New York State Route79 (NY79) is a 93.18-mile-long (149.96km) east–west state highway in the Southern Tier of New York, in the United States. The western terminus of the route is at the intersection with NY414 near the southern end of Seneca Lake just northeast of Watkins Glen. Its eastern terminus is at the Pennsylvania state line in the town of Windsor in Broome County, where it connects to Pennsylvania Route 92 (PA92). NY79 passes through three regions; it starts in the Finger Lakes region, runs through Central New York and ends on the western fringes of the Catskills. The route is signed east–west, but from Whitney Point to the state line it runs in a north–south orientation and is signed north–south a few miles south of Center Village, a hamlet that is a few miles south of Harpursville.
NY79 begins at an intersection with NY414 just north of the Watkins Glen village limits in the Schuyler County town of Hector. The route heads north, climbing the side of the large bluff along the eastern edge of Seneca Lake. At the top of the hill, NY79 enters the village of Burdett as Main Street. As it passes through the village, NY79 turns eastward as Lake Avenue. East of Burdett, the route passes through the hamlet of Bennettsburg prior to intersecting NY227. While NY227 heads north to serve Reynoldsville, NY79 continues east to Mecklenburg, the site of its junction with NY228.
East of Mecklenburg, NY79 passes into Tompkins County and the town of Enfield. As Mecklenburg Road, it heads eastward through rolling farmland and hills toward the city of Ithaca. It intersects NY327 at Enfield Corners in this stretch. As NY79 approaches downtown Ithaca, it becomes Hector Street and curves to the northeast, then to the southeast as it descends to Cayuga Lake. At the base of the hill, the route crosses the Cayuga Inlet and enters downtown, where it splits into a one-way couplet along State Street (eastbound) and Seneca Street (westbound). NY79 eastbound shifts one block south at Fulton Street (NY13, NY34, and NY96 southbound) to use Green Street. The one-way couplet ends one block east of Aurora Street at the "Tuning Fork" as Green and Seneca streets merge into East State Street, recently double-named Martin Luther King Jr. Street. NY79 follows State Street southeastward through eastern Ithaca into the town of Ithaca. The portions of NY79 between the Ithaca west city line and NY13A, between NY89/96 and Meadow Street (NY13/34/96 northbound) and between Green Street and the Ithaca east city line are maintained by the city.
The portion of NY79 east of the city limits is markedly more rural. It heads southeastward as Slaterville Road through the towns of Ithaca, Dryden, and Caroline, serving several small communities along the route. NY79 crosses into Tioga County upon passing over the west branch of Owego Creek.
Tioga, Broome, and Chenango counties
NY79 heading southbound through Windsor from the intersection with Broome CR16
NY79's stay in Tioga County is wholly confined to the town of Richford. The routing of NY79 in Richford is hilly and heavily rural, with the one exception being at NY79's junction with NY38 in the hamlet of Richford. The route heads into Broome County, where it meets U.S. Route11 (US11) in the town of Lisle just east of the Lisle village limits. NY79 joins US11 southward along the Tioughnioga River to a partial interchange with I-81 at exit8. The overlap continues to Whitney Point, a village situated at the confluence of the Tioughnioga and Otselic Rivers. In the village, NY79 leaves US11 in favor of a short overlap with NY26 across the Tioughnioga River. On the opposite bank, NY26 and NY79 split at a junction that also features NY206.
South of Whitney Point, NY79 continues southeast along the Tioughnioga River to the vicinity of Chenango Forks, where it intersects NY12. It briefly joins NY12 along the banks of the Chenango River, then crosses the river and enters the town of Fenton. About 3 miles (5km), NY79 veers into Chenango County for just under 1 mile (1.6km) before reentering Broome County. The route heads onward through the rural towns of Fenton and Colesville, where it meets NY7. NY79 runs concurrent with NY7 to Harpursville. Here, NY79 turns southeast and connects to I-88. Past I-88, the route follows the western bank of the Susquehanna River southward through Ouaquaga, once a large Iroquois village which was destroyed by the Continental Army in 1778, to the village of Windsor. Inside the village, NY79 meets NY17 at an interchange that is also the temporary eastern terminus of I-86's eastern segment. NY79 continues along the Susquehanna River to the New York–Pennsylvania border, where the road becomes PA92 upon crossing the state line.
History
From Lisle to its western end, NY79 almost exactly follows the Catskill Turnpike, originally maintained by the Susquehanna and Bath Turnpike Company, which also maintained the Catskill Turnpike east to Bainbridge along NY 206, and east along local roads and NY 54 to Bath. The only notable deviations are local, for easier grades, including along the "hogback" eskers near Center Lisle, and the westbound climb out of Ithaca as a looping Hector Street in place of the original straight climb from halfway up that street (still visible as a right-of-way).[3][failed verification]
The Perry City–Trumansburg portion of NY79 became an extension of NY227 in the early 1940s. NY79 was then truncated southward to its junction with NY227 in Perry City.[5][6] In the early 1960s, NY79 was rerouted to follow a previously unnumbered highway west of Mecklenburg to NY227. From there, NY79 continued to Watkins Glen over the routing of NY227. As a result, NY227 was truncated to its current southern terminus south of Reynoldsville. The former routing of NY79 from Mecklenburg to Perry City became part of an extended NY228.[7][8]
On April 4, 2022, work began to replace the bridge that carries NY79 over the Chenengo River. The new bridge will be built about 0.5 miles (0.80km) upstream of the current bridge. The $12.6 million project is expected to be completed by Fall 2023.[9]
