U.S. Route 9 in New York

New York City

The concurrency between US 1 and US 9 that began in New Jersey ends at the first exit from I-95 on the George Washington Bridge, when US 9 heads north via 178th and 179th streets to Broadway. Broadway passes through the Washington Heights neighborhood and then into Inwood, the northernmost neighborhood on the island. The region in which US 9 passes through has a large Latino immigrant population.^[13] The northernmost section of the New York City Subway's underground IND Eighth Avenue Line (A train) runs along Broadway between Dyckman Street and Inwood–207th Street stations. On the corner of 204th Street is the Dyckman House, the only original farmhouse left in Manhattan and a National Historic Landmark (NHL).^[14]

Near the island's northern tip, at the intersection with 215th Street, the elevated IRT Broadway–Seventh Avenue Line (1 train) of the New York City Subway joins Broadway. At the very tip of Manhattan, just past Columbia University's Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium, US 9 crosses the Harlem River Ship Canal via the Broadway Bridge, into Marble Hill, the only portion of Manhattan on the mainland. Marble Hill station here is the first of several along US 9.^[12]

At or just south of 230th Street, US 9, still Broadway, enters the Bronx. It draws alongside I-87, here the Major Deegan Expressway, the first of many encounters between the two roads on their northward course. At Van Cortlandt Park–242nd Street station, the subway ends and Broadway runs along the west side of Van Cortlandt Park. The Henry Hudson Parkway interchange a mile (1.6 km) up this stretch adds NY 9A to US 9.^[10]

Westchester County

The northwestern corner of the park marks the city limit and US 9 enters Yonkers, where it is now known as South Broadway. It trends closer to the Hudson River, remaining a busy urban commercial street. In downtown Yonkers, it drops close to the river, becomes North Broadway and NY 9A leaves via Ashburton Avenue. US 9 climbs to the nearby ridgetop runs parallel to the river and the railroad, a few blocks east of both as it passes St. John's Riverside Hospital. The neighborhoods become more residential and the road gently undulates along the ridgetop.^[10] In Yonkers, US 9 passes Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site, which dates back to colonial America.^[15]

It remains Broadway as it leaves Yonkers for Hastings-on-Hudson, where it splits into separate north and south routes for 0.6 miles (0.97 km). The trees become taller and the houses, many separated from the road by stone fences, become larger. Another National Historic Landmark, the Henry Draper Observatory, was the site of the first astrophotograph of the Moon.^[10]

In the next village, Dobbs Ferry, US 9 has various views of the Hudson River while passing through the residential section. The highway passes by the Croton Aqueduct and nearby the shopping district of the village. After intersecting with Ashford Avenue, US 9 passes Mercy College, then turns left again at the center of town just past South Presbyterian Church, headed for equally comfortable Irvington. Villa Lewaro, the home of Madam C. J. Walker (1867–1919), the first African-American millionaire, is along the highway here.^[16] At the north end of the village of Irvington, a memorial to writer Washington Irving, after whom the village was renamed, marks the turnoff to his home at Sunnyside. Entering into the southern portion of Tarrytown, US 9 passes by the historic Lyndhurst mansion, a massive mansion built along the Hudson River in the early 1800s.

North of here, at the Kraft Foods technical center, the Tappan Zee Bridge becomes visible. After crossing over the New York State Thruway and I-87, here concurrent with I-287, and then intersecting with the four-lane NY 119, where NY 119 splits off to the east, US 9 becomes the busy main street of Tarrytown. Christ Episcopal Church, where Irving worshiped,^[17] is along the street. Many high quality restaurants and shops are along this main road. This downtown ends at the eastern terminus of NY 448, where US 9 slopes off to the left, downhill, and two signs indicate that US 9 turns left, passing the Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow, another NHL. The road then enters Sleepy Hollow (formerly North Tarrytown), passing the visitors' center for Kykuit, the NHL that was (and partially still is) the Rockefeller family's estate.^[10] US 9 then passes historic Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, which includes the resting place of Washington Irving and the setting for "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow".^[18]

US 9 expands to four lanes at the trumpet intersection with NY 117; Broadway finally ends and US 9 becomes Albany Post Road. Entering Ossining's downtown, US 9 becomes Highland Avenue and continues to rise and fall, widen and narrow, through the riverside community.^[10] US 9 passes in close proximity to Sing Sing correctional facility before heading toward Croton.^[19]

