New York State Route 366
Encyclopedia
New York State Route 366 (NY 366) is an east–west state highway
State highway
State highway, state road or state route can refer to one of three related concepts, two of them related to a state or provincial government in a country that is divided into states or provinces :#A...

 located entirely within Tompkins County
Tompkins County, New York
Tompkins County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, and comprises the whole of the Ithaca metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 101,564. The county seat is Ithaca, and the county is home to Cornell University, Ithaca College and Tompkins Cortland Community...

 in the Finger Lakes
Finger Lakes
The Finger Lakes are a pattern of lakes in the west-central section of Upstate New York in the United States. They are a popular tourist destination. The lakes are long and thin , each oriented roughly on a north-south axis. The two longest, Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake, are among the deepest in...

 region of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It runs for 9.4 miles (15.13 km) from State Street (NY 79
New York State Route 79
New York State Route 79 is an east–west state highway in the Southern Tier of New York, United States. The western terminus of the route is at the intersection with NY 414 near the southern end of Seneca Lake east of Watkins Glen...

) just east of downtown Ithaca
Ithaca, New York
The city of Ithaca, is a city in upstate New York and the county seat of Tompkins County, as well as the largest community in the Ithaca-Tompkins County metropolitan area...

 to NY 38
New York State Route 38
New York State Route 38 is a north–south state highway in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with NY 96 in the town of Owego in Tioga County. The northern terminus is at a junction with NY 104A in the town of...

 in Freeville
Freeville, New York
Freeville is a village in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 505 at the 2000 census.The Village of Freeville is in the Town of Dryden and is east of Ithaca.-History:Dryden was in the former Central New York Military Tract....

. NY 366 parallels Fall Creek from Varna
Varna, New York
Varna is a hamlet located in Tompkins County, New York, USA. It is within the Town of Dryden.Varna is located near the west town line on New York State Route 366 . Fall Creek flows past the town to Cayuga Lake.-External links:* *...

 to Freeville and passes along the southern edge of the Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 campus. NY 366 was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York; however, it was initially nothing more than a connector between NY 13
New York State Route 13
New York State Route 13 is a state highway that runs mainly north–south for between NY 14 in Horseheads and NY 3 west of Pulaski in Central New York in the United States. In between, NY 13 intersects with Interstate 81 in Cortland and Pulaski and meets the New York...

 in Etna
Etna, New York
Etna is an unincorporated community in Tompkins County, New York. It lies at an elevation of 1020 feet ....

 and NY 38 in Freeville. In the 1960s, NY 13 was moved onto a new expressway bypassing Ithaca to the west and north. The former surface routing of NY 13 into downtown Ithaca became an extension of NY 366.

History

In 1908, the New York State Legislature created Route 9, an unsigned legislative route
Legislative route
In United States, a legislative route or legislative highway is a highway defined by laws passed in a state legislature. The numbering of such highways may or may not correspond to the numbers familiar to the public as part of the state, U.S. highway, and Interstate highway systems...

 that ran from the Southern Tier
Southern Tier
The Southern Tier is a geographical term that refers to the counties of New York State west of the Catskill Mountains along the northern border of Pennsylvania. It is a loosely defined term that generally includes the counties that border Pennsylvania west of Delaware County inclusive...

 to Bouckville via Ithaca and Cortland
Cortland, New York
Cortland is a city in Cortland County, New York, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 18,740. It is the county seat of Cortland County.The City of Cortland, near the west border of the county, is surrounded by the Town of Cortlandville....

. Route 9 exited the city of Ithaca on modern NY 366 and followed it east through Varna
Varna, New York
Varna is a hamlet located in Tompkins County, New York, USA. It is within the Town of Dryden.Varna is located near the west town line on New York State Route 366 . Fall Creek flows past the town to Cayuga Lake.-External links:* *...

 and Etna
Etna, New York
Etna is an unincorporated community in Tompkins County, New York. It lies at an elevation of 1020 feet ....

 to Freeville
Freeville, New York
Freeville is a village in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 505 at the 2000 census.The Village of Freeville is in the Town of Dryden and is east of Ithaca.-History:Dryden was in the former Central New York Military Tract....

