The portions of NY 17M that lie north and east of the city of
Middletown are maintained by the
New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). Within the Middletown city limits, NY 17M is city-maintained.
Wallkill and Middletown County Route 76 (CR 76) becomes NY 17M when the highway passes through the site of a former
interchange (once exit 118A) with the nearby
Quickway (
NY 17) in the town of
Wallkill, located in northern
Orange County. The junction was just north of the former
right-of-way of the
New York, Ontario and Western Railway, which NY 17M crosses as it makes its way southward over some gentle, lightly developed hills. After , the road reaches a signalized intersection with
NY 302, its first junction with another state highway. The junction currently serves as NY 302's southern terminus; Continuing on, NY 17M traverses increasingly developed areas, passing through the
hamlet of Rockville on its way to the densely populated neighborhood of
Washington Heights, situated just outside Middletown. The route seamlessly passes from Washington Heights to Middletown, where it becomes known as North Street. The street is initially fairly wide—featuring shoulders on each side—but it narrows in the residential neighborhoods closer to the city's center. Upon reaching the northern edge of Middletown's central business district, the route turns right onto Wickham Avenue, which carries
NY 211 through northern Middletown. The resulting overlap between NY 17M and NY 211 is a
wrong-way concurrency: NY 17M eastbound is concurrent with NY 211 westbound and vice versa. NY 17M and NY 211 head west along the fringe of downtown, climbing slightly in elevation as the street passes through mostly residential areas. After seven blocks, Wickham Avenue merges into West Main Street; however, the road's surroundings remain unchanged. NY 17M and NY 211 continue along West Main Street for another four blocks, traversing a slight westerly turn in the street prior to intersecting Monhagen Avenue in the western part of the city. Both routes leave Main Street here: NY 211 turns right, following the road northwest toward
Otisville while NY 17M heads left, proceeding southeastward toward downtown. It continues through a six-block commercial and residential area to Mill Street, at which point Monhagen Avenue becomes Fulton Street and expands to become a
parkway with a tree-lined
median strip. This stretch continues for five blocks along the southern edge of downtown Middletown to Academy Avenue, where NY 17M turns right and heads southward. After just two blocks, the route changes streets for the final time in Middletown, veering left onto Dolson Avenue.
East of Middletown As Dolson Avenue, NY 17M passes by a single residential block before entering a linear commercial district that follows the highway to an interchange with
I-84 roughly to the south. The route initially remains two lanes wide, but widens to four lanes after crossing the
Middletown and New Jersey Railway at-grade. This stretch of NY 17M also features a
center left-turn lane to accommodate the traffic turning into the many commercial plazas on either side. The road remains within the Middletown city limits until a block before the intersection where
US 6 comes in from the west and joins NY 17M. Together, they cross over I-84 at exit 3, providing access to the cities of
Port Jervis and
Newburgh in the western and eastern parts of the county, respectively. Just past I-84, the
Wawayanda hamlet of
New Hampton begins, with car dealerships and other commercial establishments on either side. The road narrows to two lanes as the combined highways begin a slow, gentle descent through less developed areas to the bridge over the
Wallkill River, situated at the northern tip of the county's
Black Dirt Region. Short sections of the approach on either side add a passing lane in the uphill direction. The river marks the
Goshen town line, and the slight climb out of the river depression is accompanied again with some extra lanes. Past the climb, development aside the road picks up slightly, although most of the land around the highway remains undeveloped as open fields or forests. US 6 and NY 17M continue to the western outskirts of the
village of Goshen, where they merge into NY 17 at exit 123. NY 17M follows the Quickway for about 1 mile (1.6 km), before exiting at an interchange (exit 124) and meeting
NY 17A and
NY 207 in a commercialized area southwest of the center of Goshen. Though signage still exists eastbound on the Quickway for the old exit 125 directing NY 17M to exit there, this interchange no longer services NY 17M. From here to the
village of Chester, NY 17M closely follows the NY 17 freeway, serving a handful of homes in an otherwise undeveloped area adjacent to the Quickway. In Chester, NY 17M becomes Brookside Avenue and intersects with
NY 94 in the commercial center of the community. It continues on, passing through the rural areas of the southern portion of the town of
Blooming Grove prior to becoming heavily developed as it passes into the
town of Monroe. Just inside the town line, NY 17M turns southward, leaving the vicinity of the Quickway and entering the
village of Monroe. It bypasses the downtown portion of the village and its
historic district to the west and south. Despite this fact, it still serves as one of the community's major commercial strips, intersecting
NY 208 in a built-up area due west of downtown. The route continues to the east, serving commercial and residential areas on its way to the nearby village of
Harriman. Development abates slightly past Harriman as NY 17M continues with a slight southward bent towards its final junction with NY 17 just outside the Harriman village limits in the town and village of
Woodbury. ==History==