Route information | ||||
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Maintained by NYSDOT | ||||
Length | 108.62 mi[1] (174.81 km) | |||
Existed | 1930[2]–present | |||
Major junctions | ||||
South end | PA 449 at the Pennsylvania state line in Willing | |||
North end | Lake Ontario State Parkway in Hamlin | |||
Location | ||||
Country | United States | |||
State | New York | |||
Counties | Allegany, Wyoming, Genesee, Monroe | |||
Highway system | ||||
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New York State Route 19 (NY 19) is a north–south state highway in Western New York in the United States. It is the longest state highway in that region, and the only other one besides NY 14 to completely transect the state from the Pennsylvania state line to the shore of Lake Ontario. It continues south into Pennsylvania as Pennsylvania Route 449 (PA 449) and ends at an intersection with the Lake Ontario State Parkway just south of the lakeshore in Hamlin. NY 19 does not serve any major cities or metropolitan areas and remains a two-lane rural road for almost its entire length. However, it follows the Genesee River for much of its lower length, and offers easy access to the gorges of Letchworth State Park midway along its route.
Most of modern NY 19 between Wellsville and Le Roy was originally designated as part of a legislative route in 1908. Much of this stretch was included in Route 16, an unsigned highway that initially extended from Cuba to Le Roy via Belfast. In 1921, Route 16 was altered to follow the path of what is now NY 19A instead. The first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, at which time the Wellsville–Belvidere segment of modern NY 19 was designated as part of NY 17 and a small portion of NY 19 in Brockport became part of NY 3. Within two years, the pre-1921 routing of legislative Route 16 from Belfast to Pavilion was designated as part of New York State Route 62, a new route that began at Belvidere and passed through Pavilion before following modern NY 63 northwest to the Lake Ontario shoreline north of Lyndonville.
In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 17 was altered to follow a more southerly routing between Olean and Wellsville while NY 62 became the basis for NY 19, which continued south of Belvidere to the Pennsylvania state line. The portion of what is now NY 19 north of Pavilion was initially part of NY 63; the alignments of NY 19 and NY 63 were flipped north of Pavilion c. 1939. Only minor realignments and maintenance transfers have occurred since.