New York State Route 344

New York State Route 344 or shortly NY 344 is a state highway that runs completely inside of Copake in Columbia County of New York. The highway has a length of 3 km. It runs from the intersection with New York State Route 22 to State Border to Massachusetts in the east. It is used primarily to access to state parks to the Bash Bish Falls on both sides of the border between New York and Massachusetts. In contrast to most State Routes leading into New York to the border with the neighboring state, there is no such road in Massachusetts, as NY 344 in Massachusetts is a non-numbered route. The road continues through the Bash Bish Falls State Park to an intersection with a local road where it ends.

Route description

NY 344 begins at the intersection with New York State Route 22 in the hamlet of Copake Falls and leads first to the southeast, and finally east to the Taconic State Park. NY 344 crosses some local roads and then performs at the foot of Sunset Rocks, a 549 m high mountain on the State Border along. Then it continues eastward, first at the foot of Cedar Mountain and then along this hill before NY 344 ushers in Massachusetts and becomes an unnumbered road.

As Falls Road leads past the waterfalls and the foot of Mount Washington before ending 2.9 km east of the State Border to the intersection with West Street.

History

NY 344 was reported between the beginning and the middle of the 1930s as a 2.47 km long between State Route Copake Falls in the west and the State Border to Massachusetts. At that time the part of today's NY was within 344 and north of Copake Falls part of another routing of the New York State Route 22 NY 344 was extended 1947-1953 to the current length, as NY 22 a further west in the new course of Copake Falls past received. The entire section of the former NY 22 within Copake Falls and Taconic State Park is not currently signposted from the north as an extended NY 344, and from the south as New York State Route 980F out.