NEW YORK STATE ROUTE 417

'New York State Route 417' is located in the Southern Tier of the state. It is the longest of several state highways formerly part of New York State Route 17 before the construction of the Southern Tier Expressway. It also diverges the most from the current Route 17, coming within 100 feet (30 m) of the Pennsylvania state line at one intersection.
417 is one of the longest three-digit routes in the state. At one time, a section in the Steuben County town of Greenwood was the highest on the state highway system outside of the state's eastern mountains.

Contents

Route description

Cattaraugus County

Allegany County

Steuben County

Communities along the route

Major intersections

History

References

Route description

Cattaraugus County

Starting from its west end, the highway begins at an exit with NY 17 and Interstate 86 just west of the Indian-owned city of Salamanca in Cattaraugus County. New York State Route 353 ends at an intersection with 417, and the road joins with U.S. Route 219 for a few miles east of the village.
After 219 splits off to the south toward Bradford, Pennsylvania, 417 continues following the Allegheny River and the expressway toward a point west of Allegany where it intersects with 17 and 86 indirectly, to provide access to the campus of St. Bonaventure University. From there it crosses Olean Creek and enters the city of Olean, the largest community along its length. The major intersection there is New York State Route 16.
Next 417 crosses the suburb of East Olean, then heads southeastward, away from the expressway corridor but along the river, to a brief concurrency with New York State Route 305 that marks the village of Portville. 417's southeast heading continues east of the small village, into Allegany County.

Allegany County

In Allegany County, at the small hamlet of Ceres, NY 417 skirts the state line closely enough to be the ''de facto'' northern end of Pennsylvania Route 44.
It then turns northeast, reaching after several miles the village of Bolivar where New York State Route 275 continues to the north while 417 turns east once again. This takes it to its next large community, Wellsville, where it briefly joins another major highway, New York State Route 19, along a different river, the Genesee, through the village's downtown.
Heading due east again past Wellsville through the narrow but scenic valley of Dyke Creek, 417 next comes to Andover, where New York State Route 21 begins its long trip north. Two miles east of the village, it crosses into Steuben County.

Steuben County

417 begins to climb the valley headwall, and presently reaches an elevation of 2,300 feet (701 m) above sea level at West Greenwood. Before the relocation of New York State Route 16 away from Route 305's present course, this was the highest elevation on any state highway in the western or central regions of New York. Descending once again to Greenwood, it intersects New York State Route 248.
At the next community of enough note to receive a name, Jasper, another major north-south route, New York State Route 36, briefly shares the road. Beyond it, the road's meanderings eventually bring it to the Canisteo River valley and Addison, where the now-decommissioned New York State Route 432 once ended. A straight, well-maintained section takes 417 from there to its current eastern terminus at U.S. Route 15. It is possible that once the interchange with NY 17/I-86 is completed in 2007, 417 may once again extend into nearby Painted Post.

Communities along the route

★ Salamanca

★ Olean

★ Portville

★ Wellsville

★ Andover

★ Addison

Major intersections

History

417 was originally assigned to a shorter road in Otsego County, near Otego. As the expressway neared completion, however, it was reassigned gradually to sections of the former, two-lane 17, starting at Kennedy in Chautauqua County. Ironically, that first section from Kennedy to Salamanca was the first to be decommissioned entirely when part was closed to traffic in the Allegany Reservation. The remainder became NY 394.
It was gradually extended east to the Corning area as sections of the new 17 became open. Originally it did extend into Painted Post as a concurrency with 15, but then it was moved and truncated entirely to its current eastern terminus.

References

1. New York Routes - New York State Route 417