New York State Route 28A

NYS Route 28A
Map of Ulster County and vicinity with NY 28A highlighted in red
Route information
Auxiliary route of NY 28
Maintained by NYCDOT and Ulster County
Length:	19.82 mi[3] (31.90 km)
Existed:	ca. 1933[1][2] – present
Major junctions
West end:	NY 28 in Olive
East end:	NY 28 in Kingston
Location
Counties:	Ulster
Highway system
Numbered highways in New York Interstate • U.S. • N.Y. (former) • Reference • County ← NY 28 NY 28B →

New York State Route 28A (NY 28A) is an east–west state highway in Ulster County, New York, in the United States. It extends for 19.82 miles (31.90 km) along the south side of Ashokan Reservoir in Catskill Park, serving as a southerly alternate route of NY 28 through the area. Many of the communities along its length, such as West Shokan and Olivebridge, are the remnants or recreations of those condemned for the reservoir's construction. Near Olivebridge, NY 28A intersects NY 213, the only other state route that NY 28A intersects aside from its parent, NY 28.

NY 28A was built during the Ashokan Reservoir's construction in the early 20th century. The highway was built and subsequently maintained by New York City as the result of a 1909 court order, which mandated that the city maintain the reservoir perimeter roads in perpetuity. In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the portion of the southern loop road between Boiceville and Olivebridge became part of NY 213. The entire southern loop road was redesignated as NY 28A ca. 1933. In the 1970s, New York City sought to transfer control of its upstate roads to the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT); however, no action was ever taken.

Route description

Maintenance of NY 28A is split between the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) and Ulster County. NYCDOT maintenance begins at the western junction with NY 28 and ends at a point near Shady Lane, a local street near the eastern end of the reservoir in Hurley. The remaining 1.63 miles (2.62 km) of the highway is county-maintained and signed as part of CR 50.^[4][5]

Boiceville to Olivebridge

NY 28A's western terminus is at a large trinagular intersection with NY 28 just south of the hamlet of Boiceville. From there, it heads to the west as a narrow two-lane road, crossing Esopus Creek just above where it empties into the nearby Ashokan Reservoir. The highway subsequently turns southward, loosely paralleling the reservoir shoreline as it heads through the town of Olive. The shoreline itself is a short distance from NY 28A, buffered by woods and posted and fenced by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection. About 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Boiceville, the highway crosses Traver Hollow Brook by way of a large bridge that leads the road to the lower slopes of Samuels Point, where houses begin to break the woods on the western side of the road. NY 28A closely follows the base of the hill, winding back and forth as it heads southward toward the hamlet of West Shokan.^[6]

NY 28A east of West Shokan, in New York City watershed land

After 1 mile (1.6 km) of continuous curves, the road straightens out just north of West Shokan, where it crosses Bush Kill on another long bridge. Immediately beyond the river is an intersection with Peekamoose Road (County Route 42 or CR 42) and the center of West Shokan. Olive's town hall and highway garage are a short distance to the west on Peekamoose Road, which leads through the deep mountains to Sundown and ultimately to Sullivan County. South of the junction, the houses dwindle again and the road continues through some undeveloped stretches where both sides of the road are posted as city land. The road closely follows the shoreline here, going east, south, or southeast to match turns in the reservoir's perimeter. Only a handful of homes are located along this stretch, situated at intersections between NY 28A and other local roads.^[6]

Olivebridge to Stony Hollow

Five miles (8 km) past West Shokan, NY 28A intersects the reservoir's spillway road,^[6] now closed to automobile traffic.^[7] The junction has been converted into a small parking area. A quarter-mile (0.4 km) further on is the western terminus of NY 213, the only other state route that NY 28A intersects aside from its parent. Although NY 213 is an east–west route, it actually heads due south from this junction to the nearby hamlet of Olivebridge on its way to Stone Ridge and High Falls.^[6] Continuing east, NY 28A descends to cross Esopus Creek again before climbing back up to the city's watershed visitor center. Across from the center is Beaverkill Road, a local highway leading southeastward to SUNY New Paltz's outdoor environmental education center and Ashokan Bridge, a covered bridge over Esopus Creek.^[8]

