New York State Route 30 is a
state highway in the central part of
New York,
USA. The highway runs from the
Southern Tier to the
Canada – United States border. The route serves to connect the
Catskill Park to the
Adirondack Park, and within that park is known as the
Adirondack Trail. Route 30 begins at an interchange with
New York State Route 17 in the
Delaware County town of
Hancock . The route progresses for , through the aforementioned parks, terminating at the Canada border. There, it continues into
Quebec as
Route 138, which predominantly follows the western bank of the
St. Lawrence River.
Route 30 was assigned in the
1930 renumbering, but was of shorter length. When
New York State Route 10 was truncated to
Arietta, Route 30 was extended over Route 10's alignment.
Route description
Hancock to Schoharie
NY 30 begins at an interchange with NY 17 in the town of Hancock adjacent to the confluence of the
East Branch of the Delaware River and the
Beaverkill River. The route follows the East Branch northeast to
Downsville, where it meets
NY 206. NY 206 follows NY 30 across the East Branch into
Catskill Park, where the routes split near
Brock Mountain. NY 30 exits the park and crosses over the river once more soon after. Near
Margaretville, NY 30 briefly overlaps
NY 28 before turning northward toward
Roxbury, where the route passes the
John Burroughs Memorial State Historic Site. New York Governor
David Paterson designated the stretch of NY 30 within Margaretville the "David C. Brinkerhoff Memorial Highway", after the New York State Trooper who was slain in pursuit of Travis Trimm near the village on April 25, 2007.
NY 30 begins its journey here at NY 17 in Hancock.
From Roxbury, NY 30 follows the East Branch to Grand Gorge in northeastern
Delaware County, where the East Branch comes to an end amidst the mountains. NY 30, meanwhile, intersects
NY 23 in the center of the hamlet.
NY 30 southbound, traffic stopping at the southern terminus of
NY 30A, which does not stop.
North of Grand Gorge, NY 30 crosses into
Schoharie County and intersects
NY 990V, one of four reference routes in
New York erroneously signed as a touring route, near the northeastern edge of the
Schoharie Reservoir in
Gilboa. From NY 990V northward, NY 30 follows the
Schoharie Creek through Schoharie County to
Middleburgh, where it intersects
NY 145. To the north in
Schoharie, NY 30 meets
NY 443 before splitting into NY 30 and
NY 30A north of the village, with Schoharie Creek largely following NY 30A. While NY 30A interchanges with
Interstate 88 a short distance to the north, NY 30 has no connection to the freeway. Just past I-88, NY 30 junctions with
NY 7. Shortly after passing NY 7, NY 30 enters
Schenectady County.
Schoharie to Adirondack Park
In Schenectady County, Schoharie Creek breaks from NY 30A and returns to the vicinity of NY 30 as it intersects
U.S. Route 20 in
Esperance. From Esperance northward, the creek becomes roughly equidistant from both NY 30 and NY 30A as all three entities cross into
Montgomery County. Near the northeastern corner of the county, NY 30 enters the city of
Amsterdam. The route interchanges with both the
New York State Thruway (
Interstate 90) and
NY 5S before heading downhill as a four-lane divided highway approaching the
Mohawk River/
Erie Canal. Historically, the bridge over the river was a straight line to Market Street, which is visible as one approaches northbound. Segments of downtown Market Street remain in use today. With the 1977 creation of the
Amsterdam Mall, NY 30, together with NY 5 and NY 67, were re-routed onto splits.
After the splits rejoin, NY 30 continues on Market Street and leaves the city and, for all purposes, the county.
NY 30 approaching
Amsterdam with Market Street hill visible in the background
In adjacent
Fulton County, NY 30 crosses
NY 29 near
Broadalbin, then curves gently to the east after an intersection with County Route 155, a historical routing of NY 29. , NY 30 turns left toward
Mayfield; County Route 155 continues eastward. The concurrency between the two routes is unsigned.
NY 30 historically followed School Street through the village of Mayfield. The new routing has it heading toward Riceville, where
NY 30A rejoins NY 30. Here, NY 30 turns right, following the right-of-way of NY 30A into
Adirondack Park shortly before entering Mayfield.
Adirondack Park and Franklin County
NY 30 runs through the Adirondacks, accessing communities such as
Speculator,
Blue Mountain Lake, and
Tupper Lake as a scenic byway named the Adirondack Trail.
