History
The Spencerport Expressway was conceived as part of a plan to link Rochester and Buffalo with a limited-access, toll-free highway. Although this plan was ultimately scrapped, the first segment of the expressway from I-490 west to Elmgrove Road in Gates was built in the early 1960s and completed by 1964. When it opened, it was designated as NY 940P, an unsigned reference route designation. In 1984, the expressway was extended westward to Manitou Road and was redesignated as the signed NY 531.
In April 1987, plans to extend the expressway further westward to NY 36 in Ogden were set in motion. At that time, New York State Senator Ralph E. Quattrociocchi and State Assemblyman Steve Hawley introduced legislation requesting $15 million (equivalent to $30.3 million in 2013) for the extension of NY 531 west to Washington Street (NY 36). The money would be appropriated to NYSDOT. More money was devoted to the project as part of a $3 billion (equivalent to $5.82 billion in 2013) bond issue dubbed "Rebuild New York" that was presented to voters during the November 1988 elections. The measure was approved with 55% of the vote. The money assigned to NY 531 went toward 2.3 miles (3.7 km) of the route's extension.
Despite the presence of funding, construction was delayed on the extension until 1993 due to opposition from residents of the communities surrounding NY 531's future routing—namely Gates, Spencerport and Ogden. The new segment of NY 531 opened to traffic in 1995. The entirety of NY 531 is dedicated the "Senator Ralph Quattrociocchi Memorial Highway" by NYSDOT in honor of Quattrociocchi and his role in making the second extension possible.
Read more about this topic: New York State Route 531
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