New York State Route 31
New York State Route 31 is a state highway that extends for across western and central New York in the United States. The western terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 104 in the city of Niagara Falls. Its eastern terminus is at a traffic circle with NY 26 in Vernon Center, a hamlet within the town of Vernon. Over its routing, NY 31 spans 10 counties and indirectly connects three major urban areas in Upstate New York: Buffalo–Niagara Falls, Rochester, and Syracuse. The route is one of the longest routes in New York State, paralleling two similarly lengthy routes, NY 104 to the north and NY 5 to the south, as well as the Erie Canal, as it proceeds east.
Much of NY 31 west of Jordan was originally designated as part of a legislative route from the late 1900s to the early 1920s. NY 31 itself was assigned in the mid-1920s, utilizing all of legislative Route 30 west of Rochester and much of its current alignment from Rochester to Lenox. At Lenox, NY 31 turned southeast to follow what is now NY 316 and NY 46 to NY 5 in Oneida. It was realigned by 1929 to continue west to Lewiston on Ridge Road and altered in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York to continue east to Utica via Verona. With the advent of U.S. Route 104 , NY 31 was realigned west of Rochester to follow most of its modern routing.
NY 31 was truncated westward to NY 365 in Verona in the early 1940s, moving the eastern terminus of NY 31 to the same junction that also had served as the northern terminus of New York State Route 234, a north–south route that extended southeastward to Vernon Center, since the early 1930s. The two routes continued to share a terminus until 1981, when ownership and maintenance of part of NY 234 was transferred from the state of New York to Oneida County as part of a highway maintenance swap between the two levels of government. In return, the state acquired a pair of county roads that followed a routing parallel to that of the transferred section of NY 234. The new state highways and the remainder of NY 234 became an extension of NY 31.
Route description
Most of NY 31 is owned by the state of New York and maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation ; however, some sections of the route—mostly within cities—are locally owned and maintained. In the cities of Niagara Falls and Rochester, NY 31 is completely city-owned. Another city-maintained section exists in the city of Lockport from Washburn Street to the eastern city line. Two villages—Medina and Newark—also maintain parts of NY 31. In Medina, the locally owned section begins at the Falls Road Railroad crossing in the village center and ends at Center Street. The portion in Newark, meanwhile, extends from Mason Street to the eastern village line.As of 2009, the most heavily trafficked segments of NY 31 lie in and around the city of Rochester. The busiest of these, from Interstate 590 to NY 65 in the eastern suburb of Brighton, carries in excess of 40,000 vehicles per day on average. Two other segments—between South and Woodbury Avenues in downtown Rochester and from NY 65 to French Road in Brighton and Pittsford—have traffic volumes in excess of 30,000 vehicles. On the other hand, the portion of NY 31 in the Oneida County town of Vernon between the Vernon Downs racetrack and Youngs Road handles just 910 cars per day on average, making it the least-traveled segment of the route.
Western New York
NY 31 begins at an intersection with NY 104 in northern Niagara Falls. After a short distance eastward through the northern fringe of the city as College Avenue, the road encounters NY 61 at the northeastern city line. NY 31 continues northeastward into the town of Niagara, following Witmer Road to an interchange with I-190 at exit 24. Past I-190, NY 31 meets NY 265 south of the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant reservoir. At the intersection, NY 31 becomes Saunders Settlement Road, a name it retains for almost. Continuing through Niagara County, NY 31 passes the south end of the Tuscarora Indian Reservation ahead of a brief overlap with NY 429. Past the east end of the concurrency, NY 429 travels north toward NY 104 while NY 31 continues east past SUNY Niagara to an intersection with NY 425, the final state route that NY 31 intersects before entering the Lockport area.West of Lockport, NY 31 crosses NY 270 and NY 93. Continuing into the city, NY 31 meets NY 78 at an intersection partially located over the Erie Canal. NY 31 heads eastward through Lockport, intersecting the northern terminus of NY 77 at the eastern edge of the city. While NY 77 continues along the right-of-way of NY 31, NY 31 exits, following a northeasterly alignment through Gasport to Middleport, where it acts as the western and southern terminus of NY 31E and NY 271, respectively. Just east of town, NY 31 crosses the first of nine county lines along its routing, entering Orleans County.
At an intersection south of Medina, NY 31A branches off, continuing straight from NY 31 while NY 31 turns north to overlap NY 63 for a short distance between NY 31A and NY 31E in Medina. At NY 31E, NY 31 separates from NY 63, following the path of NY 31E east out of the village. to the east, NY 31 crosses NY 98 in Albion. Midway between Albion and Holley, NY 31 intersects the southern end of NY 387. NY 31 continues to the southeast, entering Holley and intersecting NY 237 in the village center. The route quickly leaves Holley soon after, crossing into Monroe County just over a mile from the village line.
