by the end of the decade, many portions of the road were still substandard and some sections had still not been completed. the state outsourced the task of improving and maintaining the genesee road to the seneca road company, chartered by a group of investors led by sanger. the new seneca turnpike was authorized by the state on april 1, 1800, and legislated to run from the village of utica west to the village of cayuga in cayuga county and on to canandaigua in ontario county. the road was, at the time, the longest turnpike in the state. the turnpike was to generally follow the path of the genesee road. through his controlling interest in the company, sanger had the road deviate from the genesee road after crossing the mohawk river in utica to turn southwest through new hartford. this made the village prosper as it benefited from both the commerce brought by the road and the industry supported by the water power of the saquoit. it was not until the completion of the erie canal which followed the mohawk river valley through utica that utica overtook new hartford as the commercial hub of the region.