by way of a partial cloverleaf interchange. NY 26 continues northward, meeting NY 17 (Future I-86) at a full cloverleaf interchange, which links NY 26 to the city of Binghamton. Past NY 17, it continues over a bridge crossing the Susquehanna River and enters the village of Endicott on the north bank. Here, NY 26 merges into NY 17C at an interchange just east of the village center. The two routes overlap for several blocks through Endicott, following the two-lane Main Street westward through the village's central business district. At Nanticoke Avenue, NY 26 turns to the north, following the street through the community's northern residential neighborhoods. Outside of Endicott, the homes give way to significantly less developed areas as the highway runs through the Nanticoke Creek valley. After , the route reaches the small hamlet of Union Center, where NY 38B leaves to the northwest toward its parent route, NY 38. Past Union Center, NY 26 slowly turns to the northeast as it traverses the town of Maine, following Nanticoke Creek as it runs through the town center. The waterway splits into two branches just past the hamlet of Maine, and NY 26 stays with the creek's east branch as the route crosses rural parts of the towns of Nanticoke and Lisle. In Lisle, Nanticoke Creek's east branch leads NY 26 into the Tioughnioga River valley, where the route connects to Interstate 81 (I-81) by way of a partial diamond interchange just outside the village of Whitney Point in the adjacent town of Triangle. The highway continues into the community, becoming concurrent with US 11 for a single block to East Main Street. Here, NY 26 splits from US 11 but joins NY 79 in order to cross the Tioughnioga River. The overlap ends at a junction on the east bank, where NY 79 heads south along the river, and NY 206 begins and heads eastward. NY 26, meanwhile, follows the nearby Otselic River and its surrounding gully as it runs northeastward toward the Cortland County line. Along the way, the highway runs along the east side of Whitney Point Reservoir and serves Dorchester Park, a recreation area overlooking the spillway. Cortland and Chenango counties A rural stretch brings NY 26 to the riverside hamlet of Willet, where it intersects with NY 41. The junction marks the start of a concurrency that runs into the nearby town of Cincinnatus.