New York State Route 12D - History

History

In 1908, the New York State Legislature created Route 27, an unsigned legislative route that initially extended from Forestport to Alexandria Bay via Boonville, Lowville, and Watertown. From Boonville to Lowville, Route 27 utilized what is now NY 12D and NY 26. When the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, the segment of legislative Route 27 between Boonville and Lowville via Potters Corners was designated as part of NY 12. An alternate route of NY 12 between Potters Corners and Lowville via Lyons Falls was assigned NY 12D as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. By the following year, NY 12D was rerouted south of Lyons Falls to follow a routing similar to modern NY 12 to Boonville. The former routing of NY 12D between Potters Corners and Lyons Falls was redesignated as NY 337 c. 1935. The routings of NY 12 and NY 12D between Boonville and Lowville were swapped c. 1939.

Originally, NY 12 entered Lyons Falls on Franklin Street and followed Center and McAlpine Streets through the village before leaving the area on Cherry Street. NY 12 was rerouted onto its current alignment around the western edge of Lyons Falls in the late 1940s; however, NY 337 was not truncated nor rerouted to meet the new path of NY 12. Instead, NY 337 was initially extended eastward along the former alignment of NY 12 on McAlpine Street to a new terminus at Center Street. It was rerouted east of Cherry Street to follow Cherry south to NY 12 c. 1970. The former routing of NY 337 along McAlpine Street from Cherry Street to a grade crossing with the Mohawk, Adirondack and Northern Railroad, a distance of 0.03 miles (48 m), is now designated as NY 970J, an unsigned reference route. The overlap between NY 12D and NY 26 north of Potters Corners was eliminated c. 1972 when NY 12D was rerouted to follow NY 337 to Lyons Falls, placing NY 12D on its current alignment.