History
The origins of NY 70 date back to the mid-1920s when a series of state highways extending from Belvidere in the west to Penn Yan in the east were designated NY 38. In between the two endpoints, NY 38 served the communities of Garwoods, Canaseraga, Arkport, Hornell, Avoca, and Bath. NY 38 was reassigned to another highway in Central New York as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, and its former alignment in the Southern Tier became part of several new routes. Southwest of Garwoods, the highway was included as part of NY 63 from Belvidere to Angelica and NY 63A between Angelica and Garwoods. The portion of old NY 38 northeast of Bath became NY 54.
From Garwoods to NY 2 (now NY 415) south of Avoca, the former routing of NY 38 was included as part of NY 70, which continued west from Garwoods to NY 63 (now Old State Road) in Granger. NY 70 initially used modern NY 961F, NY 36, and Big Creek Road (Steuben County's CR 70A) east of Canaseraga, as did its predecessor, NY 38. West of Garwoods, NY 70 followed Ames Nichols and Swain roads to Spencer Worden Road, from where the route was to continue west to NY 63 by way of an extension of Swain Road. The extension of Swain Road never materialized; as a result, NY 70 was cut back to its junction with NY 63A (now Allegany County's CR 15B) in Garwoods c. 1939.
Most of what later became NY 70 was given a route designation at some point in the early 1930s. In the 1930 renumbering, the portion of current NY 70 between NY 63 (now NY 408) in Dalton and the then-western terminus of NY 70 in Garwoods was designated as part of NY 63A. By the following year, the remainder of what is now NY 70 west to NY 39 (modern NY 436) was designated NY 351 while the short east–west connector between Canaseraga and Dansville was assigned NY 70A. In the early 1940s, NY 63 was rerouted south of Mount Morris and replaced with NY 408 between Scotts Corners (north of Hinsdale) and Mount Morris. As part of the switch, NY 63A was redesignated NY 408A. NY 408 was rerouted between Angelica and Dalton to follow NY 408A on January 1, 1949.
NY 70 remained unchanged until the 1970s when the route was reconfigured into its modern alignment through a series of changes. The first was made c. 1974 when the route was truncated westward to Arkport following the completion of the Southern Tier Expressway between Hornell and Avoca. By 1977, NY 408 was truncated truncated to Dalton on its southern end. The Dalton–Garwoods segment of NY 408's former routing and all of NY 351 became a western extension of NY 70. The route was also realigned on its east end by this time to follow the routing of NY 70A east of Canaseraga. Reference markers for NY 70A, NY 351, and NY 408 still exist on the sections of NY 70 that once carried those designations.
Read more about this topic: New York State Route 70
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