New York State Route 78

NYS Route 78
Map of western New York with NY 78 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NYSDOT, Erie County, and the city of Lockport
Length:	73.49 mi[2] (118.27 km)
Existed:	1930[1] – present
Major junctions
South end:	NY 19 near Gainesville village
	NY 400 in East Aurora US 20 near West Seneca I-90 / Thruway in Cheektowaga NY 31 in Lockport
North end:	NY 18 in Olcott
Location
Counties:	Wyoming, Erie, Niagara
Highway system
Numbered highways in New York Interstate • U.S. • N.Y. (former) • Reference • County ← I-78 NY 79 →

New York State Route 78 (NY 78), most commonly known as Transit Road, is a state highway in Western New York, USA. While it is signed north–south, the lower portion runs in an east–west direction across Wyoming County, from its beginning north of the Village of Gainesville.

NY 78 is most closely identified in the region with Transit Road, a major north–south trunk road through the center of Erie County and Niagara County, although it does not follow Transit for its entire length, nor is Transit more than half its length.

In those two counties, Transit Road is a major road between the towns it passes. It joins Transit Road north of East Aurora and stays with to its end in Lockport.

Route description

Route 78 can be divided into three main segments: the east–west section mostly in Wyoming County, Transit Road, and the section north of Lockport to Lake Ontario.

Wyoming County to East Aurora

78 begins just north of the small village of Gainesville, at a junction with NY 19. It heads due west, its north–south signage notwithstanding, across rural Wyoming County, its mostly straight route providing exciting dips and rises for the driver as it crosses the gently rolling uplands. At the hamlet of Hermitage, the route actually starts trending to the south. 78 is on this heading when it reaches its first junction, NY 362 west of Smiths Corners, running southward from there a short distance to Bliss.

A few miles further on, the southward trend stops. At Waldos Corners, 78 turns and for the first time runs north–south. This lasts only two miles NY 98 intersects from the north at Five Corners and the combined wrong-way concurrency is once again heading west. That situation ends at Java Center, where 98 turns left to go south, NY 77 goes north and 78 continues straight ahead.

From this area, on clear days, the Buffalo skyline is sometimes visible. 78 begins to descend from the Allegheny Plateau as it once again turns north near Java Village and starts following the Buffalo Creek valley into Erie County. Shortly after crossing the county line, the road again begins to turn westward and finally returns to that orientation when it joins with US 20A. Thus joined, the two routes intersect NY 400, the Aurora Expressway, and enter the busy village of East Aurora as Big Tree Road.

Looking north along Transit Road near Williamsville from the Sheridan Drive overpass.

Transit Road

Route 20A parts company with 78 after East Aurora, but it nevertheless leaves the village still overlapped, this time with NY 16. The two routes parallel the 400 expressway until they reach Transit Road, at that point designated as US 20. 78 turns north to join 20 while 16 continues toward the city.

Just north of this intersection is another cloverleaf interchange with NY 400. Serious development begins past this point, and Transit is often four lanes, dividing towns, for many miles past this point as it heads due north along the transit line first surveyed by Joseph Ellicott of the Holland Land Company. This road is named after the instrument used for establishing a very accurate line pointing towards true north, the transit.

20 and 78 have only one other state highway junction, at Clinton Street, with NY 354, before 20 goes east while NY 130 goes west at the Broadway junction outside Depew. Several miles to the north, a flurry of junctions with major regional roads — NY 33, the New York State Thruway (I-90) and NY 5, occur within two miles (3 km).

After the 5 junction, a busy traffic light, Transit passes the Eastern Hills Mall. A gradual descent begins as Sheridan Drive, NY 324, crosses on an overpass just after the mall, and the road's inerrant, straight course ahead is briefly visible.

North of here, the development begins to ease and large strip malls vanish in favor of smaller mom-and-pop shops and restaurants. The road narrows again to two lanes as it enters the newly-trendy East Amherst area. There are no junctions with existing state highways until the Millersport Highway, NY 263, comes in at an oblique angle from the south. After this, Transit begins once again to widen as it crosses the Tonawanda Creek and enters Niagara County. NY 93 crosses just south of the city of Lockport, and finally the miles-long Transit strip comes to an end just past the NY 31 junction and the Erie Canal.

North of Lockport

Transit's northern end comes as a residential side street, but by then 78 has already left it, following Lake Avenue north from Lockport through some rolling countryside (mostly fields). It runs north, but no longer along the straight course set by Transit. Commercial development returns at the Wright Corners junction, where the highway is briefly concurrent with NY 104.

Beyond Wrights Corners, 78 continues north to the small village of Newfane, slowly descending along with the terrain. It reaches its northern terminus at Olcott, a small hamlet on the shore of Lake Ontario once home to a small amusement park but now a collection of cottages. After the junction with NY 18, a short local street continues to the lake shore.