Not far from Beaverkill Road is the east end of the closed spillway road, which led to another highway that crossed the reservoir at a point known as the "Lemon Squeeze". Like the spillway road, it was closed as a security precaution following the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[6][7] Past the closed spillway road, NY 28A continues almost due east, briefly crossing the Blue Line and leaving Catskill Park as it passes another spillway.^[8] At the spillway's southeastern tip is a junction with Stone Church Road,^[6] where the route turns back to the north and reenters the park.^[8] Now in the town of Hurley, it continues to follow the irregular reservoir shoreline to the northeast, but on a slightly further inland alignment than before. The land here remains wooded, but more frequently broken by houses on the southern side.^[6]

The route reaches the eastern end of the reservoir roughly 5 miles (8 km) from Stone Church Road,^[6] at which point it winds back to a northerly heading through some areas where the land slopes down from the road rather than up.^[9] The route eventually turns due east, leaving the reservoir behind and crossing into the town of Kingston. Here, it runs parallel with NY 28 for just under 1 mile (1.6 km) before ending at an intersection with the route just east of the hamlet of Stony Hollow. The junction is roughly 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the city of Kingston, where NY 28 connects to U.S. Route 209 and the Interstate 87 portion of the New York State Thruway.^[6]

History

Origins and designation

The origins of NY 28A date back to 1907 when construction began on one of several dams that would eventually create the Ashokan Reservoir, a water body built by New York City to increase its water supply.^[10] In the initial stages of construction, seven villages in the reservoir's path were destroyed and 64 miles (103 km) of roads were taken out of service. The latter was to be replaced with 40 miles of new roads and 10 bridges carrying the highways around the reservoir's perimeter.^[11] According to a 1909 court order, the roads and bridges would be built and maintained by New York City in perpetuity to ensure that the residents displaced by the new reservoir would not be permanently isolated.^[12][13] The city's Board of Estimate initially balked at the measure, citing the mandate as their primary reason for rejecting a June 20, 1913, request by the city's Board of Water Supply for $1.3 million (equivalent to $288 million in 2011) to pave the perimeter roads.^[12][14]

In order to fill the reservoir, the perimeter of the water body—and thus, the roads built along it—had to be completed. Even so, the Board of Estimate sought to have the 1909 court order dropped before allocating the necessary funds toward the roadways.^[12] The order was never lifted, and the roads were eventually paved by the state of New York instead. Most of the perimeter road was finished by October 11, 1913, the day that water first began to be added to the reservoir.^[10] The entire highway was completed by 1917.^[15] While the northern loop road was designated as NY 19 in 1924,^[16][17] the southern loop road went unnumbered until 1930. In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the Margaretville–Kingston segment of NY 19 became part of an extended NY 28^[18] while the portion of the southern perimeter road west of Olivebridge became part of NY 213.^[19] Ca. 1933, NY 213 was truncated to begin in Olivebridge while the entirety of the southern loop road was designated as NY 28A.^[1][2]

Maintenance and realignment

By the mid-1970s, New York City was struggling to maintain its upstate road network. Annual maintenance costs of the city's 82 miles (132 km) of roads and 26 bridges had grown to $310,000 (equivalent to $1.27 million in 2011). Additionally, one bridge along NY 28A in Traver Hollow was temporarily closed in June 1975 due to safety concerns, a move that ultimately led to a lawsuit between the city and the town of Olive over economic hardship caused by the closure. In October 1975, New York City Environmental Protection Administrator Robert Low requested that NYSDOT assume maintenance of the city's upstate roads, claiming that the state could maintain them in a more efficient and effective manner. The plan was never implemented.^[13][14]

As part of the reservoir's construction, a north–south road was built across the water body, linking Olivebridge on the south bank to Shokan on the northern side.^[10] This highway was closed to automotive traffic by New York City in early 2002 following the September 11, 2001 attacks, citing a potential security vulnerability. The traffic that the highway once carried is now forced to utilize NY 28 and NY 28A as a result.^[7] In the late 2000s, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection began work on a project to eliminate a sharp S-curve in NY 28A between NY 213 and the now-closed cross-reservoir road. The impetus for the project came from residents who wanted the narrow NY 28A improved in lieu of reopening the road. Work on the realignment began in January 2009,^[20] but was halted just one month later over environmental and easement issues. Construction resumed on August 12, 2010, after the issues were resolved, and is expected to be completed in December 2011.^[21]

Major intersections

The entire route is in Ulster County.

