Erie County is a county along the shore of Lake Erie in western New York State. As of the 2020 census, the population was 954,236. The county seat is Buffalo, which makes up about 28% of the county's population. Both the county and Lake Erie were named for the regional Iroquoian language-speaking Erie tribe of Native Americans, who lived in the area before 1654. They were later pushed out by the more powerful Iroquoian nations tribes.
Amherst is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of Buffalo. As of 2020, the town had a total population of 129,595. This represents an increase from 122,366 as reported in the 2010 census. It is the 14th most populated City/Town in New York.
Williamsville is a village in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 5,423 at the 2020 census. The village is named after Jonas Williams, an early settler. It is part of the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area.
North Tonawanda is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 31,568 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is named after Tonawanda Creek, its south border.
Wheatfield is a town in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 18,117 at the 2010 census. The name stems from the agricultural use of the town lands, the growing of wheat.
Tonawanda is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 72,636. The town is at the north border of the county and is the northern inner ring suburb of Buffalo. It is sometimes referred to, along with its constituent village of Kenmore, as "Ken-Ton". The town was established in 1836, and up to 1903 it included what is now the city of Tonawanda.
Tonawanda Creek is a small tributary of the Niagara River in Western New York, United States. After rising in Wyoming County, the stream flows through Genesee County before forming part of the boundary between Erie County and Niagara County.
Interstate 990 (I-990) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway located entirely within the town of Amherst in Erie County, New York, in the United States. It runs in a roughly north–south direction for 6.35 miles (10.22 km) through the southwestern and central parts of Amherst from an interchange with I-290 north of Buffalo to an intersection with New York Route 263 south of Lockport. The highway serves as a connection between Buffalo, the University at Buffalo, and Lockport. Like I-590 in nearby Rochester, I-990 does not physically meet I-90, its parent Interstate Highway; instead, the highway makes the connection by way of a "sibling" highway (I-290). I-990 is the highest numbered Interstate Highway in the US.
Interstate 290 (I-290) is a 9.8-mile-long (15.8 km) auxiliary Interstate Highway in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. It connects I-190 in Tonawanda with I-90 in Williamsville, via Amherst. It provides a route to Niagara Falls and Canada from the east that bypasses the city of Buffalo. I-290 also connects to I-990 and, through this connection, provides access to the Amherst campus of the University at Buffalo. Its official name is the Youngmann Memorial Highway, but, locally, it is colloquially referred to as "the 290" and "the Youngmann". The highway provides the fastest road link between Toronto and the heavily-populated Northeastern US via I-90.
Church is a Buffalo Metro Rail station located in the 300 block of Main Street in the Free Fare Zone, which allows passengers free travel between Erie Canal Harbor and Fountain Plaza. Passengers continuing northbound past Fountain Plaza are required to have proof-of-payment. Church is the closest to the Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center, located two blocks east at Ellicott and North Division Streets.
New York State Route 324 (NY 324) is an east–west state highway located in the western portion of New York in the United States. Officially, NY 324 begins at NY 384 in Niagara Falls and overlaps Interstate 190 south to Grand Island, where it separates from I-190 and continues southward as Grand Island Boulevard. As signed, however, NY 324 begins at the southern end of the official overlap and is contained entirely within Erie County. At the southern edge of Grand Island, NY 324 joins I-190 to cross over to the mainland, where it runs due east across three towns before reaching its eastern end at a junction with NY 5 in the town of Clarence.
New York State Route 263 (NY 263) is a state highway located entirely within the town of Amherst in Erie County, New York, in the United States. It extends from just north of the northeast corner of the city of Buffalo in a roughly northeast direction almost straight to just south of the north county line. The road is named Millersport Highway north of Eggert Road in Amherst for the community at its northern terminus. The section between its southern terminus at U.S. Route 62 (US 62) and the Eggert Road intersection is named Grover Cleveland Highway.
