New York Roads - NY 85

NY 85



Third time's the charm, when I finally got some photos of this building, its resident old sign, and some other old stuff along its western wall. It's the southern beginning of NY 85 as seen from the eastern end of Albany CR 353. The header of the sign is misleading, as NY 85 only goes to the left. Not to mention the entire sign is mostly ceremonial, given that NY 85 does not span from Panama to Montreal. (John Krakoff gave me an earlier photo where "Panama 2358" read "Washington 371." Political statement?)


WB at the end of the route. It makes no more sense to end NY 85 here than it does to end CR 351 and 353 at each other.


So, yeah, lots of old signs here. This one's on Exit Rd., a steep downhill leg of a triangle on the west side of NY 85. You have to go up the other leg (Huyck Rd.) just after CR 6 and come back down what looks like a driveway. Click for a closeup.


The first EB shield on the route is so old it doesn't reflect light. The county shield isn't any newer, but it does. The WB shield is relatively modern, and features Albany's custom stencil font that kicks around a random handful of signs around the county.

WB.


If not, Jonathan will find you. EB entering Slingerlands.


Why 03" and not 3"? I guess when you've already done the sign up in flashing LED's, there's no sense in correcting such a small error. These are again EB, from the same photo in fact.


Three-digit shields should have humps proportional to those on the two-digit shields.


The Slingerlands Bypass ends (westbound) at New Scotland Road, after transforming from a four-lane freeway to a two-lane expressway (first photo) with at-grade intersections and enough room for expansion (second photo). Beyond the dead-end Maher Road, where NY 85 turns sharp left (third photo) to T at New Scotland, is a clearing in the woods (fourth photo) for the continuation of the expressway (if not eventually a full freeway). Since Slingerlands is to the west of the end of the Bypass for it, one should probably assume the extension isn't dead yet - in fact, as you'll see below, it has been bastardized to a collection of roundabouts. However, it still doesn't Bypass Slingerlands - it's the Bypass to Slingerlands (apparently).


The new roundabouts in 2008. Notice that Maher Rd., the dead end I showed you above, now gets its own shields. Maher Rd. EB, not yet open, can be seen in the fourth photo, looking southward barely one block to New Scotland Rd. This is the location of the former sharp left I referred to in the previous caption.


More of the scratchy shield syndrome at the eastern end of NY 85 and the Bypass freeway.

NY 443 and NY 85/443

Onto CR 351
Onto NY 143
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