Route 942W. Even though maintenance of the road had been transferred to the town of Canandaigua in 1996, the designation remained in NYSDOT documents until 2007.

In Geneva, NY 5 was initially routed on East North Street and Border City Road, overlapping NY 14 through the city and rejoining its modern routing in East Geneva. The overlap was eliminated by 1962 when NY 5 was rerouted onto a new bypass constructed in the 1950s along the edge of Seneca Lake. Border City Road is now designated as Seneca County Route 110.

Suffixed routes

NY 5 has three suffixed routes, all located in Oneida County, with NY 5S extending eastward into three other counties.

• NY 5A ( ) is a short alternate route of NY 5 between New Hartford and downtown Utica in Oneida County.
• NY 5B ( ) is a short alternate route southwest of Utica in Oneida County, connecting NY 5 to NY 12B.
• NY 5S ( is an alternate route of NY 5 on the south side of the Mohawk River between Utica, Oneida County, and Rotterdam, Schenectady County. The route parallels NY 5 (which follows the north side of the river) and is partially a limited-access highway.

Major intersections

References

External links

• Termini of NY State Route 5
• New York Routes – New York State Route 5
• WNY Heritage Press Skyway Page
• NY 5 at Alps' Roads