, from where it continued southeastward toward Dryden
Dryden (village), New York
Dryden is a village in Tompkins County, New York, United States. The population was 1,832 at the 2000 census. The name was assigned by a clerk interested in the classics to honor John Dryden, poet and playwright....

 on what is now NY 38
New York State Route 38
New York State Route 38 is a north–south state highway in the Finger Lakes region of New York in the United States. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with NY 96 in the town of Owego in Tioga County. The northern terminus is at a junction with NY 104A in the town of...

. When the first set of posted routes in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 were assigned in 1924, the segment of legislative Route 9 between Varna and Etna became part of NY 13
New York State Route 13
New York State Route 13 is a state highway that runs mainly north–south for between NY 14 in Horseheads and NY 3 west of Pulaski in Central New York in the United States. In between, NY 13 intersects with Interstate 81 in Cortland and Pulaski and meets the New York...

. Unlike Route 9 before it, NY 13 exited Ithaca on Forest Home Drive and bypassed Freeville to the south in favor of a direct alignment between Etna and Dryden.

Also assigned at this time was NY 26, a highway that initially extended from Ithaca to Syracuse
Syracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...

 via Moravia
Moravia (village), New York
Moravia is a village in Cayuga County, New York, United States. The population was 1,363 at the 2000 census.The Village of Moravia is in the south part of the Town of Moravia and is south of Auburn, New York....

 and Skaneateles
Skaneateles (village), New York
Skaneateles is a village in the town of Skaneateles, Onondaga County, New York, United States. The village is named from and located on the shores of Skaneateles Lake, one of the Finger Lakes. The village, as of the 2000 census, has a population of 2,616 residents. The main highway through the...

. NY 26 began in downtown Ithaca and overlapped with NY 13 east to Etna, where it turned northeast to follow old legislative Route 9 to Freeville. Past Freeville, the route continued northward toward Syracuse on modern NY 38. The overlap between NY 13 and NY 26 was eliminated in the late 1920s when NY 26 was truncated to begin at the former east end of the concurrency in Etna. In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the NY 26 designation was reassigned to another highway
New York State Route 26
New York State Route 26 is a north–south state highway that runs for through Central New York in the United States. Its southern terminus is located at the Pennsylvania state line south of the town of Vestal in Broome County, where it becomes Pennsylvania Route 267...

 off to the east. The southernmost portion of NY 26's former routing between Etna and Freeville was redesignated as NY 366.

Ca. 1936, NY 13 was realigned to bypass the Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 grounds to the south on State (NY 79
New York State Route 79
New York State Route 79 is an east–west state highway in the Southern Tier of New York, United States. The western terminus of the route is at the intersection with NY 414 near the southern end of Seneca Lake east of Watkins Glen...

) and Mitchell Streets and Ithaca and Dryden Roads. Its old alignment through the college became NY 392
New York State Route 392 (1930s–1970s)
New York State Route 392 was a state highway in the vicinity of the city of Ithaca in central Tompkins County, New York, United States. The western terminus of the route was at an intersection with NY 79 in downtown Ithaca. Its eastern terminus was at a junction with NY 366 in the...

. In the early 1960s, a new expressway was built along the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake
Cayuga Lake
Cayuga Lake   is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area and second largest in volume. It is just under 40 miles long. Its average width is 1.7 miles , and it is at its widest point near Aurora...

, bypassing downtown Ithaca to the west and north. NY 13 was altered to follow Meadow Street and the freeway between southwestern Ithaca and the town of Dryden
Dryden (town), New York
Dryden is a town in Tompkins County, New York, USA. The population was 13,532 at the 2000 census. The town contains two villages: one also named Dryden and one named Freeville...

 while the portion of NY 13's old routing that did not overlap NY 79 became a westward extension of NY 366.

Major intersections

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