New York State Route 47 was a long state highway around Rochester in the U.S. state of New York. Originally, NY 47 was routed along surface streets through the city, but the designation was later moved to new sections of expressway as they were built around the edge of the city. In its final years of existence, NY 47 formed a semi-circle through the inner suburbs of Rochester, with its western and eastern portions routed on expressways. The western terminus of the route was at NY 104 west of the city limits in Greece. The eastern terminus was at Culver Road in Irondequoit mere yards from Lake Ontario. Between its western and eastern extents, NY 47 interchanged with Interstate 490 twice.

NY 47 was referred to as the Rochester Outer Loop (or Outer Loop) in contrast to the Inner Loop around downtown Rochester. This moniker remains in use to this day, now referring to the designations that have since replaced NY 47 along the expressway portions. Conceptually, NY 104 completes the Outer Loop along the north side of the city. However, only the section east of the Genesee River is expressway, leaving NY 104 from modern NY 390 to the Veterans Memorial Bridge as the only at-grade portion of the loop.

In 1980, the NY 47 designation was removed and replaced with several others, including NY 590 and NY 390.

Route description

The alignment described within this section is of NY 47 upon its removal in 1980.

Western expressway

NY 47 began at an interchange with NY 104 (now the interchange between NY 390 and NY 104) in Greece one mile west of the Rochester city limits. Although, at the time, the freeway terminated just north of the interchange, the interchange itself was roughly complete, with only ramps to and from future NY 390 north of the interchange missing. NY 47 followed the modern NY 390 alignment south to I-490, where NY 47 continued onto what is now Interstate 390. The routing of NY 47 and current I-390 were identical to NY 383 (Scottsville Road) in Chili, where NY 47 was forced to grade level via a partially constructed interchange, as modern I-390 had yet to be constructed in the area southeast of NY 383.

At-grade

Off the expressway and now at-grade, NY 47 turned north onto NY 383, forming a short concurrency with NY 383 into Rochester. At Elmwood Avenue, NY 47 and NY 383 departed Scottsville Road and proceeded eastward on Elmwood. Two blocks to the east, at an intersection with South Plymouth Avenue, NY 383 split from NY 47, following Plymouth into downtown Rochester. NY 47 remained routed on Elmwood, crossing the Genesee River and passing north of Strong Memorial Hospital prior to intersecting NY 15 (Mount Hope Avenue) in the shadow of Mount Hope Cemetery. East of NY 15, NY 47 progressed along Elmwood, intersecting several local streets before entering Brighton.

Within Brighton, NY 47 continued on Elmwood Avenue through "Twelve Corners", intersecting NY 31 (Monroe Avenue) at the location, to what is now Interstate 590. At the northbound entrance ramp of the modern I-590/Elmwood Avenue interchange, NY 47 separated from Elmwood, entering the freeway. While what is now I-590 was constructed and open from Winton Road to I-490, it had no signed designation between Winton and Elmwood.

Eastern expressway

NY 47 followed modern I-590 northward through Brighton to the Can of Worms, where NY 47 met I-490 for the second time. Due to the way the interchange was designed at the time, traffic continuing on NY 47 across I-490 had to merge with I-490 traffic for roughly before exiting I-490 onto the other portion of NY 47. North of I-490, NY 47 followed the length of what is now NY 590 through Brighton, Rochester, and Irondequoit to Culver Road at the Lake Ontario shoreline.

History

Original alignment

When NY 47 was first commissioned in the Rochester area between 1935 and 1938, it was routed along previously unnumbered roadways, with its northwest terminus located at the intersection of NY 31 (Lyell Avenue) and Howard Road in Gates. NY 47 took Howard Road south, passing through Gates Center and intersecting NY 33 before crossing the then-New York Central Railroad main line (now the CSX Rochester Subdivision) at-grade. The route remained on Howard Road until the intersection of Howard Road and Chili Avenue (NY 33A), which also included Brooks Avenue at this juncture of time. NY 47 then turned east onto Brooks Avenue toward the Greater Rochester International Airport, joining the current routing of NY 204 at Beahan Road (now Old Beahan Road).

NY 47 followed the entire alignment of NY 204 to what is now Interstate 390 and continued on Brooks Avenue into Rochester to Genesee Park Boulevard. Route 47 turned south onto the street, which circles around the southwestern quadrant of the city, and followed its length to Genesee Street, where it turned south for a short distance before resuming its eastward alignment on Elmwood Avenue. The route remained on Elmwood into Brighton, where it turned north onto South Winton Road at Twelve Corners. At Highland Avenue, NY 47 reentered Rochester and became North Winton Road at East Avenue (NY 96). The route remained on Winton through Rochester and Irondequoit before terminating at Empire Boulevard (then U.S. Route 104, now NY 404) just west of Irondequoit Bay.

