New York Roads - Old NY 17

Former NY 17


In Chemung, courtesy John Krakoff. Even in the 1920's, signs weren't perfect.

Broome CR 60 (old NY 17) EB at the beginning of the short NY 34 multiplex in Waverly.


NY 17 used to cross the river in Owego. These ancient signs on NY 96 NB, on the south side of the Susquehanna, were also on NY 17 WB.


Similarly, NY 96 SB shared these signs with NY 17 EB. This is where 17 left NY 17C and began to follow what's now NY 434. 17C then started in Owego and paralleled NY 17 to Binghamton on the north side of the river.


Old NY 17 WB in Vestal ends at old NY 26. What's the point of a speed limit as the road ends?


In Binghamton, NY 17 followed NY 434 back across the river, and then headed east out of town with US 11. These photos are NB and SB on US 11, respectively (WB and EB on old NY 17) at the NY 363 freeway, a connector from I-81/NY 17 to NY 434 and Vestal.


2nd St. EB and Pine St. EB in Deposit, following the surface route of former NY 17. Pine St. is the best of both worlds, juxtaposing something old and something wrong.


CR 28 WB, old NY 17 west of NY 79, right before the county route ends and CR 28 becomes Fox Farm Road. Actually, old NY 17 continued on the freeway alignment here for a short distance, to the other end of Fox Farm Road; the rest of Fox Farm Road between here and there was newly built for local connectivity.


Courtesy Doug Kerr, this is old NY 17 EB at the original beginning of NY 97, with a shield to match. NY 268 took over part of NY 17 from here eastward, while NY 97 now runs west to the next NY 17 freeway interchange.


Old NY 17 EB at the southern end of NY 30, looking at the Bridge St. bridge across East Branch Delaware River to East Branch. A bridge named bridge and a town named after the river? How odd.


NB across Livingston Manor, originally Mott Flats, Covered Bridge, just off Sullivan CR 179 (old NY 17) in Livingston Manor (it's not a given that something in NY is near its namesake).


And back south, on Covered Bridge Rd. This is the easiest bridge to find ever, and it's so close to the East Branch truss!


Jefferson St. WB, former NY 17, at current NY 17B. 17B now ends at the 17 freeway, but used to come into town on Broadway and never made it to this point.


Old Monticello buildings, WB with NY 42 SB.


WB into Wurtsboro, a sign that definitely dates to NY 17.


There's a good chance this EB sign is also from the NY 17 days. The bridge probably predates the highway.


Continuing east through Bloomingburg to where the original concrete highway (call it the old alignment of the old alignment) runs into Shawangunk Kill and dies at the former bridge.


Looking back west up old NY 17.


Shawangunk Kill marks the Sullivan/Orange County border and the beginning of ugly signs, as well as the beginning of NY 17K to the left. As bad as the 76 is, and it's quite horrendous, the Wallkill town sign gets serious consideration as being even worse. There's no hope of reading any of that without taking a photo for later.


The NY 17K junction also happens to be where the old alignment of NY 17 comes back in from Bloomingburg. These photos look west at the original NY 17/17K junction, now out in the woods behind a gate where the public can't drive.


Former NY 17 near the NJ state line, Hillburn Bypass SB at the I-87 SB Exit 15A ramps. Now that NY 17 jumps on the Thruway instead of rolling through Hillburn, it almost makes more sense to sign NY 17 as NJ 17 even this far north, since by the time 17 does anything independent of I-87, it's in Jersey.


An old shot of the bypass SB approaching its only traffic signal. It was still signed as Route 17 on street signs and in addresses. Now, the entire bypass has been converted into a two-lane parkway, and the traffic signal is gone, along with the box-beam guiderail and pretty much any hint of state maintenance.

"Pretty much" forgot this one SB reference marker.


Also, to great amusement, Hillburn's brand-new town-installed street signs, not at all meeting state standards, bring back the name Route 17 to a road that hasn't been that for decades.


The tail end of the Hillburn Bypass was cut off with a more immediate onramp to NJ (no, really not NY at this point) 17/I-287 SB (that uses part of the former offramp) so that traffic has enough room to shift over to NJ 17. See, before I-287 was complete this wasn't a problem, but once that opened, the houses on this tail still need two-way access (the road had always been one-way, but there was a U-turn ramp taken out in the interchange reconstruction). As can be seen in the second photo, the last bit of the onramp to NJ 17 has been de-paved and is now just a grassy hillock along the treeline (and is now even less than that, as construction vehicles have set up camp there). Along with these changes brought about by I-287's completion, the trumpet interchange at I-87 was modified into a 3-Y, since the former loop ramp is now carrying I-287 through traffic.

More old NY 17 alignments:
NY 417
NY 352
(also former NY 17E)
NY 17C
NY 434
Main St., Apalachin
NY 52 (old NY 17 in Liberty)
NY 17M

Onto current NY 17
Onto I-86 (slowly replacing NY 17)

Onto NY 34
Onto former NY 26
Onto US 11
Onto NY 7
Onto NY 363
To I-81
To NY 10
To NY 8
Onto NY 97
Onto NY 17B
Onto NY 17K
Onto I-87
Onto I-287
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