End of US highway 219

Note: since I don't have access to a comprehensive collection of historical road atlases, much of the info on this page is based on the research of Robert Droz; click here to view his site. Photo credits: H.B. Elkins; Doug Kerr; Jeff Morrison; Alex Nitzman; Adam Prince; Michael Summa; me

US 219 was among the original 1926 routes, though at the time it ran north only to the NY state line north of Bradford PA. In 1934 the north end of US 219 was extended to Hamburg NY (that's just a few miles south of the current terminus, but this was before the modern 219 freeway was built). The photo below shows the signage looking south on Buffalo Street, or US 62:

Kerr, Nov. 2001

Southbound US 62 continues to the right on Main Street, and the north beginning of NY hwy. 391 is to the left on Main. That used to be the north beginning of US 219. As a matter of fact, Doug reported that there were still US 219 signs posted along the entire length of 391 (the other end of which is about 3 miles southeast, at modern US 219 in North Boston).

It was probably during the 1970s that the US 219 freeway serving the Buffalo area was built. Today the north end of US 219 is in Lackawanna, at its interchange with I-90 (also known as the New York State Thruway):

Nitzman, 2001

Above is the sign posted near the point where US 219 merges with the Thruway. The photo below is heading south out of Buffalo on westbound I-90, at the north beginning of US 219:

Morrison, July 2007

Jeff reports that exit actually goes to a collector-distributor road, which parallels I-90 for some distance before splitting off:

Morrison, July 2007

The south beginning of US 219 was originally at its junction with US 40 near Grantsville MD:

me, Feb. 2007

That's looking west on old US 40 (now Alt US 40). US 219 began to the right on what is locally known as Chestnut Ridge Road. In about 1937, US 219 was extended south (left) to its junction with US 19 in Princeton WV. I think US 219 came into town on Mercer Street, and I'm speculating when I say traffic would've been directed west on Honaker Avenue, ending at the next intersection (Walker Street):

Google Maps Street View, 2008

That's looking west on Honaker at Walker. Straight ahead is northbound US 19, while southbound is to the left... that's why I suspect US 219 would've ended here.

In about 1946, US 460 was extended through the Princeton area, and it was multiplexed with the segment of US 219 between there and Rich Creek VA. Then, in the mid-1980s, the south terminus of 219 was truncated to its junction with US 460 at Rich Creek. Heading south on 219, one comes into Rich Creek on Riverside Avenue. At Virginia Avenue (historic US 460), traffic is routed west one block, then south again on Federal Street to today's 4-lane US 460. The photo below is looking south on Federal, at the south end of US 219:

Elkins, June 2001

The assembly in the distance is shown close-up below:

Elkins, June 2001

The photo below shows the south beginning of US 219 as seen from westbound US 460...

Prince, May 2001

...however, that's actually not mainline 219. That's Virginia Avenue off to the right - the road goes about one block that direction, then curves ahead again, joining mainline 219 at Federal (which is three blocks in that direction). US 219 traffic from eastbound 460 is directed onto Federal. The photo below shows how that same assembly used to look, back when they were still using 2-digit blanks:

Summa, 1992

As I said above, US 219 used to be co-signed with 460 about 15 miles further ahead, to Princeton.