Original alignment NY 3 originally followed a vastly different alignment than it does today. In 1924, it was assigned to the New York portion of the
Theodore Roosevelt International Highway, an
auto trail that extended from
Portland, Maine, to
Portland, Oregon. In New York, it connected
North Tonawanda (near
Niagara Falls) in the west to
Plattsburgh in the east via
Rochester and
Watertown. NY 3 began at what is now the intersection of
US 62 and
NY 425 and followed modern NY 425 north through Cambria Station to Cambria Center, from where the highway continued to
Lockport on Lower Mountain, Gothic Hill, and Upper Mountain Roads and modern
NY 31. It remained on current NY 31 through the city and mostly followed that route's modern alignment across
western New York to the city of
Rochester. The most significant exception to this was between Lockport and
Gasport, where NY 3 veered south by way of modern
NY 77 and
County Route 10 (CR 10) to serve the
hamlet of McNalls. Within Rochester, NY 3 remained on the current alignment of NY 31 to what is now the intersection of Lyell Avenue and Broad Street. Here, NY 3 broke from modern NY 31 and continued east on Lyell Avenue to State Street. NY 3 then followed State Street, Main Street, and East Avenue (modern
NY 96) through downtown before turning north onto Culver Road in the eastern portion of the city. The route remained on Culver Road to Empire Boulevard, where it turned east toward
Irondequoit. Once in Irondequoit, it followed what is now
NY 404 around the southern extent of
Irondequoit Bay to
Webster. NY 3 was realigned by 1930 to stay on East Avenue to Winton Road near the eastern edge of the city. Here, the route turned north, following Winton Road through eastern Rochester to Irondequoit, where it rejoined its previous routing at Empire Boulevard. Past Webster, NY 3 followed
Ridge Road through
Wayne County to
Red Creek, where it continued northeast on what is now
NY 370 and
NY 104A through Red Creek,
Fair Haven, and
Sterling to western
Oswego County. At Southwest Oswego, NY 3 joined the routing of modern
NY 104 through
Oswego and
Mexico to
Maple View. East of Clayton, it followed modern
NY 12,
NY 26 and
CR 192 through
Alexandria Bay to
Redwood. From there, it utilized the current alignment of
NY 37 up through
Ogdensburg (by way of Main and Ford Streets in the city) before continuing to
Waddington on Van Rensselaer Road. NY 3 went east from here along a now-dismantled riverside highway and Town Line Road to
Massena, where it was routed on modern
NY 37B. NY 3 was realigned in two locations between Lockport and Rochester. One was just east of Lockport, where it was straightened out to go directly from Lockport to Gasport on modern NY 31, bypassing McNalls. The other was between
Middleport and
Medina, where it was realigned to use modern
NY 31E instead. NY 3's old alignment from Lockport to Gasport via McNalls became part of NY 77 west of McNalls and
NY 359 north of the community. The most significant realignment that occurred at this time was in the
North Country, where NY 3 was shifted onto its current alignment between Watertown and Plattsburgh. From
Tupper Lake east to Plattsburgh, most of what became NY 3 was previously part of NY 10. The NY 10 designation remained in place from Tupper Lake east to
Upper Saranac Lake, forming an overlap with NY 3; however, it was completely replaced by NY 3 from Saranac Lake east. Between Upper Saranac Lake and Saranac Lake, the routing of NY 3 was previously unnumbered, as was the routing from Watertown to Tupper Lake. NY 3 was shifted southward onto modern NY 31 between Shawnee and Lockport . The realignment eliminated overlaps with NY 425 and
NY 93, the latter of which had used NY 3's former routing east of Cambria–Wilson Road since it was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering. Even though all of the former routing had a designation, it was also designated as
NY 3A anyway. As a result, the designations of all of NY 3's spur routes were increased by one letter, meaning the existing NY 3A became
NY 3B, NY 3C became
New York State Route 3D, and so forth.
US 104 was assigned , extending from Niagara Falls to Maple View mostly by way of then-
NY 31 west of Rochester and NY 3 from Rochester to Maple View. As a result, NY 31 was shifted southward onto the alignment of NY 3 from Niagara Falls to Rochester while NY 3 was realigned south of Watertown to follow the routing of NY 3D to a new terminus in
Sterling. Every spur route of NY 3 was eliminated at this time except for
NY 3G. The alignments of NY 3 and NY 3G between Deferiet and Wilna were flipped .
Other alignment changes At some point between 1935 and 1938, NY 3 was truncated further to end at its junction with US 104 in
Hannibal. It was moved another half-mile (0.8 km) to the east in the early 1960s following the completion of the
super two bypass carrying US 104 around the eastern edge of the village. NY 3 continued to end at the super two until the early 1980s. On April 1, 1980, ownership and maintenance of NY 3's former routing between the
Cayuga County line and NY 104 was transferred from
Oswego County to the state of
New York. One year later, on April 1, 1981, the state assumed ownership and maintenance of the Cayuga County portion from that county. Both transactions were part of larger highway maintenance swaps between the state and the two counties. NY 3 was reextended westward to NY 104A following the second swap. From
Sandy Creek to
Henderson, NY 3C (later NY 3D) was routed on Weaver Road,
CR 121,
NY 193,
CR 78,
NY 178, and
CR 123. An extension of the roadway north to Henderson was completed by the following year. To the southwest in Oswego County, NY 3 was originally routed on modern CR 3 between Hannibal and
Fulton and on Hannibal and Oneida Streets through the city of Fulton. The modern arterial through the city was constructed while the Hannibal–Fulton highway was built in the mid-1960s. ==Suffixed routes==