page_title: New York State Route 12E
section_title: Watertown and Brownville
hierarchical_section_title: New York State Route 12E / Route description / Watertown and Brownville
caption_attribution_description: English: New York State Route 12E signed to turn eastward at NY 971H in Brownville, New York
context_page_description: New York State Route 12E is a state highway located entirely within the northwestern part of Jefferson County in northern New York in the United States. The southern terminus is at NY 12F in the village of Brownville. Its northern terminus, both signed and official, is at NY 12 in the village of Clayton. While NY 12 follows a direct north–south routing between Watertown and Clayton, NY 12E diverges westward to follow the shoreline of Lake Ontario. The portion of NY 12E north of its junction with NY 180 is part of the Seaway Trail, a National Scenic Byway.
  Most of modern NY 12E was originally designated as part of NY 3 in 1924. NY 3 was moved onto its current alignment east of Watertown as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, at which time its former routing between Watertown and Clayton became NY 12E. From Watertown to Limerick, what is now NY 12E was originally NY 12F. The alignments of the two routes were flipped in the late 1930s. In 1980, Jefferson County assumed maintenance of NY 12E between the Watertown city line and Brownville as part of a highway maintenance swap between the county and the state.
context_section_description: NY 12E begins at the intersection of West Main and Bradley (NY 12) streets in the city of Watertown. It initially proceeds northwest on West Main Street as a four-lane residential and commercial street; however, it becomes a two-lane divided highway at a CSX Transportation railroad overpass just six blocks from NY 12. Past the crossing, the road follows the Black River across the city line and into the town of Pamelia, where it becomes co-designated as CR 190. The highway soon passes under Interstate 81 and narrows to a two-lane undivided road before turning westward into the riverside village of Glen Park. It retains its Main Street name through the community, following a two-lane residential street through the village center and eventually into the adjacent village of Brownville.
  In Brownville, the route intersects with the northern terminus of Bridge Street (unsigned NY 971H), a short north–south connector leading to NY 12F on the south bank of the Black River. At this point, the CR 190 co-designation ends and maintenance of the route becomes the responsibility of the state. Through Brownville, NY 12E remains a two-lane residential and commercial street, intersecting with the southern terminus of CR 54 (Brown Boulevard) near the Brownville Hotel, a National Register of Historic Places-listed (NRHP) property. At the western edge of the village, NY 12E passes Brownville Cemetery before leaving for the surrounding town of Brownville and losing the Main Street name. The highway parallels a former railroad right-of-way as it heads through the town of Brownville, becoming a two-lane rural highway and gradually bending northeastward away from the riverbank.
  About 2 miles (3.2 km) from the center of Brownville, NY 12E intersects with CR 53 (Cemetery Road), an east–west highway linking the state route to the nearby village of Dexter. NY 12E continues on, passing just east of Dexter Cemetery and traversing an undeveloped rural area to reach the hamlet of Limerick. Within the community, it serves mostly residential areas and remains two lanes wide. In the center of the hamlet, the highway intersects with NY 180, a road leading to Dexter in the south and the Thousand Islands region in the north. Also present at the junction is the Seaway Trail, a National Scenic Byway that enters from the south on NY 180 and exits to the west on NY 12E. NY 12E leaves Limerick after this junction and continues through the town of Brownville, bending slightly to the northeast at a junction with CR 59 (North Shore Road) 3 miles (4.8 km) from Limerick at the Brownville–Lyme town line.
caption: NY 12E at Bridge Street in Brownville. While signage indicates that NY 12E turns here, it officially continues straight onto CR 190.
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