New York State Route 17K is a state highway in southern
New York, entirely within
Orange County. The western terminus is at the intersection with old Route 17 west of the intersection with modern
NY 17 located near
Bloomingburg, which is in
Sullivan County, New York. In
Newburgh it widens into the main thoroughfare, Broadway. Midway across the city, 17K ends at
US 9W.
The road can be divided into a half west of
Montgomery, where it runs through relatively undeveloped land; and an eastern half where it closely parallels
Interstate 84, to the point that it too is signed at Exit 17 of the
New York State Thruway. The eastern half has been suffering the growing pains of increasing development in the area, becoming more heavily trafficked yet remaining two-lane almost all the way to Newburgh. Two projects currently underway may alleviate this slightly.
Route description
Route 17K's western terminus is at the intersection with the old, two-lane NY 17 (now designated as
County Route 76) just short of the Orange-
Sullivan county line, the bridge over the
Shawangunk Kill near the center of
Bloomingburg.
Route 17K in rural countryside east of Bullville.
From there it has an interchange with NY 17 then heads roughly eastward, going up and down some gentle hills, to the first
traffic light, the six-way intersection with
NY 302 (also the
Long Path hiking trail) that passes for downtown
Bullville.
The direction of the highway remains unchanged as it continues past several horse farms and
Winding Hills Park. Shortly after crossing the flood-prone
Muddy Kill, it reaches
Ward's Bridge, where it crosses the
Wallkill River and enters
Montgomery.
It immediately passes the historic homes of
Bridge Street.
The portion within the village is rather short, although consequential enough to include the traffic light at the northern end of
NY 211 (Union Street).
For the next two blocks, to Wallkill Avenue, the highway marks the northern boundary of Montgomery's other federally-designated
historic district,
Academy Hill. Just before the village's eastern boundary, it passes between two more
Registered Historic Places, the
Patchett House and
Montgomery Water Works.
Ward's Bridge, which carries 17K into Montgomery
After the village, it passes the combined building of
Valley Central High School and
Valley Central Middle School. The growing population of the area has added more traffic to the highway in recent years, forcing the school board to increase the stagger between the two schools' schedule, and hiring a police officer to direct traffic at the entrance.
[Sausa, Bianca; January 10, 2003; ""; Times-Herald Record; retrieved May 26, 2007.]This has also complicated Scotts Corners, the intersection with
NY 208 a mile past the schools.
Despite heavier rush-hour traffic due to the nearby
I-84 exchange, both roads remain two-lane, with plans to expand any of them strongly resisted by local residents who fear the increase in development that might ensue. , however, work has commenced on repaving and widening the approaches in all four directions. Just past the intersection, the brand-new headquarters of
Walden Federal bank sit atop a hill on the north side of the road.
Shortly afterward,
Berea Elementary School adds its traffic to the nearby intersection. Past it, 17K remains undeveloped, with the odd house, store or side street breaking the woods. Much of the land here is owned by the county as part of its Farmers' Museum, which surrounds the
Nathaniel Hill Brick House, an early settler's home still occupied by his descendants.
The next traffic light, Coldenham Road, was until recently a blinker, another testament to increasing development in northern Orange County. For traffic from the east, it provides a good shortcut to
Walden.
Construction at Scotts Corners, May 2007.
17K continues on toward its next light, Drury Lane.
the road is being widened through here to support increased traffic expected when Drury is upgraded from Orange County Route 54 into
NY 747 to carry traffic from the interchange being constructed at I-84 to a new access road to
Stewart International Airport. To avoid possible damage to the
Catskill Aqueduct, which crosses 17K here, a new section of road was built from the existing Drury just north of the interstate to connect with Stone Castle Road, which was itself slightly relocated to the west to create a four-way intersection, part of the plan to protect the adjacent
Colden Mansion Ruins. The current Drury now ends in a
cul-de-sac.
[Rife, Judy; February 11, 2007; ""; Times-Herald Record; retrieved February 12, 2007.]
Widening of 17K at Drury Lane, December 2006.
After Drury, 17K passes the last building of the
Valley Central School District,
East Coldenham Elementary School. In 1989, 16 students died here when a wall collapsed during a freak
tornado.
Development along the highway begins to increase at this point as 17K itself intersects I-84 and runs along the northern boundary of the airport. The Newburgh Auto Auction's vast parking lots are visible to the north and commercial
hangars to the south. The
Air National Guard base can also be seen, with several large
C-5 cargo planes usually parked on the
tarmac in front of their hangars. The base's entrance road, secured with a series of concrete barriers since the
September 11, 2001 attacks, marks the end of the airport property.
Orange County Choppers Headquarters is located just before the bridge where 17K crosses over the Thruway
Actual access to the Thruway (I-87) will not come for about another half-mile, but the road widens to four lanes with a middle turn lane and becomes heavily developed as it reaches the busy intersection with the Newburgh area's main commercial strip,
NY 300. A short distance past this light is the entrance ramp to the Thruway, a long loop back to the toll booth which also picks up traffic from 84 and 300 as well.
The four-lane section continues until the
Newburgh city limit, where it narrows to two lanes for several primarily residential blocks before widening into Broadway.
A few blocks later,
NY 207 reaches its eastern terminus. Further on,
NY 32 comes in from the south as Lake Street. The two make the only
concurrency along 17K for several more blocks to the
US 9W junction at Robinson Street. Here 17K ends while 32 joins 9W.
History
Route 17K follows the route of the
Newburgh-Cochecton Turnpike, one of the first in the state. Stone markers indicating the distance from Newburgh can still be seen by the roadside at several locations.
From 1924 to 1930, the section from Montgomery to Newburgh was part of old
NY 8, a route that went from the New Jersey state line at
Unionville via
Middletown to Newburgh.
[Automobile Legal Association (ALA) Automobile Green Book, 1930/31 and 1931/32 editions, (Scarborough Motor Guide Co., Boston, 1930 and 1931). The 1930/31 edition shows New York state routes prior to the 1930 renumbering] Old Route 8 from the New Jersey line to Montgomery was renumbered to 84 in the
1930 renumbering. The piece from Montgomery to Newburgh, plus the previously unnumbered segment from Bloomingburg to Montgomery was designated as
New York State Route 215.
The 215 designation was short-lived as the change to the 17K designation took place sometime in the mid-1930s.
[Automobile Legal Association (ALA) Automobile Green Book, 1938/39 edition, (W.A. Thibodeau, 1938).]The route may not retain 17K for much longer either. Once all of the existing
NY 17 freeway has been redesignated as
Interstate 86, 17K will no longer connect to its parent route.
New York's Department of Transportation has not indicated what its plans are, but it has historically renumbered other letter-suffixed routes when they no longer connected to parent routes.
Major intersections
