New York State Route 38
New York State Route 38 is a north–south state highway in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with NY 96 in the town of Owego in Tioga County. The northern terminus is at a junction with NY 104A in the town of Sterling in Cayuga County. NY 38 is a two-lane local road for most of its length. The route is the main access road to parts of Auburn, Dryden, Newark Valley and Port Byron. It passes through mountainous terrain in Tioga and Cortland counties, but the terrain levels out as it heads through the Finger Lakes area and Cayuga County.
The route intersects several long-distance highways, including NY 13 in Dryden, U.S. Route 20 and NY 5 in Auburn, and NY 31 in Port Byron. It passes over the New York State Thruway north of Port Byron; however, there is no connection between the two. NY 38 has two suffixed routes. The first, NY 38A is an alternate route of NY 38 between Moravia and Auburn, while the other, NY 38B, is a simple east–west connector in the Southern Tier. While NY 38 runs along the western shore of Owasco Lake, NY 38A travels to Auburn along a routing east of the lake.
NY 38 passes along or near waterbodies for much of its length. From its southern end in Owego to the town of Harford, the route parallels Owego Creek or a branch of said creek. Between Groton and Mentz, it runs along the aforementioned Owasco Lake and its inlet and outlet. It also comes within of Lake Ontario at its northern end.
In the 1920s, the portion of NY 38 between Owego and Freeville was designated as New York State Route 42 while the segment from Freeville to Moravia was the southern part of New York State Route 26, a highway that continued north from Moravia to Syracuse. NY 38 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, utilizing all of pre-1930 NY 42, the Freeville–Moravia portion of NY 26, and a previously unnumbered highway north to Sterling. Originally, NY 38 extended south into the village of Owego by way of an overlap with NY 96. It was truncated to its current southern terminus by 1994.
Route description
All of NY 38—save for two sections within the city of Auburn—is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation. In Auburn, the route is city-maintained to the north and south of where the route meets US 20 and NY 5 in downtown Auburn. The portion of NY 38 that runs between and overlaps with those two routes is state-maintained.Tioga and Cortland counties
NY 38 begins at an intersection with NY 96 about north of the Owego village limits in the town of Owego. The road heads northeastward as a two-lane highway, paralleling Owego Creek as it proceeds along the base of a valley surrounding the waterway. The Tioga County portion of NY 38 passes through mostly rural, forested areas with only small, scattered pockets of development. The route continues toward the hamlet of Flemingville, where the Owego Creek splits into western and eastern branches. NY 38 does not enter the community; instead, it bypasses it to the southeast and follows the eastern branch of Owego Creek into the town of Newark Valley.The number of homes along the route begins to increase as NY 38 approaches the village of Newark Valley. Just south of the village limits, NY 38 intersects NY 38B, a spur leading to NY 26 in Maine. The route continues into the small village as South Main Street and passes by several blocks of homes and commercial buildings. At Water Street, NY 38 becomes North Main Street; however, from this point north, most of the village is situated on the opposite bank of Owego Creek. As a result, NY 38 continues through the village limits but passes very few buildings before seamlessly exiting the community and entering another rural area.
The route continues on, crossing over Owego Creek and passing the Newark Valley Country Club about north of Newark Valley village before entering the town of Berkshire. In Berkshire, NY 38 serves the hamlet of Berkshire, a small community situated directly on the highway. The route continues on through the narrowing creek valley into the town of Richford and the hamlet of the same name, where it meets NY 79 in the community's center. After Richford, the valley continues to narrow for just under before reversing course as the route heads into Cortland County and the town of Harford.
NY 38 clips the extreme southwestern corner of Cortland County; as a result, only of the route is located within the county. Just north of the county line, the route meets NY 200 in the hamlet of Harford Mills. NY 200 is little more than an alternate route to NY 221, which NY 38 meets in the hamlet of Harford to the northeast. In between Harford Mills and Harford, the east branch of Owego Creek separates from NY 38 and heads north to follow NY 221 instead. NY 38 continues northwest out of Harford hamlet and into Tompkins County.
