Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 20, 2010

New York State Route 174 is a state highway in the county of Onondaga, located in Central New York, United States. The highway is 16.70 mi long and passes through mostly rural regions. Route 174 begins at an intersection with NY 41 in Borodino, a hamlet of Spafford. It heads northward for most of its length, except for short distances in the villages of Marcellus and Camillus. The route ends at a junction with NY 5 west of Camillus, at the west end of the Route 5 Camillus bypass. Route 174 is located along a large mapped sedimentary bedrock unit, known as the Marcellus Formation. The formation is named for an outcrop found near the town of Marcellus, New York, during a geological survey in 1839. The road was first laid out in the early 19th century following the path of Nine Mile Creek, which connected several early settlements in Central New York. The northern half of the route, between the villages of Marcellus and Camillus, was later improved as a plank road in 1855 by a private corporation that collected tolls from travelers on the road. The state took over the maintenance of the road by the beginning of the 20th century. The former plank road and an extension south to Otisco Lake and southwest to Skaneateles Lake was first designated as Route 174 in the 1930 state highway renumbering. (more...)

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