Croton Expressway

Just after Ossining, NY 9A returns and merges with US 9 as it crosses the mouth of the Croton River and becomes the 9.2-mile (14.8 km) Croton Expressway. The only section built of the canceled I-487, the highway is generally built to Interstate standards. NY 9A leaves the freeway and returns to two lanes, following the parent route's old course, at the second exit in Croton-on-Hudson, where NY 129 reaches its western end. US 9 passes Indian Point Energy Center, a deactivated nuclear power plant that formerly supplied power to Westchester County and New York City.^[20] The facility is visible from the majority of the northern half of the expressway.^[21]

The expressway veers inland for much of its route, preferring to follow the railroad tracks (the new Cortlandt station is visible to the west at one point), rather than the river past the promontory at Buchanan. NY 9A, as a surface street, ends at its parent at the Welcher Street exit. It continues on a reconstructed, widened section through Peekskill. Despite recent upgrades to freeway standards, the northern end of the highway still maintains a lower 45-mile-per-hour (72 km/h) speed limit.

One mile (1.6 km) from the freeway's northern terminus, US 202 and US 6 join the freeway. NY 35 reaches its western terminus at that same junction. The four-lane freeway's northern terminus is at a stoplight at a three-way intersection with the Bear Mountain State Parkway. The parkway continues straight from this intersection while US 6/US 9/US 202 turns left and crosses Annsville Creek.^[10]

Peekskill to Poughkeepsie

The routes enter the Annsville traffic circle 550 feet (170 m) north of that junction. While US 6 and US 202 remain concurrent and exit the circle on its west side, continuing up the river toward the Bear Mountain Bridge, US 9 exits the roundabout on the northeast side. It continues due north as the two-lane Albany Post Road. Running inland and mostly free of development behind the Hudson Highlands, it enters Putnam County. NY 403 reaches its eastern terminus at the same intersection where the Appalachian Trail crosses the road. The gas station here has, when in service, long been a favorite stop for thru-hikers. A few miles further to the north, at the Indian Brook Road intersection in the Indian Brook Road Historic District, the highway passes through Nelson's Corner, a rare surviving early 19th-century country hamlet. Old Albany Post Road, a 6.6-mile (10.6 km) remnant of US 9's original and one of the oldest dirt roads still in use in the country, comes in from the right a mile (1.6 km) on. The only other intersection of note in Putnam County is its main east–west state route, NY 301, which crosses US 9 several miles further north, just a mile (1.6 km) south of the Dutchess County line.

US 9 passes Dutchess Mall, a dead mall, before passing the historic Van Wyck Homestead Museum. In Fishkill, the route meets I-84. At the Interstate exit, the road expands into a four-lane strip similar to the form it takes in Central New Jersey, complete with much commercial development on both sides. It will remain this way to Poughkeepsie. This stretch is an important, if often congested, transportation artery for the county.^[10]

Just north of I-84, US 9 clips off a corner of the village of Fishkill, where the intersection with NY 52 creates a heavily congested situation at rush hours since traffic going from southbound US 9 to westbound I-84 often uses it as a shortcut. The remaining miles to Wappingers Falls boast many intersections as well but are not quite as heavy.^[10]

In the town of Poughkeepsie, just after the northern terminus of NY 9D, US 9 passes another distressed mall, the Shoppes at South Hills, and its healthier, newer counterpart, the Poughkeepsie Galleria. A mile (1.6 km) further north, NY 113 swings to the west at a cloverleaf interchange near the IBM plant, once the region's major employer. Entering the city of Poughkeepsie, at Sharon Drive, US 9 returns to expressway status once again. Two miles (3.2 km) north of Sharon, the highway connects to the US 44/NY 55 concurrency at an interchange in close proximity to the Mid-Hudson Bridge. This creates some unusual left exits, as traffic from US 44/NY 55 east wanting to go north on US 9 is routed into a U-turn south of the highway, and, likewise, northbound drivers on US 9 must get turned around to go west over the river. The limited-access highway comes to an end at the intersection with NY 9G near Marist College.^[10]

