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U.S. Route 20
Cherry Valley turnpike
saved
threat: inappropriate development and economic decline; lack
of coordinated planning
New York State’s segment of U.S. Route
20 developed from Native American trails and New York’s earliest
turnpikes, and linked many small towns across the state. The first
Great Western Turnpike, from Albany to Cherry Valley, is 200 years
old this year. But this scenic old road has been losing its historic
and identifying characteristics since the completion of the New
York State Thruway in 1956. Today, sprawl, development, highway
projects, and changes in the tourist economy and in farming practices
have compromised the character of historic villages and rolling
farmland that make Route 20—our state’s Route 66—such
a scenic cultural landmark.
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