View source for New York State Route 222

{{Short description|State highway in central New York, US}}
{{good article}}
{{Infobox road
|state=NY
|type=NY
|route=222
|maint=[[New York State Department of Transportation|NYSDOT]] and the city of [[Cortland, New York|Cortland]]
|length_mi=10.57
|length_ref=<ref name="2008tvr" />
|map={{maplink-road|from=New York State Route 222.map}}
|map_custom=yes
|map_notes=Map of Cortland and Tompkins counties with NY&nbsp;222 highlighted in red
|established=1930<ref name="1930map" />
|direction_a=West
|terminus_a={{jct|state=NY|NY|38}} in [[Groton (village), New York|Groton]]
|direction_b=East
|terminus_b={{jct|state=NY|US|11|NY|13|NY|41}} in [[Cortland, New York|Cortland]]
|counties=[[Tompkins County, New York|Tompkins]], [[Cortland County, New York|Cortland]]
|previous_type=NY
|previous_route=221
|next_type=NY
|next_route=223
}}
'''New York State Route&nbsp;222''' ('''NY&nbsp;222''') is a {{convert|10.57|mi|km|-long|adj=mid}} east–west [[state highway]] in [[central New York]] in the United States. It runs from an intersection with [[New York State Route 38|NY&nbsp;38]] in the [[Groton (village), New York|village of Groton]] in northeastern [[Tompkins County, New York|Tompkins County]] to a junction with the [[overlap (road)|conjoined]] routes of [[U.S. Route 11 (New York)|U.S. Route&nbsp;11]], [[New York State Route 13|NY&nbsp;13]], and [[New York State Route 41|NY&nbsp;41]] in the city of [[Cortland, New York|Cortland]] in western [[Cortland County, New York|Cortland County]]. NY&nbsp;222 passes through the town of [[Cortlandville, New York|Cortlandville]], where it intersects [[New York State Route 281|NY&nbsp;281]] and serves Cortland County–Chase Field Airport. The road was acquired by the state of New York in the early 20th century and designated NY&nbsp;222 as part of the [[1930 state highway renumbering (New York)|1930 renumbering of state highways in New York]].

==Route description==
[[File:Route 38, Route 222 in Groton, New York.jpg|left|thumb|upright|NY&nbsp;38 at the intersection with NY&nbsp;222 in Groton]]
NY&nbsp;222 begins at an intersection with [[New York State Route 38|NY&nbsp;38]] (Main and Cayuga streets) in the [[Groton (village), New York|village of Groton]]. The route proceeds east along the two-lane East Cortland Street, serving several blocks of homes in the eastern part of the village. It soon exits the village limits, at which point NY&nbsp;222 changes names to Cortland Road and the residential areas give way to wide stretches of farmland. As the highway runs across the [[Groton (town), New York|town of Groton]], it passes only a handful of houses as it intersects [[County Route 102 (Tompkins County, New York)|County Route&nbsp;102]] (CR&nbsp;102, named Salt Road) and [[County Route 103A (Tompkins County, New York)|CR&nbsp;103A]] (Champlin Road) at junctions roughly {{convert|1.5|mi}} apart. NY&nbsp;222's eastward track continues to a nearby intersection with [[County Route 180 (Tompkins County, New York)|CR&nbsp;180]] (Lafayette Road), where the route crosses Fall Creek and darts northeastward to run along the base of a large hill.<ref name="bing">{{bing maps |url=http://binged.it/NbLgZB |title=overview map of NY 222|access-date=August 8, 2012}}</ref>

The highway briefly parallels Fall Creek; however, it soon splits to the southeast at a junction with [[County Route 103 (Tompkins County, New York)|CR&nbsp;103]] (Groton City Road). From here, NY&nbsp;222 continues on a generally southeasterly alignment along the base of a rural valley to the [[Tompkins County, New York|Tompkins]]–[[Cortland County, New York|Cortland]] county line. Now in the town of [[Cortlandville, New York|Cortlandville]], the route loses the Cortland Road name as it curves eastward to match similar turns in the course of the valley. The highway follows a winding course until the surrounding gully empties into the much wider [[Tioughnioga River]] valley, where the route straightens out and intersects with [[County Route 119 (Cortland County, New York)|CR&nbsp;119]] (Sears Road). East of this point, NY&nbsp;222 begins to run northeastward past homes as it approaches [[Cortland County Airport|Cortland County–Chase Field Airport]]. The route provides direct access to the airport and subsequently meets [[New York State Route 281|NY&nbsp;281]] (West Road) at the northeastern tip of the airport property.<ref name="bing" />