Poughkeepsie to Albany

North of Poughkeepsie, US 9 is at first a busy four-lane undivided route, with occasional turn lanes as it approaches Hyde Park, passing Marist College, the main campus of the Culinary Institute of America and then the home and presidential library of native Franklin D. Roosevelt. It narrows to two lanes at the built-up area that marks the center of town, then opens up a turn lane for traffic entering the third of the town's tourist attractions, Vanderbilt Mansion National Historic Site.^[10]

Past Hyde Park, the road narrows to two lanes again as traffic becomes more local. The area recalls Westchester County with many wooded tracts and stone walls at roadside. Through here, it has been running fairly close to the river, but, after Staatsburg, the highway begins to veer inland again. The land to the west, between road and river, forms the Hudson River Historic District, the largest in the country and another National Historic Landmark. US 9 is at least two miles (3.2 km) east of the river when it reaches Rhinebeck, the next town along the route, where NY 308 heads off to the east,^[10] and close to the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome aviation museum.

At Weys Corners, the X-shaped intersection north of Rhinebeck, northbound traffic to the river and the Kingston–Rhinecliff Bridge via NY 199 typically bears left onto NY 9G. Southbound traffic, in turn, takes NY 199 itself to the river when the two meet in Red Hook three miles (4.8 km) further ahead. Two blocks north of that junction are the Village Diner, originally named the Halfway Diner since it was roughly halfway along US 9 from New York City to Albany, and the Elmendorph Inn, a mid-18th century counterpart to the diner. North of Red Hook, the land around the road begins to open up into farms and fields, offering frequent views of the Catskill Escarpment across the river. This terrain continues into Columbia County, which US 9 enters five miles (8.0 km) beyond Red Hook.^[10]

The road remains two lanes, with mostly local traffic and no stop signs or traffic lights, until the oblique four-way intersection in Bell Pond, 10 miles (16 km) into the county. Here, NY 23 joins US 9 as it heads west, which in turn joins NY 9H on the northern roadway while NY 82 departs to the southeast. US 9 turns northward again toward Hudson, the county seat, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west, in Greenport, passing the Holcim-owned cement plant whose expansion was recently blocked by community activists after seven contentious years.^[10][22]

On the east fringe of Hudson's historic downtown, US 9 intersects the northern terminus of NY 9G and NY 23B. NY 23B runs concurrent with US 9 for a short distance eastward before splitting at Fairview Avenue, which US 9 follows out of Hudson. A commercial strip with turn lane gives way after 1.75 miles (2.82 km) to the lightly traveled rural two-lane US 9 north of Hudson. Near Stockport, US 9 meets the southern terminus of NY 9J. Farther north, after passing through Kinderhook, home of another U.S. president, Martin Van Buren, the road passes under NY 9H at a grade-separated interchange before intersecting the northern terminus of NY 9H a short distance later outside Valatie.^[10] When a developer wanted to add a fifth leg to this intersection for a new shopping center, the New York State Department of Transportation required the developer to convert the signalized intersection to a roundabout, despite heavy local opposition.^[23]

The highway widens to four lanes with a turn lane shortly after crossing into Rensselaer County and will remain so for most of the rest of the way to Albany, despite limited development and low traffic in some areas. Within a mile (1.6 km) of the county line it passes under the New York State Thruway Berkshire Connector and meets the lone section of I-90 in New York not part of the thruway system, at exit 12 southeast of Castleton-on-Hudson. Four miles (6.4 km) north of I-90 and four miles (6.4 km) northwest of Nassau, US 9 veers left to merge with US 20 in Schodack Center, and, together, they progress northwest toward Albany. Less than 0.5 miles (0.80 km) from the eastern terminus of the overlap, US 9 and US 20 intersect NY 150 before connecting to I-90 at exit 11.^[10]

As the roadway heads westward, it meets the western (southern for state purposes) terminus of US 4 across from a Hannaford Brothers Company supermarket along the busy commercial strip in East Greenbush. Shortly afterward, the first sign of the state capital, the Erastus Corning Tower, starts becoming visible. At a bluff east of the river, the entire Albany skyline comes into view as the road descends, passing the northern terminus of NY 9J south of Rensselaer. US 9 and US 20 then cross the Hudson River via the Dunn Memorial Bridge into Albany as Corning Tower and the other buildings of the Empire State Plaza loom ahead, and the two routes separate, with US 20 heading west across the city.^[10]

