History
In 1924, NY 3 was assigned to the New York portion of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway, an auto trail that extended from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. In New York, it connected North Tonawanda (near Niagara Falls) in the west to Plattsburgh in the east via Rochester and Watertown. In Jefferson County, the trail and NY 3 entered Watertown on modern U.S. Route 11 and exited on what is now NY 12F. At Dexter, NY 3 turned north to follow current NY 180 and NY 12E to Clayton, where it continued eastward on modern NY 12.
In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 3 was rerouted to exit Watertown to the east on its modern alignment. The former alignment of NY 3 from Watertown to Clayton was redesignated as NY 12E. At the same time, an alternate route of NY 12E extending from the modern junction of NY 12E and NY 180 to downtown Watertown along the northern bank of the Black River was designated as NY 12F. The alignments of NY 12E and NY 12F east of what is now NY 180 were swapped c. 1939, placing both routes on their current alignments.
On August 1, 1979, maintenance of NY 12E between Bridge Street in Brownville and the Watertown city line was transferred from the state of New York to Jefferson County as part of a larger highway maintenance swap between the two levels of government. In return, the state assumed maintenance of Bridge Street in Brownsville and the town of Hounsfield, among other highways. Following the swap, the segment of NY 12E between Bridge Street and the Watertown city limits became concurrent with CR 190 while Bridge Street became NY 971H, an unsigned reference route. The section of NY 12E within the city of Watertown is locally maintained.
Current signage along NY 12E indicates that the route has been rerouted east of Bridge Street to follow NY 971H across the Black River to a terminus at NY 12F. However, the 2012 New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) description of routes in New York and the 2008 NYSDOT Traffic Data Report both indicate that NY 12E's southern terminus is still located at NY 12 in downtown Watertown.
Read more about this topic: New York State Route 12E
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