End of US highway 4 |  |
 Summa |
|
 | Mileage: in 1989 AASHTO listed a figure of 260 miles for US 4... however, that included the mileage of US 4's associated business route. According to the state subtotals on AASHTO's 1989 spreadsheet, mainline US 4's actual end-to-end total at the time was 256 miles. That closely matches our own 2020 measurement, which yielded 252.7 miles. Want historic mileages? Our handy reference book includes the mileages that were published in all 13 of AASHO/AASHTO's historic route logs (spanning the years 1927 to 1989). |
The east end of US 4 has always been inPortsmouth, but its terminus there has been changed several times over the years. US 4 was an original 1926 route, but it went only as far west as Glens Falls then; this excerpt is from AASHO's April 1927 route log: |  |  c. 1927, Rand McNally |
US 4 probably followed its current corridor as far as downtown Hudson Falls, but instead of continuing south, it was probably directed west on River Street. That becomes Warren Street in Glens Falls, and where that intersects US 9 (Glen Street) is probably where US 4 ended:
 Elbert, July 2006 |  Elbert, July 2006 | Today Warren is NY hwy. 32, which continues to the left with US 9. But back when that was US 4, it ended there. |
At that time, obviously all of US 4 would have been considered an east/west route. But in 1930, NYSDoT unilaterally decided to truncate the US 4 designation at Hudson Falls, and extend it south to its current terminus at East Greenbush (not far outside Albany). AASHO became aware of this in July 1933 and asked NYSDoT for an explanation:
In their reply, NYSDoT apologized but gave no indication they were changing their decision:
AASHO followed up by restating their desire that US 4 should run east-west:
They went on to suggest truncating US 4 at Fort Ann and continuing it westward all the way to Niagara Falls, a routing that was restated in NYSDoT's response:
NYSDoT went on to say that 30 miles worth of the proposed route was not yet improved, and they would not be pursuing a westward extension of US 4. (Interestingly, though, within a year NYSDoT did request that a segment of the aforementioned route be given a US highway designation. It ended up being assignedUS 104, which implies a branch route of US 4.) Later, when NYSDoT began adding directional tabs to their route signs, the entirety of US 4 was signed north/south in their state. So these photos are from the "westernmost" terminus of US 4 (which is actually its south end); here is the last southbound marker, followed by a no-longer-extant "END" assembly: |  Bourey, Sep. 2019 |  Jordan, 2000 (gone as of 2019) |
That was looking south on Troy Road, about a mile south of the interchange with I-90. The towns on the green sign are Schodack Center (1 mile left) and Rensselaer (3 miles right). Beyond that is an assembly giving directions for the US highways that are routed along Columbia Turnpike; here is a close-up: |  Elbert, July 2006 |  Bourey, Sep. 2019 |
These next shots show the signage at the beginning of US 4, as seen from eastbound Columbia Tpk: |  Elbert, July 2006 |  Bourey, Sep. 2019 |
These photos show the beginning of US 4 from the opposite direction...  Kerr, Jan. 2002 |  Bourey, Sep. 2019 | ...and if one turns there, they soon encounter the first northbound confirming marker:  Bourey, Sep. 2019 |
Research and/or photocredits: George Bourey; Chris Elbert; Chris Jordan; Doug Kerr; Robert Mortell; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa
Page originally created 2000;
last updated Apr. 2, 2025.
last updated Apr. 2, 2025.