Albany to Saratoga Springs

After the bridge, US 9 runs under I-787 for several blocks, then takes an offramp past the Albany Pump Station to become Clinton Avenue. There, it intersects the two routes which have paralleled US 9 up the west side of the Hudson. At Pearl Street and the Palace Theatre, it crosses NY 32 (North Pearl Street), which continues north, and US 9W (Lark Street), which ends at the junction. US 9 turns north on Henry Johnson Boulevard and widens to cross I-90 again via a flyover originally built for the canceled Mid-Crosstown Arterial, exiting the city of Albany in the process.^[10]

Just before reaching the northern suburb of Colonie, US 9 returns to two lanes and follows Loudon Road through well-to-do residential neighborhoods past Albany Memorial Hospital and Wolferts Roost Country Club. The short NY 377 forks off to the north while US 9 trends slightly westward. A five-way intersection marks Loudonville. Siena College in Newtonville is on the east side a mile (1.6 km) past the junction, with the Colonie Town Hall opposite.^[10]

Continuing northward into Latham, the highway adds a middle turn lane. NY 155 intersects as the Northway draws near to the west. Beyond, the road expands to four lanes and commercial property resumes. At the Latham Circle, US 9 crosses beneath NY 2. A mile (1.6 km) further north, the expressway portion of NY 7 crosses over for eastbound traffic and then NY 9R goes off to the east, to return two miles (3.2 km) further north. At the junction, US 9 starts to trend eastward again, away from the Northway and finally crosses the Mohawk River into Saratoga County via the Crescent Bridge at the northernmost point of Albany County.^[10]

A new name, Halfmoon Parkway, comes with the change of county, after the town the road runs through. The eastward bent reverses itself as another state route, NY 236 forks off to the north. By the time US 9 reaches the NY 146 junction in Clifton Park, the Northway is right alongside again. The roads continue running parallel courses past Round Lake as NY 67 joins US 9 into Malta, leaving 1.6 miles (2.6 km) later at the center of town for its own exit along the Northway. Another 1.5 miles (2.4 km) to the north, another lettered subroute of US 9, NY 9P, leaves east for Saratoga Lake.

US 9 itself has its first exit with the Northway, its first junction with I-87 since Tarrytown in fact, two miles (3.2 km) north of NY 9P. This full cloverleaf is the main exit for Saratoga Springs. The resort town's historic downtown is four miles (6.4 km) ahead, past Saratoga Spa State and Congress parks. Here, US 9, as South Broadway, begins a concurrency with NY 50 and, later, briefly, with NY 29. NY 9P completes its loop here, and another lettered route, NY 9N, the longest letter-suffixed route in the state, begins at the post office. Tacking eastward out of town, US 9 and NY 50 follow Van Dam Street until US 9 returns to a northerly course on Marion Avenue, which becomes Maple Avenue at the city limit.^[10]

Saratoga Springs to Lake George

Once past the sleeve of development around the highway north of the city, US 9 leaves the Capital District as it gets less developed through Wilton and Moreau. The Palmerstown Range begins to rise on one side, anticipating the mountainous country to come. From the hamlet of Kings Station onward, what is now signed as Saratoga Road follows a straight northeast course for 10 miles (16 km) through more wooded countryside to the entrance to Moreau Lake State Park. A mile (1.6 km) further on, US 9 again intersects the Northway at exit 17.^[10]

Another 1.5 miles (2.4 km) brings it to the western end of NY 197 (Reynolds Road). US 9 continues straight ahead for the next three miles (4.8 km) into the village of South Glens Falls, where NY 32 (Gansevoort Road) comes in at an oblique angle from the south and merges with US 9 to cross the Hudson via the Cooper's Cave Bridge for the last time, leaving Saratoga County and entering the Warren County city of Glens Falls.^[10]