Rochester area
Western suburbs and downtown
Just inside the Monroe County line, the road traverses the Erie Canal before intersecting Redman Road about west of the village of Brockport. NY 31 turns south here, following Redman Road back across the Erie Canal and past the western fringe of the SUNY Brockport campus to a junction with Fourth Section Road. NY 31A enters the intersection from the west and ends at NY 31 while the latter turns east onto Fourth Section Road. NY 31 progresses eastward, intersecting NY 19 in a commercialized area directly south of Brockport and becoming Brockport-Spencerport Road. East of the village in the surrounding town of Sweden, NY 31 meets the southern terminus of NY 260. The route continues eastward, paralleling the Erie Canal as it enters Ogden, where NY 31 comes to the current western terminus of NY 531, the Spencerport Expressway, and, shortly after, the northern terminus of NY 36. NY 31, now sandwiched by the canal to the north and NY 531 to the south, heads eastward into the village of Spencerport, where it becomes Nichols Street and meets NY 259 in the center of the community.Outside of Spencerport, NY 31 becomes Spencerport Road as it heads eastward into the town of Gates. The route heads past residential neighborhoods to the north and mostly undeveloped land to the south as it enters the hamlet of Elmgrove, built up around NY 31's junction with NY 386. Not far to the east, NY 31 enters North Gates, a densely populated residential community near the northern town line of Gates. In the southeastern outskirts of the community, NY 31 intersects Lyell and Howard Roads at a junction that once served as the western terminus of NY 47. NY 31 continues east from here as Lyell Avenue, meeting NY 390 at an interchange immediately north of the route's larger interchange with I-490. Not far to the east is the Rochester city line, which NY 31 crosses upon traversing the Erie Canal once again.
NY 31 follows Lyell Avenue through the city to West Broad Street, where it turns to follow Broad Street southeastward past Rochester Community Sports Complex Stadium. It heads onward toward a pair of overpasses, one carrying I-490 and another holding the CSX Transportation-owned Rochester Subdivision. NY 31 continues under both, following the former path of the Erie Canal southeast through the city to the eastern terminus of NY 33 at West Main Street. NY 31 follows West Main Street to the east, passing under I-490 once again before breaking from Main Street and occupying East Broad Street. The street proceeds to the east, passing through the commercial heart of the city. Just east of Exchange Boulevard, the northern terminus of NY 383, the route crosses the Genesee River on the Broad Street Aqueduct.
East of the waterway, NY 31 follows East Broad Street to South Avenue, where it turns south for two blocks to a junction with Woodbury Boulevard. It turns east here, following Woodbury Boulevard for two blocks to Chestnut Street, at which point NY 31 turns southward to follow Chestnut Street. Westbound NY 31 in the area, however, follows one block of Woodbury Boulevard and two blocks of South Clinton Avenue to reach East Broad Street. At the Inner Loop, Chestnut Street becomes Monroe Avenue, the name NY 31 retains to Pittsford. Over this stretch, NY 31 maintains a constant southeasterly progression as it passes through southeastern Rochester and the town of Brighton. As the route exits downtown Rochester, it intersects I-490 at exit 18. The route continues onward, passing Cobbs Hill Park and entering Brighton, where it traverses areas more commercial in nature and meets the former routing of NY 47 a second time in an area of town known as Twelve Corners.
Eastern suburbs and Wayne County
In the eastern portion of Brighton, NY 31 meets I-590 by way of an interchange and intersects NY 65. From NY 65, NY 31 continues southeast into the town of Pittsford, passing along the southern fringe of Oak Hill Country Club and paralleling the former right-of-way of the Auburn Road railroad line to the village of Pittsford. Just inside the village limits, NY 31 crosses the Erie Canal once more and intersects the West Shore Subdivision at-grade. In the village center, NY 31 intersects NY 96. East of NY 96, the route crosses over the Erie Canal once again and exits the village. Outside of the village, NY 31 parallels I-490 for a short distance across slightly open areas before connecting to the freeway near the Perinton town line at exit 26. The route continues east into Perinton, where it traverses the Erie Canal for one final time within the county and crosses NY 250 near Perinton Square Mall.East of the mall, the route passes through increasingly rural areas, with the exception of the hamlet of Egypt midway between NY 250 and the Wayne County line. NY 31 progresses onward into Wayne County, where the Rochester suburbs end as the route heads eastward through the mostly rural town of Macedon to the village of Macedon. Prior to exiting the village, NY 31 meets the southern terminus of NY 350 and the eastern terminus of NY 31F. The highway continues on, exiting the village and proceeding eastward through the town of Macedon, bordered by the Erie Canal to the north and Ganargua Creek to the south. In Palmyra, NY 31 joins NY 21 through the center of the village.
From Palmyra east, the route parallels the Erie Canal for a considerable distance. Between Palmyra and Newark, NY 31 dips into Ontario County for less than a mile before reentering Wayne County. In Newark, NY 31 intersects NY 88. Farther east, in Lyons, it crosses NY 14 and the Erie Canal. At Clyde, NY 31 briefly overlaps NY 414 in the center of the village. Outside of Clyde, the Erie Canal veers off to the southeast while NY 31 continues east alongside the Rochester Subdivision to the hamlet of Savannah, the final centralized community within Wayne County. Here, NY 31 intersects NY 89 and follows it southward toward the Seneca County line. At the county line, NY 89 turns west to follow the county line while NY 31 heads southeast into Seneca County. The route proceeds across the northeasternmost corner of the county before crossing into Cayuga County via a bridge over the Erie Canal after just.