[[File:NY222EasternTerminus.jpg|thumb|right|Eastbound on NY&nbsp;222 in Cortland]]
Past NY&nbsp;281, NY&nbsp;222 crosses a commercial section of Cortlandville, passing several strip malls prior to entering the city of [[Cortland, New York|Cortland]]. Now named Groton Avenue, the route slowly curves eastward while traversing a residential part of the city. It passes north of the [[State University of New York at Cortland]], and the campus marks the western edge of downtown Cortland. NY&nbsp;222 becomes a commercialized street again, serving a pair of city blocks before intersecting with [[U.S. Route 11 in New York|US 11]] and [[New York State Route 41|NY&nbsp;41]] (Main Street). US 11 and NY 41 join NY&nbsp;222, and the [[concurrency (road)|concurrency]] between the three routes heads east through downtown as Clinton Avenue. The overlap lasts for just one block, however, as NY&nbsp;222 ends upon intersecting [[New York State Route 13|NY&nbsp;13]] at the next junction. NY&nbsp;13 northbound continues east along Clinton Avenue while NY&nbsp;13 southbound heads south along Church Street on an overlap with US&nbsp;11 and NY&nbsp;41.<ref name="bing" />

==History==
The east–west highway connecting the [[Groton (village), New York|village of Groton]] to the city of [[Cortland, New York|Cortland]] was originally improved to state highway standards as part of three separate projects in the early 20th century. On July&nbsp;10, 1906, the first project was let to rebuild the section between the Cortland city line and Highland Road, a north–south road west of what is now Cortland County&ndash;Chase Field Airport. The road was added to the state highway system on October&nbsp;11, 1907 as [[unsigned highway|unsigned]] State Highway&nbsp;446 (SH&nbsp;446). A contract to improve the part of the Groton–Cortland road leading west from Highland Road to the [[Tompkins County, New York|Tompkins County]] line was awarded on April&nbsp;29, 1912, which was accepted into the state highway system on January&nbsp;8, 1913, as SH&nbsp;996.<ref name="1920book">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Sj4CAAAAYAAJ |author=New York State Department of Highways |title=Report of the State Commissioner of Highways |year=1920 |publisher=J. B. Lyon Company |location=[[Albany, New York|Albany, NY]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Sj4CAAAAYAAJ/page/n220 226], 248, 270 |access-date=December 23, 2012}}</ref>

In Tompkins County, the road was reconstructed as part of a project contracted out on August&nbsp;24, 1916.<ref name="1920book" /> Work on the highway was completed in the early-to-mid-1920s,<ref name="1920book" /><ref>{{cite map |title=Official Map Showing State Highways and other important roads |year=1926 |publisher=[[State of New York Department of Public Works]] |cartography=[[Rand McNally and Company]]}}</ref> and the improved road was added to the state highway system as SH&nbsp;1433.<ref name="1920book" /> The Groton–Cortland state highway did not have a posted route number until the [[1930 state highway renumbering (New York)|1930 renumbering of state highways in New York]], when hundreds of state-maintained highways were assigned a designation for the first time.<ref>{{cite map |title=New York in Soconyland |year=1929 |publisher=Standard Oil Company of New York |cartography=General Drafting}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last=Dickinson |first=Leon A. |title=New Signs for State Highways |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=January 12, 1930 |page=136}}</ref> SH&nbsp;446, SH&nbsp;996, and SH&nbsp;1433 were collectively designated as NY&nbsp;222, which continued east into downtown Cortland by way of locally maintained streets. The alignment of NY&nbsp;222 has not been changed since that time.<ref name="1930map">{{cite map |title=Road Map of New York |year=1930 |publisher=[[Standard Oil Company of New York]] |cartography=[[General Drafting]]}}</ref>

==Major intersections==
{{NYinttop|length_ref=<ref name="2008tvr">{{cite web |url=https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/hds-respository/Traffic%20Volume%20Report%202008.pdf |title=2008 Traffic Volume Report for New York State |date=June 16, 2009 |format=PDF |page=191 |publisher=[[New York State Department of Transportation]] |access-date=February 1, 2010}}</ref>}}
{{NYint
|county=Tompkins
|location=Groton
|area=village
|mile=0.00
|road={{jct|state=NY|NY|38|name1=Main Street&nbsp;/ Cayuga Street|city1=Freeville|city2=Locke}}
|notes=Western terminus
}}
{{NYint
|county=Cortland
|cspan=3
|location=Cortlandville
|mile=9.17
|road={{jct|state=NY|NY|281|name1=West Road}}
}}
{{NYint
|location=Cortland
|lspan=2
|mile=10.43
|road={{jct|state=NY|US|11|NY|41|dir1=north|dir2=north|name2=Main Street}}
|type=concur
|notes=Western terminus of US&nbsp;11&nbsp;/ NY&nbsp;41&nbsp;/ NY&nbsp;222 [[overlap (road)|overlap]]
}}
{{NYint
|mile=10.57
|road={{jct|state=NY|US|11|NY|13|NY|41|dir1=south|dir3=south|name3=Clinton Avenue}}
|type=concur
|notes=Eastern terminus, eastern terminus of US&nbsp;11&nbsp;/ NY&nbsp;41&nbsp;/ NY&nbsp;222 overlap
}}
{{Jctintbtm|keys=concur}}

==See also==
*{{Portal-inline|U.S. roads}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|New York State Route 222}}
{{Attached KML}}
{{NYSR external links|type=N|nyroutes=yes|termini=yes|route=222}}

[[Category:State highways in New York (state)|222]]
[[Category:Transportation in Cortland County, New York]]
[[Category:Transportation in Tompkins County, New York]]