The two routes follow Glen Street to Centennial Circle, a five-legged roundabout in the center of the city's downtown area, where NY 32 leaves to the right via Warren Street and NY 9L takes Ridge Street due north. US 9 continues via Glen to the northwest, becoming Upper Glen Street at the city limit. NY 254 (Aviation Road) comes in from its nearby western terminus at the Northway. The highway remains heavily developed for the next three miles (4.8 km) to a junction with another route beginning at I-87, NY 149. It joins with US 9 briefly before leaving to the east north of the Adirondack–Lake George Outlet Mall. Many vehicles make that turn, as NY 149 is the best route from the Northway into southern Vermont, 30 miles (48 km) to the east.^[10]

US 9 continues to parallel the Interstate. At the Queensbury–Lake George town line, a massive wooden shingle lets drivers know they have crossed the Blue Line into the Adirondack Park. The route straightens out for the next 2.5 miles (4.0 km) into the village of Lake George, a popular tourist destination.^[10]

It takes the name Canada Street, and NY 9N comes in from the west to run concurrently with. The two routes widen to a busy four-lane road past shops catering to a busy tourist trade. Shortly thereafter, NY 9L loops back to the parent route, after having followed the east shore of the lake that gives the village its name. At the northern end of the village of Lake George, NY 9N splits via Lake Shore Drive to follow the western shore, and US 9 itself takes a northwesterly turn to remain parallel with the Northway.^[10]

Adirondack Park

Past Lake George, US 9 enters the Adirondack Park. The next 90 miles (140 km) of the highway runs through the eastern section of the largest protected area east of the Mississippi River, 6,100,000 acres (2,500,000 ha) with vast tracts of Forest Preserve kept "forever wild" per the state constitution. Accordingly, US 9 remains a two-lane rural road, often very close to the Adirondack Northway, a section of I-87, throughout the park. Development, traffic, and population are minimal, the surrounding land is heavily wooded, and the two roads cover very long distances between very small towns.^[10]

After Lake George, there is another exit with the Northway, to ease access to the village by southbound traffic. US 9 remains very close to the Northway on its east side, resulting in another exit four miles (6.4 km) north. This serves Warrensburg, where NY 418 reaches its eastern terminus. The highway begins to move further away from the interstate, and, three miles (4.8 km) further, NY 28 concludes its long bow-shaped route at a junction with US 9.^[10]

Nearly nine miles (14 km) north, at Chestertown, US 9 meets and joins NY 8, which carries it due west almost four miles (6.4 km) to Loon Lake. After crossing over a southwestern bay of the lake, US 9 turns right and is once again on its own, trending northeast alongside the lake's western shore to eventually reach the Northway again in four miles (6.4 km). This exit serves only northbound traffic. A mile (1.6 km) later, there is access to the other direction.^[10]

The road begins to run along the west shore of Schroon Lake, in the process crossing into Essex County. Shortly after the county line, an access road leads to I-87 again. It is seven miles (11 km) from here, past the hamlet of Schroon Lake at the water's northern tip, that US 9 intersects NY 74, like NY 254 and NY 149 fresh off its western terminus at the Northway. Signs at this junction use Ticonderoga, 17 miles (27 km) to the east, as a control city, an indication of how sparsely populated the park is.^[10]

US 9 remains close to the interstate for the next 16 miles (26 km) into the town of North Hudson, where Boreas Road provides access to the Dix Mountain Wilderness Area the southernmost in the Adirondack High Peaks region. The highway again crosses the interstate to connect I-87 to the western terminus of NY 73, the well-traveled scenic route to Keene Valley and Lake Placid. At this ornate junction, US 9 is at 1,155 feet (352 m) above sea level, the highest elevation it reaches along its entire length.^[10]

The right turn takes it again to the northeast past Rocky Peak Ridge and the Giant Mountain Wilderness Area, to the hamlet of New Russia. This 10-mile (16 km) stretch brings the highway to Elizabethtown, the unincorporated county seat and the first settlement US 9 has passed through since Warrensburg. NY 9N comes through town from the west; it and US 9 briefly overlap.^[10]

While the land remains mostly forested as the road continues its northeast course from Elizabethtown, it begins to descend somewhat as the valley of Lake Champlain draws near. US 9 eventually draws close to the Northway again at Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain, the Adirondacks' most popular climbing spot. In Chesterfield, 18 miles (29 km) without a major highway junction are ended when NY 22 joins US 9 after its exit, the first pairing of two highways that begin their journey upstate in New York City.^[10]

