New York State Route 5A - History

History

In 1908, the New York State Legislature created Route 28, an unsigned legislative route extending from Maple View to Utica via Rome and Whitesboro. Route 28 followed the north bank of the Mohawk River from Rome to Marcy, where it turned south toward Whitesboro on modern NY 291. Once on the south bank, the route proceeded to Utica on Main and Whitesboro Streets. When the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, all of legislative Route 28 was designated as part of NY 11. Within Utica, NY 11 followed Whitesboro and Court Streets east to Genesee Street, where it ended at NY 5 and NY 12. NY 11 was renumbered to NY 76 in 1927 to eliminate numerical duplication with the new U.S. Route 11.

The NY 76 designation was reassigned elsewhere in the state as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. From Whitesboro to downtown Utica, NY 76's former alignment was co-designated as part of NY 5S and NY 12C. In the mid-1930s, a north–south connector between NY 5 in New Hartford and NY 5S and NY 12C in Yorkville was designated as NY 5A. NY 5S and NY 12C were realigned in the late 1930s to follow a new highway named Oriskany Boulevard through Whitesboro and Yorkville. In the early 1940s, NY 5S was truncated to begin in Utica while its former alignment between Rome and Utica became part of NY 69.

By 1947, NY 12C and NY 69 were realigned to follow Oriskany Street through western Utica while NY 5A was extended eastward along Oriskany Street to a new terminus in downtown Utica, creating overlaps with both NY 12C and NY 69. The overlaps remained in place until January 1, 1970, when NY 12C was eliminated and NY 69 was truncated to end in Yorkville. The intersection between Commercial Drive and Oriskany Boulevard was converted into a trumpet interchange around the same time.