This is a list of plank roads built and operated by private companies in the U.S. state of New York, mainly in the 19th century.
A vehicle that was drawn by two horses paid 1 and one-half cents per mile, one horse and rider paid half a cent, and pedestrians traveled on the road free.
The law stated that at least five people could come together and form a company with the intent to build a plank road, as long as they circulated a message in at least one newspaper in the county where the plank road would be built saying where people could buy a participating interest in the company.
[3] This was significantly easier than the process before, which involved petitioning the New York State Legislature.
In New York state, under the general incorporation law, from 1847 to 1854, more than 340 plank road building companies were incorporated, building about 3,500 miles of plank roads.