Western
New York refers to the westernmost region of New
York State. It includes the cities of Buffalo, Rochester,
Niagara Falls, Lockport, Batavia, Olean, Geneva, Canandaigua,
Salamanca, Dunkirk, North Tonawanda, Lackawanna, Tonawanda
and Jamestown. Some historians, scholars and others consider
the Western New York border to be at the Monroe–Orleans
County line. However many in the region consider Western
New York's easternmost county to be Wayne County.
While Western New York is part of Upstate
New York, the term "Western New York" is used
to distinguish the western part of the state from the rest
of Upstate New York. Western New York consists of 12 western
counties in New York State: Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua,
Erie, Genesee, Orleans, Niagara, Wyoming, Monroe, Wayne,
Livingston and Ontario.
Barges on the Genesee River in RochesterWestern New York
has three "sub-regions". The mountainous southern
regions of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties
make up a "sub-region" known as "The Southern
Tier" or simply "The Southerntier" which
can be considered part of Appalachia This portion of western
New York overlaps with a broader Southern Tier that takes
up most of the counties along the New York-Pennsylvania
border. Another local region commonly referred to is the
Niagara Frontier, the name of which dates back to America's
Colonial period, when the area surrounding Lakes Erie and
Ontario, as well as The Niagara River were the point of
the colonies' furthest expansion. To this day, the "frontier"
is sometimes defined as also including part of northeast
Ohio, as well as Pennsylvania's Erie region. A third region
is the Genesse Valley region, which includes Genesse, Livingston
and Wyoming Counties as well as Steuben County (Steuben
County is seldom defined as being part of Western New York).
Western New York can be defined as the
area of upstate New York within the Buffalo and Rochester
television markets. The Buffalo market covers the eight
counties of the Holland Purchase (as well as two counties
in Pennsylvania, each station varies slightly in its coverage)
and the Rochester market covers from Wyoming County northeastward
to Wayne County.
Western New York is served by Interstate
90, Interstate 86 in the Southern Tier and Interstate
390, (the former U.S. Route 15) in the Genesee Region.
The Buffalo Metro area is served by Interstate 190, Interstate
290 and Interstate 990. In addition to being served by
Interstate 390, the Rochester Metro area is also served
by Interstate 490 and Interstate 590. The planned expansion
of the U.S. Route 219 Expressway from Buffalo through
Cattaraugus County will provide another major thoroughfare
in Western New York.
Some traits that differentiate Western
New York from the rest of Upstate New York include people's
use of the word "pop" instead of "soda"
to refer to soft drinks, and the presence of the local
Wegmans grocery stores (although these stores can now
be found in Central New York). Western New York is part
of the Inland North region of American English, which
means it is subject to the Northern Cities vowel shift.
The distinct Buffalo English accent, while bearing a slight
resemblance to other Great Lakes accents, is indigenous
exclusively to the region. Finally, a clear majority of
Western New York sports fans support the Buffalo Bills
and the Buffalo Sabres. Team loyalties of sports fans
in the rest of upstate New York are more divided.
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