Its northern terminus is at a junction with East Main Street in the city of Rochester, Monroe County.

All of NY 96, except from Candor to Ithaca and from northwest of Victor to Pittsford, was originally designated as part of New York State Route 15 in 1924.

The 2017 route log erroneously shows that NY 96's northern terminus ends at Union Street.

[1] The route follows Southside Drive until its intersection with Court Street, at the western terminus of NY 434.

NY 96 turns onto Main Street for half a block to North Avenue, where it resumes its northward path.

In Trumansburg itself, the highway becomes Main Street and meets the northern terminus of NY 227 in the center of the community.

[citation needed] Midway between the village of Ovid and the hamlet of Romulus, the two routes split, allowing NY 414 to continue due north to Seneca Falls.

NY 96, meanwhile, turns to the northwest, following the eastern edge of the Seneca Army Depot for most of the distance to Romulus hamlet.

Just south of the community's center, NY 96 separates from the depot grounds and continues north through the hamlet and into the town of Varick.

At this point, the scenery surrounding NY 96 shifts from house-lined streets to rural countryside once again, an appearance that follows the road to the northwest through the town of Waterloo and across the county line.

[citation needed] From this point northwestward to Rochester, NY 96 passes through substantially more developed areas.

The first of these is the nearby village of Victor, which NY 96 enters by way of an overpass carrying it over the Ontario Central Railroad.

The route continues on a northwesterly track for another mile (1.6 km) before curving to the north and widening from two to four lanes as it passes under the Thruway near exit 45.

[citation needed] The section of NY 96 between exit 29 and NY 250 in Perinton serves as a major commercial strip, anchored by the presence of Eastview Mall, one of the largest malls in the Rochester area and the largest east of the city.

Also present along this stretch of NY 96 are a series of plazas, beginning with one just north of I-490 featuring a Walmart and a Kohl's.

Continuing northward, NY 96 runs along the eastern edge of Eastview Mall and passes two more plazas.

The highway gradually turns northwest toward the county line as it passes the mall, and crosses into Monroe County at an intersection leading to Eastview Commons, a plaza separated from the mall by high-voltage power lines and a large ditch.

West of the exit, NY 96 parallels I-490 for roughly 1.25 miles (2.01 km), serving several office parks and Powder Mills Park before reconnecting to the freeway at exit 27, located on the southern edge of Bushnell's Basin, a small hamlet located directly on NY 96.

The route continues on, becoming North Main Street as it crosses the Erie Canal and passes under the CSX Transportation-owned West Shore Subdivision.

Just north of the railroad overpass is a junction with the southern terminus of NY 153, the most direct route between Pittsford and nearby East Rochester.

It proceeds northward through the heavily residential town, passing by Nazareth College and meeting the western terminus of NY 31F (Fairport Road) at a junction adjacent to the campus of St. John Fisher University.

East Avenue, and likewise NY 96, takes on the northwesterly, four-lane alignment set by Fairport Road and begins to parallel the routing of I-490 once more as both enter the town of Brighton.

[citation needed] At the Brighton town–Rochester city line, NY 96 passes through the center of the Can of Worms, a complex interchange that links I-490 to I-590.

On the other side of the interchange in Rochester, East Avenue becomes a commercial strip once again, but to a lesser extent than in Victor.

[citation needed] This stretch of the route was narrowed in mid-2010 from four lanes to two, to improve the residential feel and reduce automobile speeds.

[12][15] By 1926, NY 31 was assigned across western and central New York, utilizing Monroe Avenue from downtown Rochester to Pittsford.

The only change made at this time was the straightening out of the Victor–Pittsford segment, which now bypassed Mendon in favor of a more direct alignment between the two villages via Bushnell's Basin.