U.S. Route 15 in New York

U.S. Route 15
Map of New York with US 15 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NYSDOT
Length:	12.68 mi[1] (20.41 km)
Existed:	c. 1939[2][3] – c. July 2014[4]
Major junctions
South end:	US 15 at the Pennsylvania state line in Lindley
North end:	I-86 / NY 17 near Painted Post
Location
Counties:	Steuben
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Bannered Divided Replaced Numbered highways in New York Interstate U.S. N.Y. (former) Reference County ← NY 14A NY 15 →

U.S. Route 15 (US 15) is a part of the U.S. Highway System that runs from Walterboro, South Carolina, to the Pennsylvania state line in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania. In the U.S. state of New York, US 15 formerly extended 12.68 miles (20.41 km) through the Southern Tier from the state line at Lindley north to an interchange with the Southern Tier Expressway (Interstate 86 and New York State Route 17) just outside Painted Post. US 15 originally continued north to Rochester before being truncated to its present northern terminus. All of US 15 in New York was designated as I-99 on June 27, 2014.^[5] As of 2014, US 15 has been removed from the NYSDOT Steuben County inventory listing, as well as the 2014 Traffic Data Report, meaning that US 15 was truncated to end at the Pennsylvania border.^[4]

Route description

Looking southward along US 15 from the Smith Road overpass in Presho prior to the road's completion. The highway previously narrowed from four to two lanes in the background

US 15 entered New York adjacent to the state line borough of Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, at which point the northern segment of I-99 begins. A four-lane freeway through the Steuben County town of Lindley, US 15 crossed through a rock cut, making a large bend to the north and bypassing the hamlet of Presho. I-99/US 15 enters a partial cloverleaf interchange with CR 5 (Smith Road). After CR 5, US 15 bent northeast through the town of Erwin, running to the west of the Indian Hills Golf Club. Making a gradual bend further to the northeast, the freeway crossed the Canisteo River and entered the hamlet of Erwin, where it entered a diamond interchange with NY 417 (Addison Road). After NY 417, US 15 made a bend alongside Norfolk Southern Railroad's Southern Tier Line (former Erie Railroad main line). Now paralleling the tracks and NY 417, US 15 crossed through Erwin, entering exit 3, which connects to NY 417 once again, next to Gang Mills Yard,^[6] the site of the former Painted Post station.^[7]

After Gang Mills Yard, US 15 crossed through the Gang Mills section of Erwin, entering a large interchange at the northern end of the neighborhood. Signed exit 12, this interchange serves CR 107 (Robert Dann Drive) via NY 417. After CR 107, US 15 entered a large interchange that utilizes several flyover ramps between US 15, I-86, and NY 17 (the Southern Tier Expressway). Ramps are also present, connecting to NY 352. This interchange served as the northern terminus of US 15.^[6]

History

Origins and designation

Authentic US 15 shield at the former northern terminus in Rochester.

The first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924. One route assigned at this time was NY 4, a highway extending from the Pennsylvania state line in Lindley to downtown Rochester.^[8] NY 4 roughly followed the modern alignment of US 15 from Pennsylvania to Presho, Indian Hill Road from Presho to Erwin, NY 417 from Erwin to Gang Mills, and Hamilton Street from Gang Mills to Painted Post. From Painted Post northward, NY 4 was routed along modern NY 415 to Wayland, from where it continued to Rochester on what is now NY 15. At the state line, NY 4 connected to Pennsylvania Route 4 (PA 4).^[9] In 1927, US 4 was first signed in New York. As a result, NY 4 was renumbered to NY 2 to eliminate numerical duplication with the new U.S. Highway.^[10]

By 1929, US 111 was assigned, following what had been PA 4 northward from Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to the New York state line at Lawrenceville, where it ended.^[11] At some point between 1935 and 1937,^[12][13] US 15 was extended northward from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,^[14] to the New York state line by way of an overlap with US 111.^[12][13] The overlap between US 15 and US 111 was eliminated c. 1938^[2][13] when US 111 was truncated southward to Harrisburg.^[15] US 15 was extended northward to Rochester by the following year, replacing all of NY 2.^[2][3]

