County Route 51 (Suffolk County, New York)

Infobox NY County Route
county=Suffolk
route=51
road_name=East Moriches-Riverhead Road
length_mi=8.68
length_round=
length_ref= [ [http://www.greaternyroads.info/pdfs/suffcr.pdf Suffolk County Department of Public Works] ]
established=
direction_a=South
starting_terminus=
junction= at Wildwood Lake
direction_b=North
ending_terminus=

Suffolk County Road 51 is a major county road in Suffolk County, New York. It runs northeast and southwest from County Route 80 to New York State Route 24 and County Route 94 in Riverhead.

Route description

The road begins at Suffolk County Road 80(Montauk Highway), just north of the eastern terminus of Suffolk CR 98(Frowein Road). It runs along the west side of two local airports; Lufker Airport and Spadaro Airport, where it also crosses the former right-of-way for the Manorville Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. At Sunrise Highway, Suffolk CR 51 is one of the roads served by the incomplete Exit 61. The other one is Suffolk CR 55, which served as part of NY 27 until Sunrise Highway was extended east of the interchange. Suffolk CR 51 became the northern terminus of Suffolk CR 55 in the 1980's.

The road continues northeast through the hills of the Long Island Pine Barrens. A long dirt road named Toppings Path veers to the left heading through preserved state and county land toward Calverton near Exit 71 of the Long Island Expressway. The next site is a Half-Diamond interchange with Suffolk CR 111.

The formerly proposed western extension of Suffolk County Road 105 was supposed to cross Suffolk CR 51 near Bald Hill(not to be confused with Bald Hill in Farmingville), which towers at 302 feet in elevation. The western terminus of a former section of the road is believed to be where part of the interchange was intended. The intersection of Speonk-Riverhead Road(former SCR 88) leads to the Suffolk County Community College Eastern Campus. Northeast of that point, the road literally starts to go downhill.

At Wildwood Lake, there's an at-grade interchange with Suffolk CR 63(Lake Avenue), which used to be part of East Moriches-Riverhead Road. From there the road runs north through Cranberry Bog County Park. It curves northeast again at a plot of land that was originally intended to be the southern terminus of Suffolk CR 103(Cedar Swamp Road), then enters a series of Suffolk County Government buildings where it finally terminates at a traffic circle along New York State Route 24-CR 94 in Riverhead

References

External links

* [http://www.nycroads.com/roads/suffolk_051-075/ Suffolk CRs 51-75 @ NYCRoads.com]