From
Wells to Speculator, NY 30 is concurrent to
NY 8, then with
NY 28 from
Indian Lake to Blue Mountain Lake. Between Blue Mountain Lake and
Long Lake, NY 30 is concurrent with the eastern third of
NY 28N.
Near Tupper Lake, it skirts the boundary between
Franklin and
Saint Lawrence for a considerable distance before entering Tupper Lake and intersecting
NY 3. The two routes overlap to
Harrietstown, where NY 30 splits from NY 3 and heads north along a series of lakes, including
Upper Saranac Lake and
Meacham Lake. North of
Duane, NY 30 exits Adirondack Park and heads north towards
Malone. Within the village, NY 30 briefly overlaps
U.S. Route 11 before continuing north out of the village to the Canadian border in
Constable, where it becomes
Route 138 upon entering
Quebec.
History
Old roads
Route 30 made up part of the privately-owned
Middletown and Roxbury Turnpike. The turnpike, which accessed the villages of Middletown and Roxbury, was created in 1808.
The highway was about long, as that is the current stretch of Route 30 from Middletown to Roxbury.
The stretch of Route 30 from Middleburgh to Schoharie was also once part of the
Middleburgh and Schoharie Plank Road.
Designation
Prior to 1930, the modern routing of NY 30 carried a large number of designations. Between
Margaretville and Grand Gorge in the town of
Roxbury, what is now NY 30 was designated as part of
NY 19. From
Mayfield north to
Malone, most of the current routing of NY 30 carried a designation. The portion from the modern junction of NY 30 and NY 30A in Mayfield to
Speculator was part of
NY 54. From Speculator to
Indian Lake, NY 30 was the northernmost segment of
NY 80.
Between Indian Lake and
Long Lake, NY 30 comprised the western half of
NY 10A.
Past Long Lake, NY 30 was part of
NY 10 north to the modern junction of NY 30 and
NY 186 west of
Harrietstown. From NY 186 to modern
NY 86 in
Paul Smiths, the present alignment of NY 30 was unnumbered. Between Paul Smiths and Malone, NY 30 was part of
NY 3. The remainder of NY 30 was unnumbered.
In the
1930 renumbering, NY 30 was largely assigned to its current alignment between the Hancock hamlet of East Branch and
Wells, where it terminated at
NY 8. Past Wells, the modern alignment of NY 30 was designated as NY 8 to Spectator and as
NY 10 north to the Canadian border.
NY 10 was truncated southward to NY 8 in
Arietta ca. 1960, at which time NY 30 was extended north to
Quebec along the former alignment of NY 10.
Realignments
One of the entrances of the Old Route 30 trail
NY 30 has been realigned in two areas along its routing. The first realignment was in the
Schoharie Valley near the
hamlets of
Breakabeen and
Fultonham. NY 30 was originally routed along the base of Toepath Mountain near Fultonham and along a pair of village streets in Breakabeen. In the 1950s, a proposal was made to reroute NY 30 onto a new routing in the base of the valley surrounding
Schoharie Creek. The proposal was approved, and the new alignment of NY 30 opened ca. 1970. The former routing of NY 30 from
Max V. Shaul State Park near Breakabeen to Fultonham, still visible from the modern alignment of the route, was closed to the public and guardrails were installed to stop motor traffic from using the route. However, biking and walking was still allowed, and the old highway is now a long trail known as "Old Route 30". The trail is not maintained; thus, the quality of the blacktop along Old Route 30 has deteriorated over the years. There are significant potholes and overhanging trees, but the path is still traversable.
The second realignment of NY 30 was in the vicinity of the village of
Northville. NY 30 originally entered the village by way of Bridge Street and followed Bridge, Main, and Reed Streets through the village. It continued along the eastern bank of the
Great Sacandaga Lake on what is now Old State Road and Old Northville Road and rejoined its modern alignment in the town of
Hope.
The route was realigned ca. 1961 to follow a new highway along the western lakeshore, bypassing Northville entirely.
The portion of Bridge Street from NY 30 to the Northville village line remains state-maintained as NY 920H, an unsigned
reference route in length.
Farther north, the portion of Old Northville Road from the
Fulton–
Hamilton county line to its junction with NY 30 is maintained by Hamilton County as County Route 15.
NY 30A
NY 30A
() is a loop of NY 30, running west of NY 30 from north of
Schoharie to south of
Mayfield through
Fultonville,
Fonda,
Johnstown, and
Gloversville.
Major intersections
