New York State Route 13

New York State Route 13 (NY 13) is a state highway that runs mainly north–south for 152.30 miles (245.10 km) between NY 14 in Horseheads and NY 3 west of Pulaski in Central New York in the United States. In between, NY 13 intersects with Interstate 81 (I-81) in Cortland and Pulaski and meets the New York State Thruway (I-90) in Canastota. NY 13 is co-signed with several routes along its routing, most notably NY 34 and NY 96 between Newfield and Ithaca; NY 80 between DeRuyter and Cazenovia; and NY 5 between Chittenango and Canastota.

The most heavily traveled section of the route is the 50-mile (80 km) northeast–southwest section between Horseheads and Cortland. Situated midway between the two locations is the city of Ithaca; here, a small section of NY 13 follows an expressway alignment around much of the city. Much of the route, however, is a two-lane highway that passes through rural areas. When NY 13 was originally assigned in the 1920s, it extended only from Elmira to Cazenovia. It was significantly extended in 1930, stretching from Lindley in the south to Richland in the north. The southern terminus was moved back to Elmira in the 1940s and has been located at various points in the city since then.

Up until 2006, NY 13 began at exit 54 on the Southern Tier Expressway (I-86) southeast of the village of Horseheads. However, as part of the Horseheads Bypass project, NY 13 was extended west into the village to NY 14 along the frontage roads for the expressway. North of I-86, NY 13 heads north through the town of Horseheads as a two-lane freeway before becoming a surface road, paralleling the eastern edge of the village to an intersection with NY 223 near the northern town line. As NY 13 passes out of Horseheads and into Veteran, the amount of development along the roadway becomes sparse, consisting of only small roadside hamlets.

Just before exiting Chemung County, NY 13 turns northeast toward the city of Ithaca several miles to the northeast. The route soon enters the narrow southeastern extents of Schuyler County, where it intersects NY 224 before crossing county lines again, this time into Tompkins County. In the town of Newfield, NY 13 remains largely rural in nature, passing only one significant settlement—the Newfield hamlet of the same name, officially known as Newfield Hamlet—on its way to the town of Ithaca. Shortly after entering the town, the route meets with the concurrent routes of NY 34 and NY 96 at an interchange adjacent to Robert H. Treman State Park, becoming Elmira Road. Both routes join NY 13 north alongside the eastern edge of the park to NY 327, a road largely delimiting the northern extent of the park. The three routes proceed generally northeastward through the town of Ithaca to the vicinity of Buttermilk Falls State Park, where they intersect the south end of NY 13A, an alternate route of NY 13 through western Ithaca, near the former Tutelo village of Coreogonel at the confluence of Buttermilk Creek and the Cayuga Lake inlet. NY 13, NY 34, and NY 96 continue on, directly serving Buttermilk Falls State Park as they pass over the creek and inlet and enter the Ithaca city limits.

At West Clinton Street (NY 96B), the route splits into a one-way pair, with Meadow Street carrying northbound traffic and Fulton Street handling southbound traffic. Due to the configuration of the city street grid, NY 79 overlaps the three-route concurrency on Fulton Street for one block eastbound as it switches from West State Street to West Green Street; no such overlap exists westbound/northbound as NY 79 westbound remains on West Seneca Street, where NY 96 leaves NY 13/34 and joins NY 79. The one-way pair comes to an end near Hancock Street, at which point both directions of the route merge into Meadow Street and continue northeastward through the city as an at-grade roadway. At Dey Street, however, the road becomes a limited-access highway as it heads through the northern extents of the city and partially alongside Cayuga Lake.

Near the northern city line, the roadway connects to East Shore Drive by way of an interchange, at which point NY 34 leaves the expressway to follow East Shore Drive along the lakeshore. NY 13 and NY 34 follow parallel routings into Lansing, where NY 13 curves eastward to interchange with both Cayuga Heights Road and Triphammer Road. Southwest of Ithaca Tompkins International Airport, NY 13 downgrades into a divided highway and meets Warren Road at-grade before reverting into a two-lane roadway as it passes south of the airport and exits the Ithaca area.

NY 13 progresses southeast through western Dryden to meet Dryden Road (NY 366), a street originating in eastern Ithaca. NY 366 joins NY 13 northeast along Fall Creek for little more than 1 mile (1.6 km) before splitting; however, the Dryden Road name remains with NY 13 into the village of Dryden. At the village center, NY 13 meets both NY 38 and NY 392. NY 13 turns north, overlapping NY 38 for three blocks and passing Tompkins Cortland Community College as it exits the village limits on Cortland Road.

At the Tompkins-Cortland County line, NY 13 loses the Cortland Road moniker and becomes unnamed as it heads toward Cortland. Southwest of the city limits, NY 13 breaks to the northeast, with its north-northeastward alignment continuing onward as NY 281. In Cortland, NY 13 becomes Tompkins Street and meets NY 215 (Owego Street) three blocks from an intersection with the overlapping routes of U.S. Route 11 (US 11) and NY 41 at Church Street. All three routes turn north onto Church, creating a three-route overlap that lasts for three blocks through downtown Cortland. At Clinton Road, US 11 and NY 41 turn west while NY 13 curves east for several blocks to an interchange with I-81 at the northeastern edge of the city's downtown district. Here, the Tioughnioga River splits, with NY 13 following the eastern branch northeast out of the Cortland city limits.