Origins and designation When the first set of posted routes in
New York were assigned in 1924,
NY 18 was assigned to an alignment extending from the
Pennsylvania state line north of
Bradford to downtown
Buffalo. NY 18 went north from the state line to Bradford Junction, where it intersected
NY 17 (now
NY 417), another route assigned in 1924. The two routes converged here and
overlapped each other northwest to
Salamanca, where NY 17 continued westward toward
Jamestown while NY 18 proceeded northwestward toward
Little Valley. NY 18 originally connected to
PA 6 at the state line; however, by 1929, it connected to US 219 instead. In the
1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the highway connecting NY 17 and NY 18 in Salamanca to
Great Valley was designated as part of
NY 98. Assigned at the same time was NY 62, a route extending from Great Valley to NY 18 in downtown
Buffalo by way of
Ellicottville,
Ashford,
Springville, and
Hamburg. (former US 219) crossing the New York state line from Pennsylvania
US 62 was extended into New York ; as a result, the portion of NY 62 south of
Athol Springs was renumbered to
NY 75 to eliminate numerical duplication with the new U.S. Highway. The remainder of old NY 62 became part of an extended
NY 5. US 219 was extended into New York , overlapping NY 18, NY 98, and NY 75 northward to a junction with US 62 in Hamburg. The overlap with NY 75 was eliminated by 1940 when NY 75 was truncated northward to US 62 in Hamburg. The other two overlaps ceased to exist when NY 18 and NY 98 were truncated to
Lewiston and Great Valley, respectively.
Realignments When it was first extended into New York, US 219 continued north from Ellicottville to Springville as it does today; however, it initially overlapped
NY 242 between Ellicottville and Ashford and utilized what is now
NY 240 between Ashford and Cattaraugus Street southeast of Springville. Within Springville, US 219 was routed along Cattaraugus Street and Buffalo Street and intersected
NY 39 in the village center. Outside of the village, US 219 went north on Springville–Boston Road and Boston State Road to North Boston, from where US 219 continued to Hamburg by way of modern
NY 391. In the early 1950s, construction began on a western bypass of Springville that connected US 219 just north of the village to East Otto Road south of Springville. The portion of the highway north of Waverly Street was completed by 1954. The remainder of the bypass was finished by 1956, at which time US 219 was realigned to follow the bypass around the village. At the south end of the bypass, US 219 continued south to Ellicottville by way of pre-existing, previously unnumbered highways. However, the segment of modern NY 240 vacated by US 219 did not become part of an extended NY 240 until the mid-1960s. In the 1990s, US 219 was rerouted to follow the
Southern Tier Expressway between exit 21 in Salamanca and exit 23 just south of Bradford Junction. The old alignment of US 219 through
Carrollton and Salamanca became US 219 Business.
Southern Expressway Construction began in the early 1970s on the Southern Expressway, a
freeway connecting Buffalo to Springville. The first segment of the expressway—between the
New York State Thruway east of
Lackawanna and
US 20A west of
Orchard Park—opened to traffic by 1973 as a realignment of US 219. In between the end of the expressway and
North Boston, US 219 temporarily overlapped US 20A and
NY 277. The freeway was extended south to North Boston in the mid-1970s and to Springville in the early 1980s. Both segments became part of US 219 upon opening. The former surface routing of US 219 between North Boston and Hamburg was redesignated as NY 391 following the completion of the expressway's first segment in the early 1970s while the remainder of US 219's former routing south to Springville was transferred to
Erie County upon the completion of the entire Springville–Buffalo segment of the Southern Expressway. Plans to extend the Southern Expressway southward from
NY 39 in
Springville to Peters Road in
Ashford, a distance of , had been in development for years before they were finally put into action in the mid-2000s. Altogether, the project was initially expected to cost $86 million and be completed in late 2009. The lengthy construction time was largely due to the need to construct two bridges over the
Zoar Valley gorge. As of March 2009, the projected cost of the extension had risen to $116 million. Since 2007, the project had encountered several delays due to landslides in the vicinity of Scoby Hill Road and the need to conduct a second environmental impact study on the road's impact on wetlands in the area. As a result, the $86 million in state funding that was devoted to the project was reallocated to other projects in New York, a move confirmed by the
New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) in March 2009. At the same time, however, NYSDOT left open the possibility of eventually restoring the funding. It was restored sometime afterward, and the highway was completed on November 19, 2010, with a total price tag of $125 million. Ownership and maintenance of the former surface alignment of US 219 north of Peters Road—now known as Miller Road, and including the two-lane, high-level bridge that currently carries it across the valley surrounding Cattaraugus Creek—was transferred from the state of New York to Erie and Cattaraugus counties. The two sections of road leading to and from the bridge were transferred immediately while the bridge itself was not turned over until a state-funded rehabilitation project was completed in 2013. The latter half of the plan drew criticism from Erie County officials who believe that the state should continue to maintain the bridge due to its size, importance and the resulting cost of upkeep. Because of safety concerns, the bridge was closed to traffic on January 5, 2012 and remained closed until April of that year while repairs were made to the structure. The section of US 219 between the Cattaraugus County line and Waverly Street in Springville became County Route 581. The section in Cattaraugus County became County Route 100. On July 6, 2014, the
New York State Department of Transportation announced the extension of the Western New York Southtowns Scenic Byway, a
scenic byway through
Erie County from
Orchard Park to Springville, into Cattaraugus County. The new extension would involve US 219 from
NY 39 in Springville to the
Great Valley town line and NY 240 down to NY 39 and
NY 242. ==Future==