page_title: New York State Route 5S
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: New York State Route 5S / History
caption_attribution_description: New York State Route 5S
context_page_description: New York State Route 5S is a 72.92-mile-long east–west state highway located in the Mohawk Valley of New York in the United States. It extends from a continuation of NY 5A at an interchange with NY 5, NY 8, NY 12, and Interstate 790 in Utica to an interchange with NY 890 in Rotterdam. The route runs along the south side of the Mohawk River for its entire length and parallels NY 5, which runs along the north side of the Mohawk River. NY 5S intersects several primary routes including NY 28 in Mohawk, NY 30A in Fultonville, NY 30 south of Amsterdam, as well as intersecting the New York State Thruway several times. The route is part of New York State Bicycle Route 5 west of its junction with NY 103 in Schenectady County.
  In 1924, the portion of modern NY 5S between Utica and Mohawk was designated as the northernmost portion of NY 28, which connected Oneonta to Utica. When NY 5S was assigned in 1930, the route stretched from Oneida in the west to Schenectady in the east, absorbing the old section of NY 28. It was later truncated on both ends to eliminate overlaps with other state routes and to accommodate the construction of other roadways, most notably I-890 in western Schenectady.
context_section_description: In 1908, the New York State Legislature created Route 6, an unsigned legislative route that began in Buffalo and proceeded eastward across New York to Albany. From Utica to Schenectady, Route 6 followed the banks of the Mohawk River through the Mohawk Valley. Initially, Route 6 used the modern NY 5S corridor from Utica to Mohawk and from Fultonville to Amsterdam. By 1920, the piece of what is now NY 5S from Mohawk to Little Falls became part of Route 26. On March 1, 1921, Route 26 was truncated to begin in Little Falls while Route 6 was realigned between Fultonville and Amsterdam to use NY 5 instead. When the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, the portion of legislative Route 6 between Utica and Mohawk was designated as the northernmost portion of NY 28, a north–south route connecting Oneonta to Utica via Springfield and Richfield Springs.
  In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 28 was rerouted north of Mohawk to follow its modern alignment toward Poland. Its former routing between Utica and Mohawk became part of NY 5S, an alternate route of NY 5 between Oneida and Schenectady. As its suffix implies, NY 5S was mostly a southerly alternate route of NY 5; however, it actually followed a more northerly routing than NY 5 west of Utica. It continued west to Oneida on what is now NY 5A, NY 69, NY 365, and NY 365A and east into Schenectady along Rice and River Roads. NY 5S was truncated eastward to Utica in the early 1940s, placing all of NY 5S south of NY 5 for the first time.
  On its eastern end, NY 5S was gradually truncated to its current terminus in Rotterdam as portions of I-890 was built over the former routing of NY 5S between Rotterdam and Schenectady. The first cutback occurred in the early 1970s following the completion of I-890 between downtown Schenectady and exit 4. The freeway was completed between the New York State Thruway (I-90) and Schenectady in the mid-1970s, resulting in the truncation of NY 5S to I-890 exit 2. It was truncated to its current eastern terminus at I-890 (now NY 890) in the late 1980s after a reconfiguration of the interchange between the Thruway and I-890 resulted in the removal of River Road between I-890 and the current stub end of Rice Road. Work on the interchange at the eastern terminus began in October 1996, on a project to build a new roadway north across the Mohawk River to NY 5. The highway was completed in October 1998 and opened to traffic on October 21, 1998. It was designated as NY 890, an extension of a I-890.
  From Utica to Mohawk, NY 5S was originally routed on "Old Route 5S" and Main Street. It was realigned in the early 1970s to follow a new freeway between Utica and Old Route 5S in Ilion that bypassed Frankfort to the west. A super two extension of the freeway east to Mohawk was started sometime after 1982 and finished by the mid-1990s. On April 5, 1987, the bridge carrying the New York State Thruway over Schoharie Creek collapsed. At the time, the creek was higher and flowing faster than normal due to excessive rains in the area. The segment of NY 5S near Fort Hunter was reconfigured to carry westbound Thruway traffic while the bridge was rebuilt. The eastbound replacement bridge was completed and fully open to traffic on December 7, 1987, and the westbound replacement bridge was opened on May 21, 1988.
caption: NY 5S westbound between NY 28 and South Washington Street
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