New York State Route 344

New York State Route 344 (NY 344) is a state highway located in Columbia County, New York, in the United States. The route is in length and serves primarily as an access road to the Bash Bish Falls state parks on both sides of the New York–Massachusetts border. The western terminus of NY 344 is at NY 22 in Copake Falls. Its eastern terminus is at the Massachusetts state line, where it continues into Bash Bish Falls State Park as Falls Road, a locally maintained highway. NY 344 was assigned and extended to its current length by 1953 after NY 22 was rerouted to bypass Copake Falls. Route description NY 344 begins at an intersection with NY 22 in the hamlet of Copake Falls. The road heads to the southeast, turning eastward into Taconic State Park. NY 344 intersects with a few local roads at the border of the park, where it runs along the south base of Sunset Rock, an high, dual-state mountain. The route continues eastward, along the base of Cedar Mountain before beginning to ascend the mountain. While climbing Cedar Mountain, NY 344 crosses into Massachusetts and becomes the unnumbered Falls Road, a local roadway providing access to Bash Bish Falls State Park. History NY 344 was assigned to a highway extending from Copake Falls in the west to the Massachusetts state line in the east. At the time, NY 22 served Copake Falls directly instead of bypassing it. NY 22 was rerouted to bypass Copake Falls on a new roadway to the west of the hamlet between 1947 and 1953. NY 344 was then extended northward on NY 22's former alignment to meet the new bypass north of Copake Falls. The southern half of NY 22's old routing into the hamlet remained state-maintained as well and is now New York State Route 980F, an unsigned reference route, and is signed on NY 22 as a southern branch of NY 344.