Southern State Parkway

Southern State Parkway

Southern State Parkway marker

Southern State Parkway
Route information
Length: 25.53 mi[2] (41.09 km)
Existed: 1927[1] – present
Major junctions
West end: Belt Parkway / Cross Island Parkway in Elmont
East end: Heckscher Parkway / Sagtikos Parkway in West Islip
Location
Counties: Nassau, Suffolk
Highway system

Numbered highways in New York
Interstate • U.S. • N.Y. (former) • Reference • County

The Southern State Parkway (also known as Southern State or Southern Parkway) is a 25.53-mile (41.09 km) long limited-access highway on Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. Southern State Parkway travels east from Elmont, in Nassau County, ending at its eastern terminus in West Islip, where Southern Parkway becomes Heckscher Parkway.

Construction of the highway, designed by Robert Moses, began in 1925. The first section of the parkway opened in 1927. It reached its original eastern terminus (Bay Shore Road) in 1949, and was extended to its current eastern terminus (Heckscher State Parkway) in 1962.

Contents

Route description

Overheads at the western end of the parkway.

The western terminus of the Southern State Parkway is at the intersection of the Belt and Cross Island Parkways, in the hamlet of Elmont, Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, adjacent to the border of Queens, a borough of New York City. The eastern terminus is where Southern Parkway intersects with Sagtikos State Parkway at West Islip, Suffolk County, continuing 8.24 miles as Heckscher Parkway, ending at Heckscher State Park. Southern State Parkway comprises the western portion of New York State Route 908M, with Heckscher Parkway occupying the eastern section. Southern State Parkway services communities along the southern half of the island.

Southern State Parkway is noted for its sharp curves. The section of the parkway between exit 17 (Hempstead Avenue) and exit 32 (NY 110) is particularly tortuous, as the lack of adequate acceleration and deceleration lanes and numerous bends in the road have caused a number of fatal accidents, making it one of the more dangerous stretches of highway on Long Island.[3] Roadway improvements in the 1980s, including a continuous median guardrail and enhanced super-elevation of curves have helped to improve safety.

History

Construction began in 1925 under the direction of Robert Moses, for the purpose of improving access to Jones Beach. The land used had originally been a conduit path for water, owned by Brooklyn. The first section of the parkway, eastward from the Queens-Nassau county line, opened in 1927. By 1932, the four-lane, undivided road extended to Suffolk County. Further extensions used more modern road construction principles. It reached its originally planned eastern terminus (Bay Shore Road) in 1949, and its current eastern terminus (Heckscher State Parkway) in 1962. Following the post-war housing boom on Long Island, the parkway was widened and straightened in numerous places to serve commuters traveling at speeds unanticipated when the road was first constructed.[4]

Southern Parkway's first exit at Elmont is numbered 13. Cross Island Parkway once began the exit numbering scheme at the Whitestone Bridge as exit 1 and continued east on Southern State Parkway, before the construction of the Belt Parkway. The Cross Island Parkway's exit numbering scheme was changed to match the Belt Parkway's easterly number progression from the Belt's start at the Gowanus Expressway to the current Cross Island's terminus, now exit 36 at the Whitestone Bridge.

Originally constructed as a four-lane parkway, similar to Northern State Parkway, Southern Parkway was widened in the early 1950s to eight lanes from the city line to Hempstead Lake, and six lanes east of there. Since Southern Parkway was originally conceived as a "linear park" to connect Jones Beach and other state parks with the city, it was built in a meandering style appropriate for the low speeds and traffic density of the day. Stone and concrete arched overpasses were purposely constructed with low clearances for both aesthetic reasons and to ensure that commercial traffic wouldn't be able to use the parkway system.

Of interest is the original route of the Southern State at Hempstead Lake. Before the current fill that carries the present day parkway across the lake was built, traveling east before Eagle Avenue, the parkway veered sharply to the right, continued on what now is the park road in Hempstead Lake Park, crossed the dam at the southern end of Hempstead Lake, and turned sharply left on Peninsula Blvd. The divided section of Peninsula Blvd. next to Hempstead Lake Park is actually the old Southern State Parkway, which was abandoned for a number of years until Nassau County bought the roadway in the late 1940s. Between the Little East Neck Road underpass and Belmont Avenue interchange(exits 37 S-N), the median of the parkway is lined with pine trees, before approaching Belmont Lake State Park.

