New York State Route 384 - History

History

In 1908, the New York State Legislature created Route 30, an unsigned legislative route extending across New York from Niagara Falls northeast to Rouses Point. By 1914, the definition of Route 30 was modified to include the portion of River Road and Main Street between the Niagara Falls city line and Island Street in North Tonawanda. This addition to Route 30 was removed on March 1, 1921. When the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, none of the former North Tonawanda extension of Route 30 was assigned a designation.

NY 384 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York to the primary riverside roadway between the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls. It began at Niagara Square in downtown Buffalo and followed Niagara Street north to the city of Tonawanda. From there, NY 384 followed Main Street into North Tonawanda, joining the former routing of Route 30 at Island Street. While Route 30 ended at the Niagara Falls city line, NY 384 continued west along Buffalo Avenue into downtown. The portion of Delaware Avenue and Grove Street from NY 324 in Kenmore to NY 384 in Tonawanda was designated as NY 266 c. 1935.

The alignments of NY 266 and NY 384 south of North Tonawanda were flipped c. 1936. However, unlike NY 266, NY 384 continued south on Delaware Avenue into downtown Buffalo, where it ended at Niagara Square as it had before. NY 384 was rerouted slightly by 1948 to follow Delaware Avenue through Tonawanda and across the Erie Canal to the modern junction of Main and Webster Streets, where it rejoined its previous alignment. The route was extended south through Niagara Square to its current terminus at NY 5 by 1970.