This article is about the current alignment of NY 392. For the former alignment of NY 392 in the vicinity of Ithaca, see New York State Route 392 (1936–1974).
The portion of NY392 east of NY215 was originally designated as part of NY90 in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. In the early 1980s, the state of New York assumed maintenance over an east–west county-maintained highway linking NY13 and NY38 in the village of Dryden to NY90 in the hamlet of Virgil. NY90 was truncated to Homer following the acquisition of the roadway, and the new roadway was combined with NY90's former routing from Virgil to Messengerville to create NY392.
Route description
NY392 begins at an intersection with NY13 and NY38 in the village of Dryden. The road quickly leaves Dryden, heading eastward through Tompkins County. NY392, known as Virgil Road, turns to the southeast quickly before turning to the northeast. The area NY392 passes through is mostly rural, consisting largely of cultivated farmlands. After 2 miles (3.2km), NY392 passes into Cortland County.[4]
Now in the town of Virgil, NY392 intersects with County Route127A (CR127A, named West Meeting House Road), a spur route of NY392's predecessor, CR127. It continues northeast, intersecting CR128 (Owego Hill Road) before entering the hamlet of Virgil. Here, it turns eastward at an intersection with NY215 and CR125 (West State Road). Past Virgil, it continues on an easterly routing for 2 miles (3.2km) before curving to the southeast. After another 4 miles (6km), the route turns to the north as it enters the community of Messengerville. Once in Messengerville, NY392 ends at a junction with US11 just west of Interstate81.[4]
History
The east–west highway connecting the hamlets of Virgil to Messengerville in the town of Virgil was originally designated as part of NY90 in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. At the time, NY90 began in Messengerville and headed northwest to Cortland via Virgil.[5] This section of NY90 remained unchanged for the next half-century,[2] save for an April1, 1981, highway maintenance swap that transferred ownership and maintenance of the Virgil–Messengerville segment's easternmost mile from Cortland County to the state of New York.[6]
On April1, 1980, ownership and maintenance of East Main Street and Virgil Road from NY13 and NY38 in the village of Dryden to the Tompkins–Cortland county line was transferred from Tompkins County to the state of New York as part of a highway maintenance swap between the two levels of government. One year later, on April1, 1981, ownership and maintenance of CR127 and the portion of CR128 north of CR127—collectively a single highway linking Virgil Road at the county line to NY90 in Virgil—was given to the state as part of the aforementioned maintenance swap with Cortland County.[6]
Following the second swap, NY90 was truncated northward to Homer. Its former routing between Virgil and Cortland was redesignated as NY215 while its old alignment from Virgil to Messengerville became part of NY392, which also extended westward to Dryden over the newly acquired state highways.[2][3]Reference markers along the Virgil–Messengerville stretch of NY392 originally read "90" for the highway's former designation;[7] however, they have since been replaced with markers reading "392".[1]