Although it is no longer commonly used for long-distance travel, NY 5 is still regionally important. NY 5 is named
Main Street in
Buffalo, Erie Boulevard and West Genesee Street in
Syracuse, State Street in
Schenectady, and Central Avenue in
Albany, the state capital. It is a major local road in many other locations along its path. NY 5 runs concurrent to US 20 twice between its endpoints: for three miles (5 km) between
Silver Creek and
Irving and for across western and central New York. At 67.6 miles (108 km) in length, the eastern
overlap between US 20 and NY 5 is the second-longest surface-road concurrency in New York state, behind only the concurrency of
I-86 and
NY 17 in the
Southern Tier. in
Syracuse between the western city line and just west of
NY 635; in
Utica from Leland Avenue east to the city line; in
Amsterdam between Division and West Main streets; in
Schenectady from Washington Avenue to the eastern city line; and the entirety of NY 5 within
Albany.
Pennsylvania to Buffalo At the
New York–Pennsylvania border in Ripley,
PA 5 becomes NY 5 upon entering New York. It very closely follows the shore of
Lake Erie through all of
Chautauqua County. Once reaching the village of
Silver Creek it briefly overlaps
US 20 until entering
Erie County at the
Cattaraugus Reservation and
NY 438 where the roads once again split. Once in Erie County, it pulls slightly inward from the lake shore from
Brant to the hamlet of
Wanakah. Once past Wanakah, the road once again closely borders the lake shore and goes through steadily more heavily developed areas, particularly the
Ford Stamping Plant and the
Bethlehem Steel plant in the city of
Lackawanna. There the road becomes the Hamburg Turnpike and eight wind-powered turbines, which provide power to the national grid, are visible. Near the northern edge of the city, NY 5 begins to ascend onto an elevated roadway as it connects to Ridge Road and the
Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens by way of an interchange. Here, the route becomes the a
limited-access highway with exits for Ohio and Tifft streets and Fuhrmann Boulevard. After a quarter-mile, NY 5 passes seamlessly into the city of
Buffalo. . A short distance past the city line, NY 5 passes over the Union Ship Canal on a span of the elevated road known as the
Father Baker Bridge. North of the waterway, the elevated section of NY 5 gains a
frontage road named Fuhrmann Boulevard. Both the service road and NY 5 run parallel to
Lake Erie until the northern end of the Buffalo Outer Harbor. Here, the frontage roads end while NY 5 turns to the northeast, crossing the
Buffalo River on the bridge called The Skyway, and entering downtown. On the north bank, the Skyway returns to a northerly routing as it passes
KeyBank Center, located directly to the east, and
Buffalo and Erie County Naval & Military Park, situated to the west, and meets
I-190 at exit 7. Past the interchange, the Skyway ends and the route descends in elevation, becoming an
at-grade roadway once more at Church Street in the shadow of
Buffalo City Hall.
NY 384 begins here, following Delaware Avenue north into the heart of downtown, while NY 5 turns east onto Church. The freeway has partial access to
NY 173 from westbound NY 5. East of NY 173, the freeway connects to
NY 695 at a
directional T interchange and passes over
NY 297 without access. East of Fairmount, NY 5 alters to the south before turning east onto West Genesee Street and converting to
grade-level intersections. In Syracuse, NY 5 is parallel to
I-690 for much of its routing but never encounters the highway, thus making the north–south streets that intersect NY 5 entry points to and from I-690. In downtown Syracuse, West Genesee Street becomes James Street. At the southern tip of the interchange between I-690 and
I-81, NY 5 transfers onto Erie Boulevard and intersects State Street (
US 11), but passes under I-81 without access. At the Syracuse–DeWitt boundary, NY 5 intersects
NY 635 and eastward, it curves to a southeast course. Near the former
Shoppingtown Mall, NY 5 turns east onto Genesee Street to begin an overlap with
NY 92. Less than a mile east of the mall, NY 5 and NY 92 intersect
I-481 at a
cloverleaf interchange.
Syracuse to Utica NY 5 and NY 92 remain concurrent up to Highbridge Road, where NY 92 splits from NY 5 and heads southeast to
Manlius. The segment of the overlap with NY 92 between I-481 and the eastern split is the busiest area of NY 5 in the Syracuse area and in all of Onondaga County. Past the split, NY 5 continues east through Onondaga and
Madison counties, passing
Fayetteville,
Chittenango, and
Canastota before entering the vicinity of
Oneida. West of the city, NY 5 intersects
NY 365A, a spur route of
NY 365 leading directly into downtown. To the east, NY 5 (which forms the southern boundary of the city) meets
NY 46 before crossing over
Oneida Creek and into
Oneida County. Just past the county line in
Oneida Castle, NY 5 intersects NY 365, a route leading northward to the
New York State Thruway in
Verona. NY 5 presses on, passing through the city of
Sherrill and the village of
Vernon (briefly overlapping
NY 31) and the town of
Westmoreland to the town of
Kirkland, where NY 5 intersects
NY 233, crosses over
Oriskany Creek, and meets the western terminus of NY 5B. The spur of NY 5 later rejoins its parent yards from where
NY 5A departs NY 5 to serve western
Utica. NY 5 itself continues eastward through
New Hartford, meeting
NY 12B before merging with
NY 12 at Genesee Street. Both routes continue eastward across the
Sauquoit Creek into
Utica.
Utica to Albany NY 5 enters the city of Utica on a concurrency with NY 12 heading in a northeast direction. It shortly picks up
NY 8, and all three cross the city together. NY 5 also intersects with the terminus of
NY 840 at this point. Just south of the
New York State Thruway,
I-790 begins as a short expressway, also including NY 5, NY 8, and NY 12. After crossing out of the city, they meet the Thruway, with NY 8 and 12 continuing northeast, while I-790 and NY 5 turns to the east-south-east, picking up the tail-end of
NY 49. These three, still as an expressway, straddle each side of the Thruway for a short way, with I-790 technically ending at the ramps for I-90. NY 5 continues to the end of the expressway, only a few hundred feet later, dropping to Leland Avenue. A few hundred feet to the north of the Thruway, NY 5 turns eastward again to continue down Herkimer Road. It closely parallels the Thruway to
Herkimer, where NY 5 moves slightly northward through the centre of the village, becoming State Street, while I-90 crosses the
Erie Canal and goes south for a short distance. There is a short concurrency with
NY 28 in the village. After exiting Herkimer, NY 5 continues east, closely paralleling this time the canal, through the city of
Little Falls as Main Street, where two more concurrencies occur, with
NY 167 and
NY 169. NY 5 continues to parallel the canal, and in some instances again, the Thruway, through
Amsterdam, becoming Amsterdam Road all the way to
Scotia, where it crosses the canal into
Schenectady as Mohawk Avenue, turning into State Street upon entering the city limits. It continues fairly straight on a southeast course into
Albany as Central Avenue until it reaches
Townsend Park. At this point, NY 5 turns into Washington Avenue and all signage referring to NY 5 ceases. The
New York State Department of Transportation recognizes the route, however, as it continues down Washington Ave past the
New York State Capitol building, turning south for a short distance as Eagle Street. NY 5 then continues east on State Street to Broadway, where it again turns south-east shortly before returning east on a small spur of Broadway, travelling underneath
US 9 and
I-787. NY 5 ends at the
Hudson River. ==History==