Tompkins County
Upon entering the border town of Dryden, NY 38 emerges from the valley and becomes Dryden–Harford Road as it heads northwestward through a more low-lying but still undeveloped area. The highway gradually curves to the north toward the village of Dryden, where the route changes names to South Street upon entering the village limits. It continues north across Virgil Creek and past three blocks of homes to the commercial village center, where it intersects both NY 13 and NY 392. The latter begins here and heads off to the east while the former joins NY 38 along North Street.The overlap between NY 13 and NY 38 ends at the northern village line. At this point, NY 13 continues north while NY 38 forks to the west, running along the village limits on Freeville Road for about through an area with only a handful of homes. While doing so, the route passes to the south of the Dryden Middle and High School complex. NY 38 heads onward through an open, undeveloped area, curving to the northwest and eventually to the north as it approaches the village of Freeville, where it serves the William George Agency for Children's Services at the southern village line. It remains on Freeville Road until Railroad Street, where it turns west and proceeds into the densely populated village center. Here, it intersects the eastern terminus of NY 366 at a junction situated adjacent to Fall Creek.
NY 38 proceeds out of Freeville, passing over Fall Creek and heading north along Groton Road through a lightly populated area of the town of Dryden. The route passes by a mixture of open fields, forests, and isolated homes on its way to the Dryden–Groton town line, where it meets the southern terminus of NY 34B southeast of the hamlet of Peruville. NY 38 parallels the Owasco Inlet into Groton and the village of the same name, becoming Peru Road at the southern village line. It continues north, following South and Main Streets through the densely populated village to an intersection with NY 222's western terminus at Cortland Street. At this point, NY 38 becomes Cayuga Street and winds its way northward along the Owasco Inlet and out of the village. Now known as Locke Road, NY 38 heads the northwest through another rural, largely undeveloped area into Cayuga County.
Cayuga County
Cayuga County, located in the Finger Lakes region of New York, has a highly unorthodox shape. Most of the county is only about wide from its western border to its eastern edge. From north to south, however, it extends from Locke north to the Lake Ontario shoreline—a distance of about. NY 38 passes through much of the county, ending about south of the shoreline in Sterling. As a result, over half of NY 38's routing is located in the county, with the midpoint located near the city of Auburn.County line to Auburn
The route heads northwest from the county line, following the Owasco Inlet through open fields and past small patches of trees to the large hamlet of Locke. NY 38 heads north–south through the residential community as Main Street and intersects NY 90 at the center of the hamlet. North of the community, the highway crosses over the Owasco Inlet and enters another rural area dominated by fields situated amongst forests. Upon crossing into the town of Moravia, the amount of development along the highway increases as it passes Fillmore Glen State Park and approaches the village of Moravia.In Moravia, a highly developed village comprising several blocks of homes and businesses, NY 38 is known as Main Street as it heads north into the village center. At Cayuga Street, NY 38 intersects NY 38A, the second of its two suffixed routes. NY 38A heads eastward from this point while NY 38 turns to follow West Cayuga Street across Owasco Inlet and out of the village. Past the inlet, NY 38 curves to the north and runs along the western edge of the Owasco Flats, a wide, flat-bottomed, undeveloped valley at the foot of Owasco Lake. The flats give way to the lake in Cascade, a hamlet in the town of Venice, at which point NY 38 begins to climb up the western edge of the lake valley. It reaches the lip of the valley later in the town of Scipio.
For the next, the route passes by open fields as it overlooks the lake to the east. The route gradually descends back into the valley as it heads further northward into the town of Fleming. Once in Fleming, NY 38 runs along the lakeshore and serves a long line of lakeside homes as it passes by a series of fields to the west. The amount of development along the route begins to increase at the northern end of the lake in the hamlet of Melrose Park, where NY 38 meets NY 437 by way of a traffic circle. At this point, NY 437 becomes the primary lakeside highway while NY 38 becomes a four-lane divided highway and heads northwest as Lake Avenue toward the city of Auburn.
As NY 38 enters Auburn, it passes by Auburn High School before heading north through densely populated blocks filled with homes. The divided highway ends abruptly at Swift Street, where NY 38 turns west to follow the two-lane undivided Swift Street west for seven blocks to NY 34. Here, NY 38 leaves Swift Street and joins NY 34 on South Street. The two routes follow South Street past the William H. Seward House into downtown Auburn, where the homes are replaced with businesses at Lincoln Street. Three blocks later, South Street intersects with the East Arterial. The overlap between NY 34 and NY 38 ends one block later at the West Arterial, where NY 38 turns to follow the Arterial for a block to the west.
At State Street, NY 38 leaves US 20 and NY 5 and heads north through the city's north side, crossing the Owasco Outlet and serving the Auburn Correctional Facility. The route passes through several blocks of commercial and residential development up to Grant Street, where it begins to taper off. It ceases almost entirely near the northern city line at York Street, where the homes along the highway become more sporadic and spaced apart.