Location	Mile[3]	Destinations	Notes
Olive	0.00	NY 28	Hamlet of Boiceville
	8.67	NY 213	Hamlet of Olivebridge; western terminus of NY 213
Town of Kingston	19.82	NY 28	Hamlet of Stony Hollow
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

New York Roads portal

1. ^ ^{a b} Texas Oil Company (1932). Texaco Road Map – New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Texas Oil Company (1933). Texaco Road Map – New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "2008 Traffic Volume Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. June 16, 2009. p. 86. https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/hds-respository/NYSDOT%20TVR%202008%20by%20Route.pdf. Retrieved January 31, 2010. 
4. ^ "Ulster County Inventory Listing" (CSV). New York State Department of Transportation. March 2, 2010. https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/hds-repository2/INV_2010-03-02_ulster.csv. Retrieved February 13, 2011. 
5. ^ New York State Department of Transportation (1989). Kingston West Digital Raster Quadrangle (Map). 1:24,000. http://www.nysgis.state.ny.us/gisdata/quads/drg24/dotpreview/index.cfm?code=y46. Retrieved February 13, 2011. 
6. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Yahoo! Inc. Yahoo! Maps – overview map of NY 28A (Map). Cartography by NAVTEQ. http://maps.yahoo.com/#mvt=h&lat=41.967355&lon=-74.123124&zoom=13&q1=42.004984%2C-74.266051&q2=41.964271%2C-74.275299&q3=41.946463%2C-74.202687&q4=41.976332%2C-74.135567&q5=41.970015%2C-74.072224. Retrieved February 12, 2011. 
7. ^ ^{a b c} Rowe, Claudia (September 14, 2003). "In Catskills Town, Big City's Influence". The New York Times. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20810F7355F0C778DDDA00894DB404482. Retrieved February 12, 2011. 
8. ^ ^{a b c} United States Geological Survey (1964). Ashokan Quadrangle – New York – Ulster Co. (Map). 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series (Topographic). http://www.nysgis.state.ny.us/gisdata/quads/drg24/usgspreview/index.cfm?code=o41074h2. Retrieved February 12, 2011. 
9. ^ United States Geological Survey (1980). Kingston West Quadrangle – New York – Ulster Co. (Map). 1:24,000. 7.5 Minute Series (Topographic). http://www.nysgis.state.ny.us/gisdata/quads/drg24/usgspreview/index.cfm?code=o41074h1. Retrieved February 12, 2011. 
10. ^ ^{a b c} "Esopus Dam Closed, Water Famine Now Impossible". The New York Times. October 12, 1913. 
11. ^ "New York Will Drink Catskill Water Next Fall". The New York Times. May 25, 1913. 
12. ^ ^{a b c} "Won't Pave at Ashokan; New Water Supply May Be Delayed By Estimate Board Action". The New York Times. June 20, 1913. 
13. ^ ^{a b} Severo, Richard (October 17, 1975). "City Must Maintain 26 Bridges Upstate". The New York Times: p. 37. 
14. ^ ^{a b} Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2008. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
15. ^ "Good Roads, Beautiful Scenery, Mark This Tour". The New York Times. October 14, 1917. 
16. ^ "New York's Main Highways Designated by Numbers". The New York Times: p. XX9. December 21, 1924. 
17. ^ 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. 
18. ^ Dickinson, Leon A. (January 12, 1930). "New Signs for State Highways". The New York Times: p. 136. 
19. ^ Standard Oil Company of New York (1930). Road Map of New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
20. ^ Braman, Jr., Jay (February 26, 2009). "Roadwork Near Reservoir: Route 28A project in Olive under way". Daily Freeman (Kingston, New York). http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/02/26/news/doc49a60dfeb5ef8843472566.txt?viewmode=fullstory. Retrieved February 12, 2011. 
21. ^ Braman, Jr., Jay (August 12, 2010). "NYC to resume realignment of Route 28A section". Daily Freeman (Kingston, New York). http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2010/08/12/news/doc4c638711daab0320651899.txt?viewmode=fullstory. Retrieved February 12, 2011. 

External links

• Alps' Roads – New York State Route 28A
• New York Routes – New York State Route 28A
• New York State Highway Termini – New York State Route 28A