New York State Route31A (NY31A) is an east–west state highway located in the western part of New York in the United States. It serves as a southerly alternate route of NY31 from the western part of Orleans County to the far western part of Monroe County. It diverges from NY31 south of the village of Medina and parallels NY31 eastward until it reconnects to its parent route southwest of the village of Brockport. While NY31 passes through the villages of Medina, Albion, and Holley, NY31A bypasses all three, serving sparsely populated areas to their south instead. The route intersects NY98 south of Albion and NY237 in Clarendon.
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New York State Route 31A
Map of western New York with NY31A highlighted in red
The origins of NY31A date back to the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York when the section of modern NY31 between Middleport and Medina was designated as New York State Route3A. It was renumbered to New York State Route3Bc.1932 and extended northeastward to Knowlesville via Millville by 1932 before becoming NY31A c.1935. The section of modern NY31 and NY31A from NY19 in Brockport to Clarendon was designated as New York State Route3B in 1930, but was renumbered to New York State Route3Cc.1932 and the west end was cut back to the Monroe–Orleans county line before becoming New York State Route31Dc.1935. NY31A was cut back to its current western terminus in 1949 and extended eastward to NY19 and NY31 in Brockport c.1963, replacing NY31D. The route was truncated to its current eastern terminus in the early 1980s after NY31 was altered to bypass Brockport to the southwest.
Route description
NY31A begins at a four-way intersection in the southern portion of the village of Medina. At this junction, NY31 travels to the west and to the north (eastbound), NY63 travels to the north and to the south, and NY31A travels to the east as Maple Ridge Road. It leaves the village shortly afterward, entering a rural area of Orleans County dominated by open fields. The route heads due east to Millville, a small hamlet situated at the junction of NY31A and East Shelby Road in northeastern Shelby. At the eastern edge of the community, NY31A meets West County House Road,[4] the former routing of NY31A toward Knowlesville.[5]
Past Millville, NY31A becomes West Lee Road and heads southeastward through farmland to the Barre town line, at which point the route turns back to the east and follows a slightly northeasterly alignment for 5 miles (8km) into the town of Albion. Here, NY31A passes the Benjamin Franklin Gates House, situated on the north side of the route near a junction with Mix Road. Not far to the east, the highway meets NY98 at a rural junction 3 miles (5km) south of the village of Albion and 50 yards (46m) north of the Albion town line. NY31A, now East Lee Road, continues on a northeasterly line for another 2.5 miles (4.0km) before curving southward for 1 mile (1.6km) to avoid a marshy area near the eastern town line. The route briefly reenters Barre along this stretch, heading south and east across the town's northeastern corner on its way into the town of Clarendon.[4]
The highway retains an east–west alignment for 2 miles (3.2km) to the outskirts of the hamlet of Clarendon, the largest community on the route since Medina. At this point, NY31A turns southeast to serve Clarendon, where NY31A intersects NY237 in the center of the hamlet. Upon crossing NY237, NY31A changes names for the final time, becoming Fourth Section Road. The rural surroundings return outside of Clarendon hamlet as a mix of woodlands and fields, which NY31A progresses generally northeasterly through to the hamlet of Bennetts Corners. Here, the amount of development along the route begins to increase, a change ushered in by a pair of large housing tracts in the eastern part of the community.[4]
East of Bennetts Corners, the route takes on a more easterly alignment as it crosses into Monroe County, which contains just 1.5 miles (2.4km) of the 23-mile (37km) NY31A. In Monroe County, the highway passes through a slightly more populated area on its way to a junction with NY31 and NY19 Truck southwest of the village of Brockport. Both NY19 Truck and NY31 enter the intersection from the north on Redman Road and turn east at Fourth Section Road, following the right-of-way of NY31A eastward toward Brockport's business district. The junction completes the alternate loop of NY31, which follows a parallel but more northerly routing between Medina and Brockport that takes it through the villages of Medina, Albion, and Holley. Along the way, NY31 passes the campus of SUNY Brockport, situated 0.5 miles (0.8km) northeast of NY31A's eastern terminus.[4]
Most of modern NY31 west of Rochester—including the section between Gasport and the outskirts of Brockport—was originally designated as part of NY3 when the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924.[7][8] In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY3 was realigned between Middleport and Medina to follow what is now NY31E. NY3's former routing between the two villages was designated as NY3A.[9] NY3A was redesignated as NY3B c.1932 as part of a renumbering of NY3's suffixed routes. NY3B was also extended eastward along Maple Ridge, County House, and Taylor Hill Roads to meet NY31 at Knowlesville Station (a hamlet in the town of Ridgeway) by this time.[10][11] The route was renumbered again c.1935, becoming NY31A after NY3 was replaced with a realigned NY31 west of Rochester.[2][3]
Farther east, the segment of modern NY31A from Clarendon to Brockport and what is now NY31 from NY31A to NY19 became NY3B in the 1930 renumbering.[9] Like NY3A, NY3B was renumbered to NY3C c.1932; however, it was also truncated to consist solely of the Monroe County portion of its routing at this time. The route now began at the Monroe–Orleans county line,[10][11] where state maintenance of Fourth Section Road began,[8] and ended at the junction of NY63 (now NY19) and NY3 (NY31) south of Brockport.[10][11] NY3C was redesignated as NY31D c.1935 following NY31's supplantation of NY3 west of Rochester.[2][3]
On January1, 1949, NY31 was rerouted between Middleport and Medina to use NY31A between the two locations. NY31A was truncated to its current western terminus in Medina as a result.[12] It was substantially extended c.1963, however, to a new eastern terminus in Brockport. The highway was rerouted east of Millville to follow a series of previously unnumbered roads through Barre and Clarendon to Monroe County, where it supplanted NY31D from the county line eastward.[5][6] NY31A was truncated slightly to its current eastern terminus in the early 1980s after NY31 was rerouted to bypass Brockport to the west and south on NY31A and Redman Road.[13][14]
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