 New York State Route 33 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Map of western New York with NY 33 highlighted in red and associated reference routes in blue | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by NYSDOT and the cities of Batavia and Rochester | ||||
| Length | 69.26 mi[1] (111.46 km) | |||
| Existed | mid-1920s[2][3]–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |  NY 5 in Buffalo | |||
| East end |  NY 31 in Rochester | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | New York | |||
| Counties | Erie, Genesee, Monroe | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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New York State Route 33 (NY 33) is an east–west state highway in western New York in the United States. The route extends for just under 70 miles (113 km) from NY 5 in Buffalo in the west to NY 31 in Rochester in the east. It is the only state highway that directly connects both cities, although it is rarely used today for that purpose. The westernmost 10 miles (16 km) of NY 33 in Buffalo and the neighboring town of Cheektowaga have been upgraded into the Kensington Expressway. This section of NY 33 is one of several freeways leading out of downtown and serves as a main route to the Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
On the Rochester end, NY 33 primarily serves as a paralleling local route to Interstate 490 (I-490), of less importance to the area's traffic patterns. Between the two cities, it is mostly a rural two-lane highway. The largest location on this stretch is the Genesee County city of Batavia, where NY 33 reconnects to NY 5 and crosses NY 63 and NY 98, two regionally important north–south highways. NY 33 overlaps with all three routes at one point or another as it traverses Batavia. A southerly alternate route, designated NY 33A, leaves NY 33 northeast of Batavia in Bergen and rejoins its parent in Rochester.
NY 33 was assigned in the mid-1920s, but only to the portion of its modern routing between Batavia and Rochester. It was extended on both ends—to Buffalo in the west and Marion in the east—as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York; however, the eastern extension was eliminated in 1949. In Buffalo, NY 33 was moved onto the Kensington Expressway in the mid-1960s, and its former surface routing along Genesee Street subsequently became the short-lived New York State Route 33B. Smaller realignments in the years since have moved NY 33's western terminus from the heart of downtown Buffalo to the northern fringe of the city's center.