Just east of exit 32, a service area used to operate beneath the underpass of Suffolk CR 47 (Great Neck Road) until 1985.[4] Exit 32, which is for NY 110, also once included CR 47.[5] Another service area was once located between exits 17 and 18.[citation needed] Lastly, there were once toll booths located on the parkway between exits 13 and 14 near its western terminus at the Cross Island Parkway until 1978, although many road maps covered the toll booths until the early-to-mid-1980s.[4][6]

Exit list

County Location Mile[2] Exit Destinations Notes
Nassau North Valley Stream 0.00 Belt Parkway west Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Cross Island Parkway north Southern terminus of Cross Island Parkway
0.58 13S-N Central Avenue / Linden Boulevard – Valley Stream, Elmont Single exit 13 westbound
1.55 14 North Fletcher Avenue – Valley Stream No westbound exit; to Valley Stream State Park
15A Valley Stream State Park Eastbound exit only
2.23 15S-N Corona Avenue Single exit 15 eastbound; to Franklin Avenue eastbound
Franklin Square 16 Franklin Avenue Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
Malverne Park Oaks 3.56 17S-N Hempstead Avenue – West Hempstead, Malverne
Lakeview 4.72 18 Eagle Avenue To Hempstead Lake State Park
South Hempstead 5.38 19S-N Peninsula Boulevard – Hempstead, Rockville Centre
6.37 20S-N Baldwin Road/Grand Avenue
Roosevelt 7.55 21 Nassau Road – Hempstead, Freeport
North Merrick 8.55 22S-N Meadowbrook Parkway – Jones Beach, Mineola
9.06 23 Meadowbrook Road
9.31 24S-N Merrick Avenue – Westbury, Merrick
North Bellmore 10.60 25S-N NY 106 – East Meadow, Bellmore Serves Nassau University Medical Center
26 Bellmore Road Eastbound exit and entrance
North Wantagh 11.77 27S-N Wantagh Parkway – Westbury, Jones Beach
12.50 28S-N Wantagh Avenue – Levittown, Wantagh
Wantagh 13.35 28A S-N NY 135 – Seaford, Syosset
North Massapequa 13.79 29S-N NY 107 (Hicksville Road) – Hicksville, Massapequa Single exit 29 eastbound
14.94 30S-N Broadway – Massapequa, Farmingdale
15.38 31 Bethpage Parkway north / Linden Street – Massapequa Park, Bethpage State Park Exit B1 (Bethpage Parkway); southern terminus of Bethpage Parkway; no access to Linden Street westbound
Suffolk North Amityville 16.88 32S-N NY 110 – Huntington, Amityville Suffolk County Route 1 NY.svg CR 1 (County Line Road) accessible via exit 32S eastbound.
North Lindenhurst 18.30 33 NY 109 – Farmingdale, West Babylon Same-direction connections only
34 CR 28 (New Highway) Exit only westbound, use NY 109 for re-entry; parclo interchange eastbound
19.03 35 CR 3 (Wellwood Avenue) – Lindenhurst
West Babylon 20.12 36S-N CR 2 (Straight Path) – Lindenhurst, Wyandanch
21.73 37S-N CR 107 (Belmont Avenue) – West Babylon
North Babylon 22.12 38 Belmont Lake State Park Parclo interchange with eastbound loop ramps
23.06 39S-N NY 231 (Deer Park Avenue) – Deer Park, Babylon
West Islip 24.87 40 Robert Moses Causeway south – Ocean Beaches End westbound local/express lane setup—traffic merges into 3 lanes after this exit
41S-N CR 57 (Bay Shore Road) – Bay Shore, Deer Park Begin westbound local/express lane (2–2) setup before this exit
25.53 41A Sagtikos Parkway north – Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park
Heckscher Parkway Continuation beyond Sagtikos Parkway
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

NY-blank (cutout).svg New York Roads portal

External links


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