Talk:New York State Route 273

Eastern terminus
I'm completely befuddled regarding the eastern terminus of the route. Virtually every map indicates that it was NY 22A, but there are two fairly significant sources that put that into question. NY 273's description in the 1970 route log is bizarre; it's eastern terminus is given only as "east of Whitehall" with no ending point. No state line, no route. Also, the text in the highway law that describes the 1980 swap describes the state highway that was at least partially NY 273 as beginning at US 4 and ending at the state line. Now, the question is was the portion of the state highway east of NY 22A part of NY 273 or was it just a reference route remnant of something (NY 22A's former routing, old NY 286A)? –  T M F 23:40, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
 * It makes sense if it ended at NY 22A because it's only like 2/10 of a mile from VT east of NY 22A on Greenfield Lane but who knows.— J A 10  Talk • Contribs 06:06, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Hey, long time no see. Well, here's what I've been able to find out: there was a NY-VT 286A in the Hampton area in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Based on an early 1940s Poultney (Vermont) town map, 286A began at NY 286 (modern NY 22A), followed modern CR 20 into Vermont, used Glenville, College, and York Streets in Poultney, reentered New York on Greenfield Lane, and ended at NY 286 in Hampton (Greenfield Lane connected directly to 22A as recently as 1992). I don't believe the 273 and 286A designations existed concurrently; the first map that shows 273 is a 1948 topo map, and by that time 286 was renumbered to 22A. However, the existence of 286A could explain why state maintenance continued to the state line. –  T M F 19:29, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
 * It appears that Greenfield and Campbell Lanes were part of NY 22A as late as 1961. This isn't quite clear either, though; General Drafting consistently drew 22A as bypassing Hampton to the west (odd by itself) from the 1950s onward while Rand McNally always drew 22A as going through Hampton during the same time frame. –  T M F 19:52, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
 * But then there's this topo map, originally drawn in 1946 and revised in 1972. Since the current alignment of 22A near Hampton is in red and not purple, that indicates that it was in place by 1946, which negates the map above. It isn't totally clear whether or not 273 ended at 22A, but I'm leaning toward that it did; the quad to the immediate west of the aforementioned one contains an equally small piece of highway that was definitely 273. There, a 273 marker is placed in the margin while no such notation was made on the eastern quad. Since USGS traditionally puts a marker toward the edge of the quad on routes that continue into adjacent ones (see the others on the Thorn Hill quad for what I mean), I'm going to say that 273 did not continue to the Vermont state line even though state maintenance did. –  T M F 20:06, 25 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Then again, in another bizarre twist, the US 4 and VT 4A markers are in red even though the latter did not exist in 1946 (it was still US 4 then). Ah well. My second point above - regarding the placement of markers - still stands. –  T M F 20:11, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

This isn't an end-all, be-all by any means, but the Poultney VT 7.5 minute topo map from 1972 makes no reference to NY 273. Based on the other topos linked above, enough of the physical road is present on the map that a 273 marker would be on the map in some capacity if it went to the state line. I will change the termini in the article to reflect this. –  T M F 04:53, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Finally found a source three years later that kind of puts this issue to bed. A 1948 article discussing changes to the state highway system that took effect on New Year's Day 1949 explicitly mentions NY 273 as a new route running from Whitehall to the Vermont state line. It might have been truncated to NY 22A at a later time, but it seems unlikely to me considering that the extension to VT was still state-owned in 1980. –  T M F  (talk) 05:07, 26 December 2012 (UTC)