Ridge Road | |
|---|---|
 Map of western New York with Ridge Road highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Maintained by NYSDOT, Monroe and Wayne counties, and several villages and cities | |
| Length | 121.48 mi[1][2] (195.50 km) |
| History | Established prior to 19th century as Indian trail; rebuilt as road in early 20th century[3] |
| Major junctions | |
| West end | Water Street in Lewiston |
 Niagara Scenic Parkway in Lewiston NY 63 near Medina NY 390 in Greece NY 590 in Irondequoit NY 88 in Sodus | |
| East end |  NY 370 near Red Creek |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| Counties | Niagara, Orleans, Monroe, Wayne |
| Highway system | |
Ridge Road is a 121.5-mile (195.5 km) east–west road that traverses four counties in Upstate New York in the United States. The road begins adjacent to the Niagara River at an intersection with Water Street in the village of Lewiston, Niagara County, and passes through several towns, villages, and the city of Rochester before arriving at its eastern terminus at a junction with New York State Route 370 (NY 370) southwest of Red Creek, Wayne County. It is named for the rise atop which the road was built, a mound of sand and gravel that was formed when it was the shoreline of ancient Glacial Lake Iroquois (now Lake Ontario). The ridge is often confused with the nearby Niagara Escarpment, which is much taller, geologic in origin, and lies a few miles to the south.
Most of the road is maintained by either the New York State Department of Transportation as a touring route or by county highway departments as a county road. 70 miles (113 km) of Ridge Road—over half of the road's total length—is part of NY 104, which joins the road outside of Lewiston and leaves it upon crossing the Genesee River in Rochester. From the Monroe–Wayne county line to Red Creek, Ridge Road is a two-lane, mostly county-owned road that parallels the NY 104 super two as both head eastward across Wayne County. Ridge Road is part of the Seaway Trail from its junction with NY 14 east of Sodus to its end at NY 370.
The road dates back to the 18th century when it was a foot trail used by the Algonquian and Iroquois.[citation needed] It developed into a dirt road in the early 19th century, and was modernized in the early 20th century when the state of New York took over the vast majority of the highway.[citation needed] The Porter–Rochester and Webster–Red Creek sections of Ridge Road were designated as part of Route 30, an unsigned legislative route, by 1921, and the latter section became part of the signed NY 3 in 1924. The piece of Route 30 west of Rochester was designated as part of NY 31 by 1926, and NY 31 was rerouted later in the decade to follow Ridge Road west from Porter to Lewiston. In Irondequoit, Ridge Road was unnumbered during the 1920s but designated as part of NY 18 in the early 1930s.[citation needed]
The myriad of designations were mostly replaced with one c. 1935: U.S. Route 104 (US 104). NY 31 and NY 3 were moved off Ridge Road, while NY 18 became concurrent to US 104. Over the next half-century, however, the portion of US 104 (and later NY 104) from the Genesee River eastward was gradually relocated from Ridge Road to new expressways and freeways that were constructed in the vicinity of the old road. A 5.5-mile (8.9 km) section of NY 104's former routing along Ridge Road in Webster was retained as a state highway as part of NY 404; however, most of the old alignment was given to the counties or villages instead.