History

The north–south roadway connecting NY 5 in Amherst to the Lake Ontario shoreline in Olcott via Lockport was originally designated as NY 32 in the mid-1920s.^[3][4] In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 32 became part of NY 78,^[1] a new route extending from Gainesville in the south to Olcott in the north, mostly along existing but previously unnumbered roads. However, the portion between NY 362 and NY 19 was in the process of being built.^[5] NY 78's early routing was identical to its modern alignment except from East Aurora to Depew. Initially, NY 78 headed north from East Aurora on Maple Street, then used Jamison Road, Bowen Road, NY 354, Aurora Street, and NY 35 to reach Transit Road in Depew.^[6]

Ca. 1932, NY 78 was realigned to follow U.S. Route 20 (now U.S. Route 20A) west from East Aurora to Transit Road, where it turned north onto Transit Road and followed it to Depew. The former routing of NY 78 between East Aurora and Lancaster was redesignated as NY 78A.^[7][8] NY 78 was rerouted one last time ca. 1939 to overlap with NY 16 northwest from East Aurora to its junction with Transit Road in West Seneca. The realignment bypassed the southernmost portion of Transit Road,^[9][10] which became NY 187 in the early 1940s.^[11][12]

NY 78A

NY 78A was an alternate route of NY 78 in Erie County between NY 78 in East Aurora and NY 35 (now U.S. Route 20) in Lancaster. The route began at the modern intersection of Main (US 20) and Maple Streets in East Aurora and followed Maple Street, Jamison Road, Bowen Road, NY 354, and Aurora Street to a terminus at Broadway Street (NY 35) in Lancaster. It was assigned ca. 1932 after NY 78 was rerouted to follow US 20 and Transit Road instead between East Aurora and Depew.^[7][8] The NY 78A designation was short-lived as it was removed ca. 1938.^[9][13] Its routing is now part of several county routes as well as NY 354.

Major intersections

County	Location	Mile[2]	Destinations	Notes
Wyoming	Town of Gainesville	0.00	NY 19
	Wethersfield	6.67	NY 362	Northern terminus of NY 362
	Java	12.58	NY 98 north	Eastern terminus of NY 78 / NY 98 overlap
		15.19	NY 77 south / NY 98	Hamlet of Java Center; western terminus of NY 78 / NY 98 overlap; southern terminus of NY 77
Erie	East Aurora	27.77	US 20A east	Eastern terminus of US 20A / NY 78 overlap
		30.01	NY 400	Interchange
		30.76	NY 16 south	Eastern terminus of NY 16 / NY 78 overlap
		31.82	US 20A west	Western terminus of US 20A / NY 78 overlap
	Elma	34.87	CR 574 (Jamison Road)	Former western terminus of NY 422
	West Seneca	37.36	US 20 north / NY 16	Western terminus of NY 16 / NY 78 overlap; southern terminus of US 20 / NY 78 overlap
		37.86	NY 400	Interchange
	Cheektowaga	39.65	NY 354
	Depew	42.55	US 20 east / NY 130	Northern terminus of US 20 / NY 78 overlap; eastern terminus of NY 130
	Cheektowaga	45.04	NY 33
		45.67	I-90 / Thruway	Exit 49 (I-90 / Thruway)
	Amherst	46.94	NY 5
		47.92	NY 324
		54.99	NY 263	Hamlet of Millersport; northern terminus of NY 263
Niagara	Town of Lockport	58.45	NY 93
	City of Lockport	60.93	NY 31
	Newfane	65.07	NY 104 west	Hamlet of Wrights Corners; southern terminus of NY 78 / NY 104 overlap
		65.38	NY 104 east	Northern terminus of NY 78 / NY 104 overlap
	Olcott	73.49	NY 18
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

New York Roads portal

1. ^ ^{a b} Dickinson, Leon A. (January 12, 1930). "New Signs for State Highways". The New York Times: p. 136. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "2008 Traffic Volume Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. June 16, 2009. pp. 131–133. https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/hds-respository/NYSDOT%20TVR%202008%20by%20Route.pdf. Retrieved January 31, 2010. 
3. ^ "New York's Main Highways Designated by Numbers". The New York Times: p. XX9. December 21, 1924. 
4. ^ State of New York Department of Public Works (1926). Official Map Showing State Highways and other important roads (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Standard Oil Company of New York (1930). Road Map of New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Kendall Refining Company (1931). New York (Map). Cartography by H.M. Gousha Company. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Texas Oil Company (1932). Texaco Road Map – New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Thibodeau, William A. (1938). The ALA Green Book (1938–39 ed.). Automobile Legal Association. 
10. ^ Standard Oil Company (1939). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
11. ^ Esso (1940). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
12. ^ Esso (1942). New York with Pictorial Guide (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
13. ^ Standard Oil Company (1937). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 

External links

• New York Routes – New York State Route 78
• New York State Highway Termini – New York State Route 78