Liberty Highway

The Liberty Highway was an auto trail in the United States linking New York City with Cleveland, Ohio.^[1] It passed through Binghamton, New York; Elmira, New York; Jamestown, New York; and Erie, Pennsylvania. First signed in 1918, it was named after the village of Liberty, New York.^[2]

Through New Jersey and New York, the route of the Liberty Highway was designated as Route 17. Today, much of these routes have been bypassed by freeways, most notably by Interstate 86. Throughout much of the Catskills and the Southern Tier of New York, old portions of the road are still named Liberty Highway or Old Route 17.

The original route of the Liberty Highway roughly corresponds to the following modern highways:^[2][3]

• George Washington Bridge, New York City to Fort Lee, New Jersey
• New Jersey Route 4, Fort Lee to Paramus, New Jersey
• New Jersey Route 17, Paramus to Mahwah, New Jersey/Suffern, New York
• New York State Route 17, Mahwah/Suffern to Painted Post, New York
• New York State Route 417^†, Painted Post to Jasper, New York
• New York State Route 36^†, Jasper to Hornell, New York
• New York State Route 21^†, Hornell to Andover, New York
• New York State Route 417^†, Andover to Wellsville, New York
• New York State Route 19^†, Wellsville to Belvidere, New York
• New York State Route 17, Belvidere to Allegany, New York
• New York State Route 417^†, Allegany to Jimersontown, Allegany Reservation
• New York State Reference Route 951T^†, Jimersontown to Red House
• The former Liberty Highway still exists but is closed to traffic between Red House and Steamburg
• New York State Route 394, Steamburg to Bemus Point, New York
• New York State Route 430^†, Bemus Point to Mayville, New York
• New York State Route 394^†, Mayville to Westfield, New York
• U.S. Route 20, Westfield to Cleveland, Ohio

^†Former routing of New York State Route 17. As Route 17 was reassigned, the Liberty Highway designation was moved onto these new segments.

References