NY 116 begins at an intersection with US 202 in the hamlet of Somers, a couple blocks east of the northern terminus of NY 100. The route proceeds east for one block through a mixed-use area as Somerstown Road, a two-lane street, before bending southeast and changing names to Purdys Road as it leaves the community. Outside of Somers, the businesses give way to residences comprising the hamlet of Lake Purdy, a large residential community off the main roadway. At Lake Purdy, the road turns to take a more easterly track into the town of North Salem, where it crosses the Croton River and passes into the hamlet of Purdys. As NY 116 heads toward the community's center, it crosses over the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem Line and serves the hamlet's Metro-North station. After crossing over the tracks, NY 116 immediately intersects with I-684 at its exit 7 and meets with NY 22, which closely follows I-684 through northern Westchester County. NY 116 turns north at the latter junction, overlapping with NY 22 for two blocks across the Titicus River before splitting off to the east on Titicus Road. The route loosely parallels the river to the western end of the nearby Titicus Reservoir, located to the south of NY 116. The highway runs east along the northern shore of the reservoir, bowing slightly to the north as it passes several mansions overlooking the water. Past the reservoir, NY 116 enters the hamlet of Salem Center, a community adjacent to the route's junction with June Road. Outside of Salem Center, NY 116 heads into less developed, mostly wooded areas of the town of North Salem. Not far from June Road, NY 116 meets and becomes concurrent with NY 121, which takes on the Titicus Road name. The two routes head to the northeast for about, serving a handful of homes on the outskirts of the residential hamlet of North Salem. In North Salem itself, NY 121 turns north to follow Peach Lake Road while NY 116 bends to follow a more southeasterly track. NY 116 quickly leaves the hamlet, passing through wooded, sparsely populated sections of the town to reach the Connecticut state line. The highway passes a large farm as it crosses the state line and continues into the town of Ridgefield as that state's Route 116.
History
NY 116 was originally a much longer route when it was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. At the time, it began in Peekskill and followed modern US 202 east to Somers, from where it continued east over its current alignment to the Connecticut state line. In 1934, US 202 was designated and overlapped with NY 116 from Peekskill to Somers. The overlap was eliminated when NY 116 was truncated to its current western terminus in Somers.
