New York State Route220 (NY220) is a 20.81-mile-long (33.49km)state highway located in Chenango County, New York, in the United States. It is signed as an east–west highway, but its actual routing wanders considerably from north to south as it proceeds across the county. The western terminus of NY220 is at an intersection with NY41 near the western county line in the town of Smithville. Its eastern terminus is in the town of Oxford, where it becomes County Route32 (CR32) east of the village of Oxford.[3] The stub of NY220 east of Oxford serves as a signed connection between NY12 and the New York State Veterans' Home at Oxford located east of the village along the Chenango River.
In 1916, the New York State Legislature created Route8-a, an unsigned legislative route connecting legislative Route8 in the center of Oxford to the Relief Corps Home by way of the east bank of the Chenango River. The Route8-a designation was removed in 1921 as part of a partial renumbering of New York's legislative routes. Its former routing became part of NY220, a new route extending from Smithville Flats to Oxford, in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. NY220 was rerouted near Oxford in 1982 to follow a new bridge over the Chenango River. The realignment created a short overlap with NY12 on North Canal Street between the former routing of NY220 on Main Street and the new river crossing to the north. The 2017 route log erroneously shows that NY220's eastern terminus is at the home to the junction with NY12 in Oxford.
Route description
NY220 begins at an intersection with NY41 north of the hamlet of Smithville Flats in the Chenango County town of Smithville. It heads to the northeast, paralleling a small creek as it progresses through the rural town consisting mostly of cultivated fields. NY220 passes into the town of McDonough and enters a hamlet bearing the same name, where it turns eastward. The route winds its way through the eastern, forested portion of the town to the small community of East McDonough, located near the McDonough–Preston town line. Here, NY220 turns southeast at Steere Road (unsigned NY991A) and continues into Preston. Where NY991A heads north to serve Bowman Lake State Park.[4]
In Preston, the open fields return as NY220 follows another waterbody, this time the slightly larger Mill Brook. The route crosses the stream just before entering the town of Oxford, where they split. While Mill Brook curves around the western extents of the village of Oxford, NY220 serves the village directly, entering it on Butler Street. It veers eastward at a junction with State Street and follows it to Washington Avenue. Here, State Street splits into a one-block long one-way couplet. Eastbound NY220 shifts south to follow LaFayette Park; NY220 westbound, meanwhile, is routed on State Street. At the end of the couplet, NY220 intersects NY12 (North Canal Street) on the western bank of the Chenango River.[4]
NY220 turns north onto NY12, overlapping the latter for just over 0.5 miles (0.8km) to an intersection with North Washington Avenue north of the village. The routes split here, with NY220 turning southeast to cross the Chenango River and the New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad (NYSW). Past the railroad, NY220 heads through unimproved fields to a junction with East River Road. The route turns northeast here to follow East River Road. It heads through a small residential neighborhood to the New York State Veterans' Home at Oxford, a large old soldiers' home located adjacent to both the eastern bank of the Chenango River and the NYSW rail line. State maintenance of NY220 ends just east of the driveway to the home, at which point the road continues onward toward Norwich as CR32.[4][5]
History
The New York State Woman's Relief Corps Home (now the New York State Veterans' Home at Oxford), an old soldiers' home dedicated to the care of soldiers and their immediate families, nurses employed by the United States Army, and widows and mothers of soldiers, was constructed on a 165-acre (67ha) plot of land east of the village of Oxford and opened April19, 1897.[6] In 1916, the New York State Legislature created Route8-a, an unsigned legislative route connecting the home to Route8 (now NY12) in Oxford by way of pre-existing highways.[7] That year, the state of New York began a project to improve the 1.40-mile-long (2.25km) highway. In all, the improvements cost just over $26,150 (equivalent to $397,723 in 2024).[8][9] The improved roadway was accepted into the state highway system on March20, 1919. Route8-a left Route8 in the center of Oxford and crossed the Chenango River on Main Street. On the opposite side of the river, it followed Albany Street and East River Road to the home, where it ended.[8] The Route8-a designation was eliminated on March1, 1921, as part of a partial renumbering of the legislative route system.[10]
When the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, the portion of Route8 in the vicinity of Oxford became part of NY12; however, the former routing of Route8-a was not given a designation at this time.[11] In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the former routing of Route8-a became part of NY220, a new route extending from Smithville Flats to Oxford via McDonough.[2][5] The entirety of NY220 west of Oxford was closed to traffic in July 1935 as a result of damage caused by severe statewide flooding earlier in the month. The portion of the route from McDonough to Oxford took approximately three days to repair and was reopened by July17.[12][13] The remaining section from Smithville Flats from McDonough was reopened by the following year.[14]
By 1980, plans to construct a new bridge for NY220 over the Chenango River had been set in motion. As planned, a 0.5-mile (0.8km) stretch of NY220 in Oxford would be rerouted to follow the new structure over the river and a Conrail (now New York, Susquehanna and Western Railroad) line that ran along the riverbank. The initial price tag for the bridge was set at $2.262 million (equivalent to $8.36million in 2024).[9][15] Construction of the bridge was completed in 1982, at which time NY220 was rerouted to overlap NY12 north to the bridge, where it turned east to cross the river and rejoin its former alignment on the east bank.[16]
The 2017 route log erroneously shows that NY220's eastern terminus is at the home to the junction with NY12 in Oxford.[17]
New York State Legislature (1921). "Tables of Laws and Codes Amended or Repealed". Laws of the State of New York passed at the One Hundred and Forty-Fourth Session of the Legislature. Albany, NY: J. B. Lyon Company. pp.42, 53. Retrieved March 16, 2010.