New York State Route 34

State highway in central New York, US

the current alignment of NY 34

By 1926, what is now NY 34 from Ithaca north to Cato was designated as part of NY 40, which continued northwest to Red Creek mostly by way of modern NY 370. South of Ithaca, current NY 34 was part of NY 53 from Van Etten to Spencer.

In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 40 was reassigned to another highway in the Capital District. Its former alignment became part of two new routes, namely NY 370 west of Cato and NY 34 south of Cato. Unlike NY 40 before it, NY 34 continued south to Chemung Street (then NY 17) in Waverly, utilizing the post 1921 alignment of legislative Route 9 between Ithaca and Waverly. NY 34 was extended south to the Pennsylvania state line in the early 1970s following the completion of the Southern Tier Expressway through Waverly. NY 34 was extended north from Cato to the super two highway carrying NY 104 around Hannibal in May 1970, taking over Cayuga County Route 40 and Oswego County Route 56. Initially, NY 34 veered east on Ira Hill East and North Roads and on Oswego County's County Route 21 (CR 21) to serve Hannibal Center; however, it was moved onto its current alignment between Cato and Hannibal by 1977. The portion of NY 34 north of Cato was county maintained until the early 1980s when the state of New York acquired ownership of the highway as part of two highway maintenance swaps with Oswego and Cayuga counties. The section of NY 34 between the Cayuga County line and NY 104 became state maintained on April 1, 1980, while the segment between NY 370 and the Oswego County line was turned over to the state on April 1, 1981. The county maintained continuation of NY 34 to NY 3 in Hannibal is designated and signed as CR 34.

NY 34 has been realigned through Ithaca at least three times since the 1930s. By 1948, NY 34 was shifted westward to follow Albany, Court, and Cayuga Streets through downtown. NY 34 was altered to follow Meadow Street and the freeway between southwestern Ithaca and its original alignment on East Shore Drive north of the city. The portion of NY 34's former alignment on East Shore Drive north of the Ithaca city line became NY 930F, an unsigned reference route. Lastly, in 1996, ten blocks of southbound NY 34 was diverted from Meadow Street to Fulton Street as part of the Octopus elimination project.