New York State Route 335 - History

History

On May 11, 1914, the state of New York awarded a contract to rebuild Elsmere Avenue to state highway standards. The project cost $18,489 (equivalent to $423,773 in 2013), and the reconstructed road was added to the state highway system on October 27, 1914, as unsigned State Highway 1184. It did not receive a posted designation until the 1930s, when it was designated NY 335. At the time, the route connected to NY 32 at Feura Bush Road. In 1959, the state of New York developed plans for the Delmar Bypass, which would intersect NY 335 a short distance north of Feura Bush Road. The Bethlehem Central Board of Education had called for a grade-separated interchange between the highway and NY 335 to ensure the safety of school buses on the latter road, a major bus route; however, the junction was ultimately built as an at-grade intersection.

The Delmar Bypass was opened in December 1963, connecting Elm Avenue in the west to U.S. Route 9W in the east. The state did not add traffic lights to any of the four intersections on the bypass as a late 1963 study indicated that the signals were unnecessary. In mid-January 1964, the Bethlehem Town Board pushed the state to add traffic lights to every intersection in the wake of several accidents and near-misses at the crossings. This request was eventually granted. The Delmar Bypass did not have a signed route number until the 1970s when NY 32 was realigned to follow the highway. As a result, NY 335 no longer connected to a signed route at its south end.