New York State Route 37

Watertown to Ogdensburg

NY 37 begins at an intersection with US 11 just north of Watertown in the town of Pamelia. Between Watertown and Theresa, NY 37 follows a north–south alignment and parallels Interstate 81 (I-81), located just west of NY 37. Southwest of Theresa, I-81 turns to the northwest as NY 37 intersects NY 26 and NY 411, the westward continuation of NY 26. NY 26 joins NY 37 around the western edge of the village before splitting to the northwest a short distance to the north. NY 37, however, continues northward, passing through Redwood before curving northeast as it enters St. Lawrence County.

Across the county line, NY 37 parallels NY 12 to the north as both routes proceed northeast. Roughly 7 miles (11 km) from the county line, NY 37 encounters Hammond, a small village located west of Black Lake. Past Hammond, Route 37 heads north toward Morristown, where it meets NY 12, the primary roadway along the St. Lawrence River's southern bank west of this point. NY 12 ends here; however, NY 37 takes over the routing of NY 12 and proceeds northeast along the edge of the St. Lawrence River. Just east of NY 12, NY 37 meets the northernmost point of NY 58.

Midway between Morristown and Ogdensburg, NY 37 enters St. Lawrence State Park, one of many New York state parks located on the southern bank of the river. The route exits the park and heads northeast to Ogdensburg, where it meets NY 68 (the former routing of NY 37 into Ogdensburg) west of the city. While NY 68 continues into downtown, NY 37 turns eastward, then northeastward and bypasses the city to the south. Near the Ogdensburg International Airport, NY 37 meets NY 812 at an interchange. Here, NY 812 joins NY 37 and the two routes intersect NY 68 once more before leaving Ogdensburg.

Ogdensburg to Massena

Just outside Ogdensburg, NY 812 separates from NY 37 to continue northward to Canada over the Ogdensburg–Prescott International Bridge, where it becomes Highway 16 farther inland. NY 37, however, continues to follow the south bank of the St. Lawrence River, passing Galop Island State Park on its way to Waddington, where it intersects the northernmost point on NY 345. East of the village, NY 37 passes south of the riverside Coles Creek State Park and traverses Coles Creek itself.

In the Louisville hamlet of Louisville Corner (west of Massena), NY 37 departs the St. Lawrence River and intersects the western end of NY 131, a northerly bypass of Massena along the riverbank. Farther east in Massena, NY 37 intersects NY 37B, the former routing of NY 37 through Massena, west of the village before crossing over the Grasse River and intersecting the northern termini of both NY 56 (where NY 37 widens into a four-lane divided highway) and NY 420. NY 37B later rejoins NY 37 east of the village, as does NY 131 directly north of the Massena International Airport.

Eastern St. Lawrence and Franklin counties

East of the airport in the town of Massena, NY 37 begins to parallel the north bank of the Raquette River as it intersects NY 37C near a hamlet named for the waterway. NY 37 and the river continue northeast to the vicinity of the hamlet of Rooseveltown, where NY 37 formerly connected to a large traffic circle linking NY 37 to the Three Nations Crossing as well as County Route 45 (CR 45). The traffic circle has since been replaced with a T-intersection and traffic light because of the expansion of the American Customs facility. Upon crossing into Franklin County and the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation a short distance to the east, the road narrows back to a two-lane undivided highway and crosses over the Raquette River.

Although most of NY 37 in the town of Bombay is contained within the reservation, a short portion east of Hogansburg and the St. Regis River and west of Tarbell Road is located outside the reservation limits. Within this stretch, NY 37 meets both the eastern end of NY 37C and the northern terminus of NY 95. East of the reservation, NY 37 roughly parallels the CSX Transportation-owned Montreal Subdivision northeast to Fort Covington, where NY 37 crosses the railroad line and intersects Water Street (unsigned NY 970T), a connector to Quebec Route 132 on the northern side of the Canadian border.

East of Fort Covington, NY 37 follows a more southeasterly routing as it separates from the northernmost extents of the state. In the Westville hamlet of Westville Center, NY 37 meets the western terminus of NY 122. Farther south, NY 37 enters the village of Malone, where it terminates at US 11, NY 11B and NY 30.

History

The portion of NY 37 from Redwood to Malone was originally part of the Theodore Roosevelt International Highway, an international auto trail connecting Portland, Maine, on the Atlantic Ocean coast to Portland, Oregon, east of the Pacific Ocean. When the first set of posted routes in New York were assigned in 1924, the entirety of the Roosevelt Highway in New York was designated NY 3. In the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, NY 3 was rerouted to follow its current routing between Watertown and Plattsburgh. The former routing of NY 3 along the St. Lawrence River became part of the new NY 37, which utilized a previously unnumbered highway between Watertown and Redwood via Theresa. Initially, NY 37 directly served Theresa by way of modern CR 136, CR 46, and CR 193; however, it was realigned c. 1934 to bypass the village to the west.

When NY 37 was first assigned, it entered Ogdensburg on Main Street (modern NY 68) and exited the city on Ford Street and Proctor Avenue. East of the city, NY 37 used less than 1 mile (1.6 km) of its modern alignment before turning south to follow Van Rensselaer Road to Waddington. The modern, riverside alignment of NY 37 between Ogdensburg and Waddington was designated as NY 37A as part of the 1930 renumbering. In the late 1950s, the alignments of NY 37 and NY 37A were flipped, placing NY 37 on its current routing and NY 37A on Van Rensselaer Road. During the same time period, NY 37 was rerouted to follow a new bypass around the southern edge of Ogdensburg.

In the Massena area, NY 37 originally broke from its modern alignment west of the village and followed what is now NY 37B east to Main Street. Here, it turned south onto Main Street to traverse the Grasse River before continuing east on Orvis Street (and meeting modern NY 37B at Center Street) to reconnect to its current alignment east of the village. Lastly, from modern NY 131 adjacent to the Massena International Airport to Rooseveltown, NY 37 was initially routed on Trippany Road, NY 37C, and Roosevelt Road. In the mid-1950s, construction began on a new southern bypass of Massena that connected to NY 37 at the modern termini of NY 37B. It was completed and opened to traffic by 1958. Work on an eastward, divided highway extension of the bypass to Rooseveltown began c. 1961. The final section, from the hamlet of Raquette River to Rooseveltown, opened to traffic later that year.

Suffixed routes

NY 37 once had as many as four suffixed routes; two have since been removed.