Realignments and truncation

Construction began c. 1962 on a bypass of NY 17 and US 15 in the vicinity of Corning (modern exit 45) and Painted Post (exit 43).^[16][17] The entirety of the highway, plus an extension northwest to Campbell (exit 41), was completed between 1964 and 1968. US 15 and NY 17 were rerouted to follow the new highway, and their former routings between Campbell and Corning were redesignated as NY 415.^[18][19] The portion of the US 15 / NY 17 freeway between Campbell and Avoca (exit 36) was completed by 1973.^[20] In 1974, US 15 was truncated to its current northern terminus in Painted Post and replaced with NY 15 from Painted Post to Rochester.^[21]

In the mid-1960s, work began on a limited-access highway paralleling US 15 from Presho to the Southern Tier Expressway at Painted Post.^[18][19] The highway was completed and opened to traffic c. 1969 as a realignment of US 15. The interchange between US 15 and NY 17 (now concurrent with I-86) in Painted Post has been redesigned twice. The original configuration of the interchange featured a loop centered around the point where US 15 met NY 17, with ramps providing access to and from the loop from US 15, NY 17, and North Hamilton Street.^[19][22] The second design, in place until 2003, was a semi-diamond interchange, with US 15 intersecting ramps from I-86 and NY 17 at-grade. One connection, I-86 / NY 17 east to North Hamilton Street, was lost in this version due to the ramp setup of the southern half of the interchange. North of the ramps leading to and from I-86 / NY 17 westbound, the right of way of US 15 continued north into Painted Post as North Hamilton Street.^[23] The current setup is a directional T interchange, which creates a freeway-to-freeway connection between US 15 and I-86 / NY 17. Separate ramps for North Hamilton Street from I-86 / NY 17 were retained; however, for the first time, there was no direct connection between US 15 and North Hamilton Street.^[24] Work on the interchange began in late 2003^[25] and was completed in mid-2008.^[26]

Conversion to freeway

In the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995, the portion of US 15 in New York was defined as part of I-99.^[27] I-99 currently ends just shy of I-80; however, construction is either underway or has been completed on projects to upgrade US 220 and US 15 between Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and Corning to Interstate Highway standards. In June 2007, work began on a new freeway alignment for US 15 between the Pennsylvania state line and Watson Creek Road in Lindley.^[28] The highway was opened to traffic on October 1, 2008.^[29] Ownership and maintenance of the former surface alignment of US 15 was transferred to Steuben County, which designated the highway as CR 115.^[1]

Ground was broken September 21, 2009, on the final section of the freeway between Watson Creek Road and Presho. The southbound lanes of the highway opened on August 22, 2013.^[30] The northbound lanes opened on October 8.^[31] The bridge portion of the project received $9 million in annual Appalachian Development Highway System (ADHS) funding from 2010 to 2012 and $5.7 million from the state of New York. Local officials had called on state and federal officials to expedite the construction process by paying for the project up front and using ADHS grants in the years to come to pay off the debt later on.^[32] The highway was nominated for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant, but was rejected.^[33] On June 27, 2014, Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo announced that US 15 was now designated officially as part of I-99,^[5] and US 15 has since truncated to end at the Pennsylvania border.^[4]

Exit list

The entire route was in Steuben County.

Location	mi[1]	km	Old exit	New exit	Destinations	Notes
Lindley	0.00	0.00			I-99 south / US 15 – Mansfield	Pennsylvania state line; begin/end concurrency with I-99
	6.36	10.24	1	6	CR 5 – Presho
Erwin	8.16	13.13	2	8	NY 417 – Erwin, Addison
			3	11	NY 417 – Gang Mills
	11.69	18.81		12	NY 417 / Robert Dann Drive (CR 107)	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				12	I-86 west / NY 17 west – Jamestown, Rochester	Exit 44 (I-86 / NY 17); northbound exit and southbound entrance
	12.68	20.41	4A	13A	I-86 east / NY 17 east – Binghamton, Corning	Exit 44 (I-86 / NY 17); northbound exit and southbound entrance; begin/end concurrency with I-99
			4B	13B	NY 352 – Riverside, Downtown Corning	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus

