page_title: New York State Route 31
section_title: Truncations and extensions
hierarchical_section_title: New York State Route 31 / History / Truncations and extensions
caption_attribution_description: Signage for the eastern terminus of New York State Route 31 at New York State Route 26 in Vernon.
context_page_description: New York State Route 31 is a state highway that extends for 208.74 miles across western and central New York in the United States. The western terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 104 in the city of Niagara Falls. Its eastern terminus is at a traffic circle with NY 26 in Vernon Center, a hamlet within the town of Vernon. Over its routing, NY 31 spans 10 counties and indirectly connects three major urban areas in Upstate New York: Buffalo–Niagara Falls, Rochester, and Syracuse. The route is one of the longest routes in New York State, paralleling two similarly lengthy routes, NY 104 to the north and NY 5 to the south, as well as the Erie Canal, as it proceeds east.
  Much of NY 31 west of Jordan was originally designated as part of a legislative route from the late 1900s to the early 1920s. NY 31 itself was assigned in the mid-1920s, utilizing all of legislative Route 30 west of Rochester and much of its current alignment from Rochester to Lenox. At Lenox, NY 31 turned southeast to follow what is now NY 316 and NY 46 to NY 5 in Oneida.
context_section_description: In the late 1920s, NY 31 was rerouted west of what is now NY 429 to follow Ridge Road to Lewiston, where it ended at then-NY 34. The former routing of NY 31 into downtown Niagara Falls was redesignated as NY 31A. In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 31 was realigned east of Oneida Valley to continue east to Utica by way of its modern alignment plus Spring and Lowell Roads and several city streets. At the same time, NY 3 was realigned to continue west to Niagara Falls over modern NY 31, overlapping NY 31A west of Sanborn. Two other portions of NY 3—from the modern junction of NY 31 and NY 77 east of Lockport to Gasport and between Middleport and Medina—were also realigned at this time to use modern NY 31 and the old routing of legislative Route 30 Spur along modern NY 31E, respectively.
  What is now NY 31 from NY 365 in Verona to NY 5 in Vernon became part of NY 234 c. 1932. The new north–south highway continued south to NY 26 in Vernon Center by way of NY 5 and Churton and Youngs Roads. Also around this time, NY 3 was realigned between Shawnee and Lockport to use Saunders Settlement Road. US 104, meanwhile, was assigned c. 1935, following Ridge Road from Niagara Falls east to Maple View in Oswego County. The assignment of the highway led to the reconfiguration of several state highways in western and central New York, including NY 3 and NY 31. The latter route was rerouted west of Rochester to follow the former alignment of NY 3 to Niagara Falls while NY 3 was truncated to a location in northern Cayuga County. At the same time, NY 31A was reassigned to a new alignment extending from Middleport to Knowlesville via Medina.
  NY 31 was truncated to NY 365 in Verona in the early 1940s; as a result, NY 31 and NY 234 now had a common terminus. Despite this fact, the two routes continued to co-exist for the next 40 years. On April 1, 1981, ownership and maintenance of the Churton Road portion of NY 234 was transferred from the state of New York to Oneida County as part of a highway maintenance swap between the two levels of government. Two of highways that the state received in return were Stuhlman Road (CR 81) and the segment of Youngs Road (CR 13) between Stuhlman Road and Churton Road (NY 234). The two new state highways did not become a rerouting of NY 234, however, as the NY 234 designation was eliminated at this time. Instead, NY 31 was extended southeastward over NY 234's former routing to Vernon, from where it continued to Vernon Center by way of NY 5, Stuhlman and Youngs Roads. Churton Road was redesignated as CR 94.
caption: Sign assembly at NY 31's eastern terminus in Vernon. The junction with NY 26 was NY 234's southern terminus from the early 1930s to 1981.
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