New York State Route 26

Highway in New York

the current alignment of NY 26

NY 26 begins at the Pennsylvania state line in Vestal, where it connects to PA 267. The road heads northward through Vestal as a two lane highway, passing Wildcat Hill and Pierson Hill as it runs along the base of a valley surrounding Choconut Creek. It serves mostly rural areas for its first 6 mile (10 km) before entering a larger valley encompassing the Susquehanna River. Here, the route widens to four lanes as it enters the densely populated town center of Vestal and connects to NY 434 by way of a partial cloverleaf interchange. NY 26 continues northward, meeting NY 17 (Future I 86) at a full cloverleaf interchange, which links NY 26 to the city of Binghamton. Past NY 17, it continues over a bridge crossing the Susquehanna River and enters the village of Endicott on the north bank. Here, NY 26 merges into NY 17C at an interchange just east of the village center. The two routes overlap for several blocks through Endicott, following the two lane Main Street westward through the village's central business district. At Nanticoke Avenue, NY 26 turns to the north, following the street through the community's northern residential neighborhoods. Outside of Endicott, the homes give way to significantly less developed areas as the highway runs through the Nanticoke Creek valley. After 4 mile (6 km), the route reaches the small hamlet of Union Center, where NY 38B leaves to the northwest toward its parent route, NY 38. Past Union Center, NY 26 slowly turns to the northeast as it traverses the town of Maine, following Nanticoke Creek as it runs through the town center. The waterway splits into two branches just past the hamlet of Maine, and NY 26 stays with the creek's east branch as the route crosses rural parts of the towns of Nanticoke and Lisle. Another 7 miles brings the route to the hamlet of Otselic, where NY 26 intersects the east–west NY 80 on the opposite side of the river from the community. NY 80 turns northward at this point, overlapping NY 26 as the two roads bends northwestward along the riverbank into Madison County. NY 26 runs northwest through the remainder of Theresa before veering southwest across another undeveloped stretch to a junction with NY 37 and NY 411. The route turns north at this point, becoming concurrent with NY 37 for 3 mile (5 km) through a rural section of the town of Theresa. At the north end of the overlap, NY 26 splits to the northwest toward the town of Alexandria, where it meets CR 192 From CR 192, NY 26 continues northwest across rolling farmland to the village of Alexandria Bay, where the route ends at a junction with NY 12 several blocks south of the Saint Lawrence River. In 1910, the legislature established Route 30 a, a connector between Route 27 in Carthage and Route 30 (now US 11) in Antwerp via current NY 3 and the U. S. Military Highway through Fort Drum. When the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, the segment of legislative Route 27 between Alexandria Bay and Ogdensburg became part of NY 3 while the portion of Route 27 from Foresport to Lowville was included in NY 12. By 1926, the Lowville–Carthage section of legislative Route 27 and all of Route 49 was designated as part of NY 48, which continued west from Antwerp to NY 3 in Alexandria on what is now CR 193, CR 194 and NY 26. Also created by 1926 was NY 46, which began in Oriskany Falls and went north to Rome on modern NY 26. Past Rome, NY 46 followed its current alignment to Boonville.