See also

• List of county routes in Steuben County, New York

References

1. "Steuben County Inventory Listing" (CSV). New York State Department of Transportation. October 1, 2009. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
2. New York Road Map for 1938 (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. Esso. 1938.
3. New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. Standard Oil Company. 1939.
4. "2014 Traffic Data Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. July 22, 2015. p. 135. Retrieved April 18, 2016.
5. [Staff writer] (June 27, 2014). "Corning area now has 2 interstates; U.S. 15 designated I-99 to Pa. border". Star-Gazette. Sherman M. Bodner. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
6. Microsoft; Nokia (July 24, 2012). "overview map of U.S. Route 15" (Map). Bing Maps. Microsoft. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
7. Yanosey, Robert J.; Lawton, Devon (photographer) (2006). New York. Erie Railroad Facilities in Color. Volume 2: NY. Scotch Plains, New Jersey: Morning Sun Books. p. 71. ISBN 1-58248-196-2. Cite uses deprecated parameter |coauthors= (help)
8. "New York's Main Highways Designated by Numbers". The New York Times. December 21, 1924. p. XX9.
9. Rand McNally Auto Road Atlas (western New York) (Map). Rand McNally and Company. 1926. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
10. Automobile Blue Book. 1 (1927 ed.). Chicago: Automobile Blue Book, Inc. 1927. This edition shows U.S. Routes as they were first officially signed in 1927.
11. Automobile Blue Book. 3. Automobile Blue Book, Inc. 1929. p. 21. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
12. Road Map & Historical Guide – New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. Sun Oil Company. 1935.
13. New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. Standard Oil Company. 1937.
14. Tourist Map of Pennsylvania (PDF) (Map). Pennsylvania Department of Highways. 1930. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
15. Official Road Map of Pennsylvania (PDF) (Map). Pennsylvania Department of Highways. 1940. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
16. New York and Metropolitan New York (Map) (1961–62 ed.). Cartography by H.M. Gousha Company. Sunoco. 1961.
17. New York and Metropolitan New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. Sinclair Oil Corporation. 1962.
18. New York and Metropolitan New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. Sinclair Oil Corporation. 1964.
19. New York (Map) (1969–70 ed.). Cartography by General Drafting. Esso. 1968.
20. New York (Map) (1973 ed.). Cartography by H.M. Gousha Company. Shell Oil Company. 1973.
21. Droz, Robert V. "North–South routes – US 1 to US 101 – Odd numbered highways". U.S. Highways. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
22. Corning Quadrangle – New York – Steuben Co. (Map). 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series (Topographic). United States Geological Survey. 1976. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
23. "Aerial image of Painted Post, New York". The National Map. USGS via Microsoft Research Maps. April 16, 1995. Retrieved September 17, 2007.
24. "Aerial view of US 15 / I-86 interchange" Check |url= value (help). Historic Aerials. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
25. "The Interstate 86/Route 15 Interchange – Timeline". New York State Department of Transportation. May 9, 2008. Retrieved September 17, 2007.
26. "NYSDOT I-86/Route 15 Interchange Project Wins Award" (Press release). New York State Department of Transportation. July 10, 2009. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
27. "Excerpts from the ISTEA, NHS, TEA-21, and SAFETEA-LU Legislation". AARoads. Retrieved September 17, 2007.
28. "NYSDOT Begins Highway Construction on US Route 15/Future I-99" (Press release). New York State Department of Transportation. June 8, 2007. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
29. Affissio, Anthony (October 2, 2008). "Work complete on U.S. 15 section". The Leader. Corning, NY. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
30. "I99 Updates and traffic flow changes as of August 21, 2013". Lindley, New York. Blogger. August 21, 2013. Retrieved September 23, 2013.
31. Post, James (October 8, 2013). "Future I-99 stretch opens in Lindley". The Leader. Retrieved October 17, 2013.
32. Clarke, Cheryl R. (August 27, 2010). "New York secures funding that may expedite bridge project". Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Retrieved August 30, 2010.
33. Finger, Ray (August 17, 2010). "Politicians trying to speed up Route 15 construction project". Star-Gazette. Elmira, NY.

External links

• U.S. Route 15 at Alps' Roads • New York Routes • New York State Highway Termini • Upstate New York Roads