New York State Route 16 (NY 16) is a state highway in western New York, in the United States. It runs from the Pennsylvania state line, where it is one of the highest highways in the state in elevation, to downtown Buffalo. NY 16 is a major route through Erie County, despite the construction of the paralleling NY 400 expressway from East Aurora. In Cattaraugus County it also plays an important role, serving as the major connection from Olean to the Southern Tier Expressway (Interstate 86 or I-86 and NY 17). Between those two areas, and indeed for much of its length, it is a two-lane rural road.
NY 16 initially ended in Olean when it was assigned in 1924. It was extended south to the Pennsylvania state line in the early 1930s; however, it initially overlapped NY 17 east to Portville, where it connected to Pennsylvania by way of modern NY 305. NY 16's current alignment south of Olean was originally designated as New York State Route 16A around this time. NY 16 was rerouted to follow the routing of NY 16A south of Olean in August 1962.
Route description
Cattaraugus County
When PA 646 becomes NY 16 at the state line, it is already at a very high elevation on a ridgecrest, and at a rise two miles (3.2 km) into New York, it reaches in elevation, making it the highest state highway in western New York and among the highest in the state. It remains at a high elevation for several more miles, through what was once one of New York's major oil fields. Afterwards, NY 16 then begins to drop through a narrow valley to cross the Allegheny River and enter its first major community, the city of Olean (which, like several other communities in the region, takes its name from oil). It crosses the city as Union Street, intersecting its first state highway, NY 417, at State Street. Here, ownership and maintenance of NY 16 shifts to the city for six blocks before becoming state-maintained once more at the point where North Union Street heads northwest to serve North Olean.
A mile (1.6 km) north of NY 417, NY 16 reaches a bridge over Olean Creek, a tributary of the Allegheny. On the other side, it becomes a four-lane road with a divider as it approaches NY 17, currently concurrent with I-86 pending the entire expressway's upgrade to Interstate Highway standards. A trumpet interchange provides access to I-86 and NY 17 in both directions in the vicinity of Baldwin Heights. But NY 16 runs parallel to the freeway and remains a four-lane route, although no longer divided, following the Olean valley. At Hinsdale it finally does cross I-86/NY 17. Shortly afterwards, in the hamlet of Maplehurst, NY 446, the former route of NY 408, comes in from the east and terminates.
NY 16 now follows the narrow valley of Ischua Creek, one of the Olean's tributaries, north past the road to the city's airport, in the town of Ischua, north to Franklinville. NY 98 joins NY 16 just south of the village and leaves north of it. NY 16 continues to Machias and the eastern end of NY 242. The highway veers to the northeast in Machias, turning back to the north at the resort hamlet of Lime Lake. A straight course takes the highway from this junction through the village of Delevan and to the Cattaraugus Creek bridge. This bridge heads into Erie County.
Erie County
In the southeastern corner of the county, NY 16 intersects with NY 39. NY 16 then begins heading slightly northwestward through a wider, more developed valley in the towns of Holland and Wales to the first sign of an approaching major metropolitan area, the south end of NY 400, the Aurora Expressway. After joining the expressway for two miles (3 km), it again leaves to become a two-lane that enters East Aurora as Olean Street. At the intersection with Main Street, NY 16 turns left and briefly joins with U.S. Route 20A (US 20A) and NY 78. US 20A leaves the two state routes behind at a fork at the village's east end, leaving NY 16 and NY 78 to head to the northwest again as Buffalo Street. At this point, NY 16 and NY 78 become county-maintained for the next as the unsigned County Route 572 (CR 572). At Willardshire Road as the highway passes the industrial parks and other facilities associated with local company Moog Inc. North of the village, it enters the Town of Elma and becomes Seneca Street, the name it will retain all the way to the city.