Modern NY 26 was established as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. It began at the Pennsylvania state line south of Endicott and went north to Carthage over its modern alignment. From Oriskany Falls to Rome, it replaced NY 46, The state of New York assumed ownership and maintenance of the bypass in 1960, at which time it was designated as NY 181. The easternmost section of the highway was realigned c. 1963 to bypass Black River to the west. It separated from NY 3 west of Black River and followed the Black River north to Pearl Street, where it met its old routing. NY 181, which NY 26 overlapped between Calcium and Black River, was renumbered to NY 342 around this time. The Southern Tier Expressway (NY 17) was open from Vestal to Johnson City, but was not slated to become part of NY 17 until the segment of the expressway from Johnson City to I 81 was completed. As a result, NY 17 exited the expressway at Vestal, overlapped NY 26 south to Vestal Parkway (modern NY 434), and then followed it into downtown Binghamton. The Johnson City–I 81 piece of the expressway was completed and opened to traffic by 1973. At this time the overlap was eliminated, and NY 17 was realigned to follow the expressway while NY 17's former routing from Vestal to Binghamton became an extension of NY 434 on July 1, 1974. Like the NY 17 realignment, the NY 434 extension had been planned years before. Both suggestions were implemented by 1977. The changes were rendered moot on August 1, 1979, as ownership and maintenance of the portions of NY 283 from US 11 in Antwerp to NY 411 in Theresa and from LaFargeville Road in Theresa to NY 37 west of the village was transferred from the state of New York to Jefferson County as part of a highway maintenance swap between the two levels of government. NY 26 was subsequently rerouted to follow the new West Carthage–Evans Mills state highway to US 11 near Evans Mills. It overlapped with US 11 from there to Philadelphia before continuing to Theresa on former NY 411. The route exited Theresa on LaFargeville Road, and NY 26 used a short overlap with NY 37 to rejoin its pre 1970s alignment at Wilson Road. At this point, the route continued to Alexandria Bay as it had prior to the 1970s truncation. The former routing of NY 26 between Fort Drum and Theresa via Antwerp (and thus the former alignment of NY 283 between Antwerp and Theresa) became CR 194 while the former part of NY 26 and NY 283 west of Theresa became CR 193.

From 2005 to 2006, NY 26 was reconstructed from NY 17C north to the Nanticoke Creek in the village of Endicott and town of Union. This included changing from four lanes to a three lane roadway, with the center lane being a bi directional left turn lane. Also structural repairs were completed on the railroad bridge over NY 26. The $9 million project was completed in December 2006 by the Vacri Construction Corporation of Binghamton. Around the Fort Drum area, several projects were completed on NY 26. The first project completed in 2017, reconfigured the intersection with Oneida and Ontario avenues to improve safety and reduce congestion. The second project, completed on August 24, 2018, added a new bridge that connected the airfield area of the base to the main cantonment area. This $7.6 million project, allowed on base traffic to cross NY 26 without having to leave the base, which in turn reduced congestion on NY 26. Then on May 13, 2019, work began on the third $2.9 million project to reconstruct the intersection with US 11 near Fort Drum in Jefferson County. The project provided additional turning lanes and added a slip ramp onto NY 26 for northbound traffic on US 11. The third project was completed on December 10, 2019.

There are efforts within NYSDOT to renumber NY 365, which overlaps NY 26, and NY 49 (from Utica to Thruway Exit 33 in the Town of Verona) to NY Route 790, with the eventual plan of renumbering it again as an extension of I 790. The cost for the conversion to Interstate standards is estimated to be between $150 million and $200 million. U. S. Representative Michael Arcuri introduced legislation in July 2010 that would redesignate the 11 mile (18 km) portion of NY 49 from the North–South Arterial in Utica to NY 825 in Rome as part of I 790. The conversion is expected to cost between $1.5 and $2 million, which would be used to install new signage along the expressway. By adding the Utica–Rome Expressway to the Interstate Highway System, the area would receive approximately $10 million in additional federal highway funding over the next five years. According to Arcuri, the proposed redesignation is part of a larger, long term goal of creating an Interstate Highway standard freeway that would begin at Thruway exit 33 in Verona and pass through Rome before ending at Thruway exit 31. The portion of NY 49 east of NY 825 already meets Interstate Highway standards.

NY 26A was an alternate route of NY 26 between Lowville, Lewis County, and Carthage, Jefferson County. While NY 26 followed a direct routing between the two villages, NY 26A veered to the east to serve Croghan. The route was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York
NY 26B was a spur route in Alexandria that connected NY 26 to NY 37 in the hamlet of Redwood in Jefferson County. The route was assigned c. no – c. 1931 and renumbered to NY 287 in the mid 1970s when NY 26 was cut back to Carthage.