New York State Route 26 (NY 26) is a north–south state highway that runs for through Central New York in the United States. Its southern terminus is located at the Pennsylvania state line south of the town of Vestal in Broome County, where it becomes Pennsylvania Route 267 (PA 267). Its northern terminus is located at a junction with NY 12 in the village of Alexandria Bay in Jefferson County. NY 26 serves three cities along its routing; one directly (Rome) and two via other roadways (Binghamton via Interstate 86 (I-86) and NY 17, and Watertown via NY 3). NY 26 also intersects several other primary routes including I-81 in Barker, an overlap with U.S. Route 20 (US 20) in Madison, NY 12 in Lowville, and an overlap with US 11 in the Jefferson County town of Philadelphia.
NY 26, as a single route, was established in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York; however, portions of the route had been signed state routes since the 1920s. Since 1930, the route has been realigned several times in the North Country, resulting in a modern routing significantly different from its initial alignment. For a brief period during the 1970s, NY 26 ended in Carthage. The truncation directly led to the elimination of one of NY 26's two spur routes, and the second was absorbed by other routes shortly afterward.
Route description
Most of NY 26 is maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT); however, two locally maintained sections exist in Madison and Oneida counties. In Madison County, the route is county-maintained from NY 46 to U.S. Route 20 (US 20), where it overlaps with the unsigned County Route 79 (CR 79). In the Oneida County city of Rome, NY 26 is city-maintained from the north end of its overlap with NY 46 to the northern boundary of the city's inner district.
Broome County
NY 26 begins at the Pennsylvania state line in Vestal, where it connects to PA 267. The road heads northward through Vestal as a two-lane highway, passing Wildcat Hill and Pierson Hill as it runs along the base of a valley surrounding Choconut Creek. It serves mostly rural areas for its first before entering a larger valley encompassing the Susquehanna River. Here, the route widens to four lanes as it enters the densely populated town center of Vestal and connects to NY 434 by way of a partial cloverleaf interchange. NY 26 continues northward, meeting NY 17 (Future I-86) at a full cloverleaf interchange, which links NY 26 to the city of Binghamton. Past NY 17, it continues over a bridge crossing the Susquehanna River and enters the village of Endicott on the north bank. Here, NY 26 merges into NY 17C at an interchange just east of the village center.
The two routes overlap for several blocks through Endicott, following the two-lane Main Street westward through the village's central business district. At Nanticoke Avenue, NY 26 turns to the north, following the street through the community's northern residential neighborhoods. Outside of Endicott, the homes give way to significantly less developed areas as the highway runs through the Nanticoke Creek valley. After , the route reaches the small hamlet of Union Center, where NY 38B leaves to the northwest toward its parent route, NY 38. Past Union Center, NY 26 slowly turns to the northeast as it traverses the town of Maine, following Nanticoke Creek as it runs through the town center. The waterway splits into two branches just past the hamlet of Maine, and NY 26 stays with the creek's east branch as the route crosses rural parts of the towns of Nanticoke and Lisle.
In Lisle, Nanticoke Creek's east branch leads NY 26 into the Tioughnioga River valley, where the route connects to Interstate 81 (I-81) by way of a partial diamond interchange just outside the village of Whitney Point in the adjacent town of Triangle. The highway continues into the community, becoming concurrent with US 11 for a single block to East Main Street. Here, NY 26 splits from US 11 but joins NY 79 in order to cross the Tioughnioga River. The overlap ends at a junction on the east bank, where NY 79 heads south along the river, and NY 206 begins and heads eastward. NY 26, meanwhile, follows the nearby Otselic River and its surrounding gully as it runs northeastward toward the Cortland County line. Along the way, the highway runs along the east side of Whitney Point Reservoir and serves Dorchester Park, a recreation area overlooking the spillway.