New York State Route 265 (NY 265) is a 19.75-mile (31.78 km) long state highway located in the western part of New York in the United States. NY 265 is a north–south route that roughly parallels the western parts of the Niagara River in Erie County and Niagara County. For much of its southern course, it is more frequently referred to by its longtime name, Military Road, which dates back to 1801 as a road to connect the city of Black Rock and Fort Niagara near Lake Ontario.
New York State Route 270 (NY 270) is a north–south state highway in western New York in the United States. It runs through rural and wooded areas of the town of Amherst in Erie County and the town of Pendleton in Niagara County. The southern terminus of the route is at an intersection with NY 263 south of the hamlet of Getzville. Its northern terminus is at a junction with NY 31 and NY 93 west of the city of Lockport. The entirety of NY 270 is known as Campbell Boulevard, named after New York State Senator William W. Campbell of the Niagara–Orleans district.
Since the Buffalo Metro Rail light rail was proposed in the 1970s, there have been multiple proposals for expanding the system, which is currently a single 6.4-mile (10.3 km) long line. Public officials, agencies and advocacy groups have created plans, with the most recent and extensive being an extension to the town of Amherst. Groups have formed on both sides of the issue.
The Great Lakes Seaway Trail, formerly named and commonly known as the Seaway Trail, is a 518-mile (834 km) National Scenic Byway in the northeastern United States, mostly contained in New York but with a small segment in Pennsylvania. The trail consists of a series of designated roads and highways that travel along the Saint Lawrence Seaway—specifically, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the Saint Lawrence River. It begins at the Ohio state line in rural Erie County, Pennsylvania, and travels through several cities and villages before ending at the Seaway International Bridge northeast of the village of Massena in St. Lawrence County, New York. It is maintained by the non-profit Seaway Trail, Inc.
The geography of New York (state) varies widely. Most of New York is dominated by farms, forests, rivers, mountains, and lakes. New York's Adirondack Park is larger than any U.S. National Park in the contiguous United States. Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River as it flows from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is a popular attraction. The Hudson River begins near Lake Tear of the Clouds and flows south through the eastern part of the state without draining lakes George or Champlain. Lake George empties at its north end into Lake Champlain, whose northern end extends into Canada, where it drains into the Richelieu River and then the St. Lawrence. Four of New York City's five boroughs are on the three islands at the mouth of the Hudson River: Manhattan Island, Staten Island, and Brooklyn and Queens on Long Island.
New York State Route 356 (NY 356) was an east–west state highway in Erie County, New York, in United States. The final western terminus of the route was at an intersection with U.S. Route 62 (US 62) on the Tonawanda–Amherst town line. Its eastern terminus was at a junction with NY 270 in the Amherst hamlet of Getzville. When NY 356 was first assigned in the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, it began at NY 384 in the city of Tonawanda. It was truncated to US 62 in 1980 and removed entirely on January 7, 1988. The former routing of NY 356 east of the Tonawanda city limits is now maintained by Erie County.
U.S. Route 62 is a part of the U.S. Highway System that travels from the United States–Mexico border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York. In the U.S. state of New York, US 62 extends 102.77 miles (165.39 km) from the New York–Pennsylvania border south of Jamestown to an intersection with New York State Route 104 in downtown Niagara Falls, bypassing the city of Jamestown and serves the cities of Buffalo and Niagara Falls, along with several villages. It is the only north–south mainline U.S. highway in Western New York. US 62 was extended into New York c. 1932 and originally was concurrent with the state highways that had previously been designated along its routing—namely NY 18, NY 60, NY 83 and NY 241. These concurrencies were eliminated individually during the 1940s and 1960s. The last of the four concurrencies, with NY 18 from Dayton to Niagara Falls, was removed c. 1962. US 62 has one special route, US 62 Business, located in Niagara Falls. US 62 Business is a former routing of US 62 within the city and was once NY 62A.
Transportation in Buffalo, New York is dominated by automobile use, but other modes of transportation exist in the city.