Expressway realignments

In the late 1950s, construction began on the Sea Breeze Expressway, a limited-access highway linking the Lake Ontario shoreline to the proposed Interstate 490 east of Rochester. The first portion from Empire Boulevard (three blocks west of NY 47's western terminus) in Irondequoit to Culver Road on Lake Ontario was opened to traffic by 1960 as a realignment of NY 18 (north of East Ridge Road) and US 104 (south of Ridge Road). An extension of the highway south to the partially-complete I-490 in Brighton was completed c. 1961 and largely became part of a rerouted NY 47 by the following year. At the time, NY 47 left the expressway at Blossom Road and followed Blossom west to Winton, where it rejoined its original routing. On the opposite side of the city, NY 47 was also rerouted between Chili and Elmwood Avenues to bypass the then-Rochester-Monroe County Airport to the south. Instead of turning east onto Brooks Avenue as it did prior to 1962, the route continued south on Beahan Road to Scottsville Road (NY 383), where it then overlapped NY 383 north to Elmwood Avenue. At the time, Beahan Road connected directly to Scottsville Road (via modern Old Beahan Road) as the primary runway southwest of the airport had yet to be extended to its present length.

East of Howard Road, construction was underway on a new limited-access highway paralleling NY 47 between NY 31 and NY 33 by 1962. Within two years, work had begun on an extension of the highway south along the Erie Canal to Scottsville Road. Farther east, construction was underway on a new highway leading south from I-490 to Elmwood Avenue east of Twelve Corners. The entirety of both highways were opened as part of a realigned Route 47 c. 1965. As part of the realignments, NY 47, which now began a half-mile (0.8 km) to the east of Howard Road at modern NY 390 exit 21, was rerouted to follow Elmwood Avenue east from Twelve Corners to what is now Interstate 590 exit 3 while the overlap with NY 383 was truncated on its western end to current Interstate 390 exit 17. In Rochester, NY 47 was extended south on the Sea Breeze Expressway to the Can of Worms, where it overlapped I-490 before continuing southward on modern I-590 through Brighton.

NY 47 was officially extended on both ends on January 1, 1970, to terminate at Lake Ontario on opposite sides of Rochester. In Greece, the designation officially followed what is now NY 390 north to the Lake Ontario State Parkway; however, the portion between US 104 and the parkway had yet to be constructed. To the east in Irondequoit, NY 47 was stretched northward along the Sea Breeze Expressway to Culver Road, resulting in overlaps with both US 104 and NY 18. At the time, the overlap with US 104 existed only between Empire Boulevard and the Keeler Street Expressway, which became the new alignment of the route through Irondequoit after its completion in 1969. The overlap with US 104 was eliminated entirely the following year when the route was rerouted between NY 47 and Webster onto a new expressway alignment traversing Irondequoit Bay via the newly built Irondequoit Bay Bridge. By 1976, NY 18 had been truncated to its current eastern terminus in Kodak Park and US 104 had been redesignated as NY 104.

Deletion and modern designations

On March 18, 1980, the NY 47 designation was deleted from the state highway system. From NY 104 in Greece to I-490, NY 47 became NY 390. The section from I-490 south to NY 383 was designated as part of Interstate 390; however, it would not connect to the existing portion of I-390 south of Rochester until 1981, when the I-390/I-590 interchange was completed. The segment of NY 47 from Elmwood north to the Can of Worms became part of Interstate 590, with the designation continuing southwest along the freeway to Winton Road. From the Can of Worms to Lake Ontario, NY 47 was redesignated NY 590.

Off the expressways, the former alignments of NY 47 now carry several designations. Howard Road, bypassed by the 1960s realignment in Greece, is still maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation as New York State Route 940L, an unsigned reference route in length. Beahan Road, also bypassed by the same 1960s rerouting, was reconfigured into its current alignment by 1971 due to an expansion by the airport. All of Beahan Road, including the portion north of the Rochester and Southern Railroad grade crossing that carried NY 47, is currently maintained by Monroe County as County Route 164. The portion of NY 47 on Elmwood Avenue from the Rochester city line to I-590, as well as the remainder of Elmwood Avenue east to NY 96, is also maintained by Monroe County as County Route 87. Lastly, the segments of Winton Road outside of the Rochester city limits are now County Route 98, a designation that extends south past Twelve Corners to the southern end of Winton Road in Henrietta. The remainder of circa-1980 NY 47 and the former alignments of the route are currently locally maintained.

Major intersections

References

External links

• NY State Route 47 Ends - note that the eastern terminus is inaccurately given as NY 104