The two routes enter Keeseville, where, in mid-village, they cross the Ausable River and enter Clinton County. NY 9N reappears here, reaching its northern terminus. North of the village, the two routes split again and exchange the roles they had been playing for their entire northward journey. US 9 takes the eastward fork to the lake, running close to the state's edge; while NY 22 will run inland from here to the border.^[10]

After Keeseville, US 9 follows AuSable Chasm down to the lake shore. It crosses the Ausable and briefly reenters Essex County long enough for the short NY 373 to provide access to the Burlington–Port Kent Ferry. A third and final crossing takes it out the Adirondack Park.^[10]

Lake Champlain, Plattsburgh, and Canada

After US 9 passes Ausable Marsh Wildlife Management Area and NY 442 comes in from the east at the small hamlet of Peru, US 9 heads down to the shore of the lake itself, which it will stay close to all the way into Plattsburgh as Lakes to Locks Passage. On clear days, it is possible to see Burlington across the water. Ahead lies Valcour Island. In the narrow, rocky strait between it and the shore, Benedict Arnold's hastily built fleet held off the British Army on October 11, 1776, in the Battle of Valcour Island in what is considered the first battle in U.S. naval history. More recent military history is apparent shortly thereafter when US 9 passes now-closed Plattsburgh Air Force Base, a pillar of the regional economy Plattsburgh has struggled to replace.^[10][24]

When it actually enters Plattsburgh, it becomes first U.S. Avenue, then Peru Street when it passes the Old Catholic Cemetery. The Saranac River draws alongside twice before US 9 takes a left turn at Bridge Street and crosses it. Just past the bridge, the highway turns left again onto City Hall Place at the center of town. US 9 passes in front of the City Hall designed by John Russell Pope, also the builder of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC. Two more quick lefts follow past the large obelisk of Riverside Park, onto Miller and Cornelia streets, and then US 9 turns right at the eastern terminus of the lengthy NY 3 to follow Margaret Street north and out of the city.^[10]

It bends northeast to return to the lake shore shortly after the city limit, following alongside Cumberland Bay. At the Dead Creek crossing, US 9 widens to four lanes for the first time since the Albany area to handle the heavy traffic at the junction with the eastern terminus of NY 314, which continues east on County Route 57 (CR 57) to another ferry connector, just southeast of the Northway. 2 miles (3 km) north of the junction, after North Country Shopping Center, the highway returns to two lanes and the name Lakes to Locks Passage as it overlooks Woodruff Pond and Treadwell Bay. I-87 is visible a thousand feet (300 m) to the east across the many open fields as the two roads parallel each other's turns closely.^[10]

Another short route, CR 58, formerly NY 456, comes in from the west and terminates at US 9 shortly after the right turn for Point Au Roche State Park. Continuing northward, the road deviates to the east slightly in the town of Chazy but returns to its previous track by the Interstate at the Little Chazy River bridge. Shortly afterward, US 9 intersects CR 23 (Miner Farm Road, formerly NY 191 west of US 9).^[10]

US 9 runs straight due north, no longer taking another name, three miles (4.8 km) to the next major intersection, NY 9B (Lavalley Road), its last subroute. NY 9B does not terminate but instead runs to the lake shore and eventually north to Rouses Point. A bend slightly to the west, closer to the Northway, brings the next three-mile (4.8 km) stretch to US 9's last major intersection, US 11, just south of Champlain.^[10]

US 9 winds through the quiet border village as its Main Street, turning west-northwest near Champlain's northern boundary to make its last water crossing over the Chazy River. The route, still known as Main Street, heads northwest toward the Northway to follow it for the last 0.5 miles (0.80 km), passing a few customs brokerages toward its official end at the on-ramp to the last exit. Traffic to Canada must get on I-87 here.^[10]

The roadway continues as the East Service Road, unsigned NY 971B, for another 0.46 miles (0.74 km).^[1] This was the former route of US 9 to the border prior to the construction of the Northway. It is devoid of any development save some long vacant and abandoned lots, finally ending in a parking lot 400 feet (120 m) south of the border from which the Canadian customs station at the south end of Autoroute 15 is visible.^[10]