  Route 295 | |||||||
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 Map of Columbia County in eastern New York with NY 295 and MA Route 295 highlighted in red, and NY 980D in blue | |||||||
| Route information | |||||||
| Maintained byNYSDOT andMassDOT | |||||||
| Length | 14.55 mi[1][2] (23.42 km) | ||||||
| Existed | c. 1931[3][4]–present | ||||||
| Major junctions | |||||||
| West end |  NY 66 inChatham village, NY | ||||||
| Major intersections | |||||||
| East end |  Route 41 inRichmond, MA | ||||||
| Location | |||||||
| Country | United States | ||||||
| State | New York | ||||||
| Counties | Columbia (NY),Berkshire (MA) | ||||||
| Highway system | |||||||
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New York State Route 295 (NY 295) is a 12.88-mile (20.73 km)state highway inColumbia County, New York, in the United States. It begins at an intersection withNY 66 in thevillage of Chatham and heads generally easterly to theMassachusetts border in the town ofCanaan, where the road becomesMassachusetts Route 295 for another 1.67 miles (2.69 km) to a junction withRoute 41 inRichmond, Massachusetts. Route 295 is the highest-numbered Massachusetts state highway, and the only state highway that shares its number with another numbered highway in Massachusetts, this beingInterstate 295.
At its western terminus, NY 295 begins atNY 66 in thevillage of Chatham, initially known as Railroad Avenue. As the road changes names to Spring Street, the Stony Kill approaches from the west and roughly parallels NY 295 for much of its duration. Within the hamlet, NY 295 intersects several local roads and a pair of train tracks. The highway proceeds towards the northwest as it passes to the east of a pond, and subsequently intersects theTaconic State Parkway. Upon crossing the state parkway, NY 295 takes a more easterly direction; however, it turns towards the northwest when it reaches New Concord Road. The road intersects theBerkshire Connector of theNew York State Thruway, orInterstate 90 (I-90), and enters thehamlet ofEast Chatham shortly after.[5]
In East Chatham, NY 295 becomes concurrent withCounty Route 9. When the two highways split, NY 295 heads towards the east. Several local highways intersect from the north, while the highway remains routed along the Stony Kill. The road bends towards the southeast intoCanaan, where the Stony Kill turns sharply towards the north, and NY 295 crosses the Queechy Lake Brook. Crossing between two mountains, the highway passes to the southwest ofQueechy Lake, and intersects withNY 22. After a final, brief turn to the east, NY 295 crosses theNew York–Massachusetts border; it continues into Massachusetts as Route 295, a connector road between NY 295 andRoute 41 before terminating.[5]
A completely separate piece of road 0.2 miles (0.32 km) long, south of NY 295 that used to be a part of the original routing, but is now separate as unsigned NY 980D, a reference route, connectingMA 102 to NY 22. It is very short, but used to be part of the NY/MA 295 system before it was rerouted.
The first state route to serve thehamlet ofEast Chatham was NY 204, an east–west route assigned as part of the1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. NY 204 began atNY 66 in Malden Bridge and followed Albany Turnpike Road to East Chatham, from where it continued southeast to theMassachusetts state line by way of a series of roads in the modernI-90 corridor.[3] The route was extended northwest toU.S. Route 20 inNassau by the following year[6] and realigned east of East Chatham to follow what is now NY 295 to a new state line crossing atCanaanc. 1935. The short 1.5-mile (2.4 km) continuation of NY 204 toRoute 41 inRichmond, Massachusetts, was designated as Route 204 around this time.[7][8]
NY 295, meanwhile, was assignedc. 1931 to an alignment extending fromAusterlitz to East Chatham. At the time, the route began at an intersection withNY 203 southeast ofChatham and headed to the northeast, bypassing Chatham to the east on Bushnell and Birge Hill Roads. It joined its modern alignment southwest of East Chatham and followed it into the hamlet, where the route ended at a junction with NY 204.[3][4] The portion of NY 295 south of East Chatham was realigned to follow its current alignmentc. 1938. Around the same time, NY 295 was extended eastward to the state line, replacing part of NY 204. Massachusetts subsequently renumbered Route 204 to Route 295 in order to preserve the number continuity.[9][10] MA 204 was replaced by MA 295 in 1939.[11]
NY 204 was truncated to East Chatham following the extension of NY 295. It remained in this truncated form until it was eliminated entirely in the early 1940s.[12][13] A small segment of NY 204's original routing between the then-proposed routing ofNY 22 and the state line atWest Stockbridge, Massachusetts, became NY 432 after NY 204 was realignedc. 1935. As originally planned, NY 22 would have followed a more westerly alignment throughAusterlitz and Canaan;[7][8] however, the road was ultimately built on a path that supplanted most of NY 432. As such, the NY 432 designation was removed after the new stretch of NY 22 opened in 1940.[12] A small section of NY 432's former right-of-way between NY 22 and the Massachusetts state line is still state-maintained asNY 980D, an unsignedreference route.[14]
| State | County | Location | mi[1][2] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York | Columbia | Village of Chatham | 0.00 | 0.00 | NY 66 (Hudson Avenue) | Western terminus of NY 295 |
| Town of Chatham | 2.70 | 4.35 |  Taconic State Parkway | Access via Birge Hill/Hartigan Roads; exit 102 on Taconic State Parkway | ||
| 4.60 | 7.40 |     ToI-90 Toll /Berkshire Connector | Access via Rock City Road | |||
| Canaan | 11.93 | 19.20 |  NY 22 toI-90 Toll /Berkshire Connector –New Lebanon,Austerlitz | |||
| New York–Massachusetts state line | 12.88 0.00 | 20.73 0.00 | Route transition | |||
| Massachusetts | Berkshire | Richmond | 1.67 | 2.69 | Route 41 –West Stockbridge,Great Barrington,Pittsfield | Eastern terminus of Route 295 |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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