Southern State Parkway

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Southern State Parkway
Reference Route 908M
Length: 25.53 mi[1] (41.09 km)
Formed: 1927[2]
West end: Belt Pkwy/Cross Island Pkwy in Hempstead
Major
junctions:		 Meadowbrook Pkwy in North Merrick
Wantagh Pkwy in North Wantagh
NY 135 in Wantagh
Robert Moses Cswy in West Islip
East end: Heckscher/Sagtikos Pkwy in West Islip
Counties: Nassau, Suffolk
Numbered highways in New York
Interstate - U.S. - N.Y. - Reference

The Southern State Parkway (also known as the Southern State or the Southern Parkway) is a 25.53-mile (41.09 km) long east-west limited-access highway on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. The western terminus of the parkway is at an interchange with the Belt and Cross Island Parkways in Hempstead adjacent to the New York City line. The eastern terminus is at the Heckscher State Parkway in West Islip. The Southern State Parkway comprises the western portion of New York State Reference Route 908M (an unsigned reference route assigned by NYSDOT), with the Heckscher occupying the eastern section. As its name implies, the Parkway services communities along the southern half of the island.

Troop L of the New York State Police, based at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale patrol all of Long Island's parkways.

The directional counterpart to the Southern, the Northern State Parkway, runs roughly parallel to the Southern approximately 7 miles to the north. Both of these roads, along with other parkways in New York State, prohibit trucks and other large commercial vehicles.

Contents

[edit] Route description

Overheads at the western end of the parkway.
Overheads at the western end of the parkway.

The parkway runs east-west, as it goes through Belmont Lake State Park and Republic Airport, and has its western terminus at the Nassau-Queens border, where it interchanges with the Cross Island Parkway and Belt Parkway. The parkway provides six lanes of traffic most of the way, with eight lanes of traffic between the western terminus and Hempstead Avenue, 7 lanes (3 westbound, 4 eastbound) to Eagle Avenue and six lanes east of there.

The Parkway's first exit is listed as Exit 13. This is because the Cross Island Parkway once began the exit numbering scheme, which the Southern State Parkway continued. However, the Cross Island Parkway's scheme was changed to instead continue those of the Belt Parkway. To avoid further confusion, the exits of the Southern State Parkway have not been changed.

Originally constructed as a four-lane parkway similar to the Northern State, the highway was widened in the early 1950s to eight lanes from the City line to Hempstead Lake, and six lanes eastward from there. Since the Southern State was originally conceived as a "linear park" to connect Jones Beach with the city, it was built in a meandering style appropriate for the low speeds and traffic density of the day.

Of interest is the original route of the Southern State at Hempstead Lake. Travelling eastbound 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.

The Southern State is notorious to locals, specifically in Nassau County, for its sharp curves. The section of the parkway between Exit 17 (Hempstead Avenue) and Exit 32 (NY 110) is nicknamed "Blood Alley," by locals, as the lack of adequate acceleration and deceleration lanes, numerous bends in the road, and aggressive drivers often travelling at dangerously excessive speeds have caused numerous fatal accidents along that section of the road, making it one of the most dangerous stretches of highway on Long Island.[3]

Holiday travellers during the summer months clog the parkway as they journey to Jones Beach and other ocean parks and resorts such as Fire Island, and the Hamptons. Following the post-war development of Long Island, the Southern State has morphed from a roadway for lazy Sunday drives to a major weekday commuter artery, with the traffic delays to match.

[edit] History

Just east of exit 32, a service area used to operate beneath the underpass of Suffolk CR 47 (Great Neck Road) until 1985.[4] 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.[5][6]

[edit] Exit list

County Location Mile[1] # Destinations Notes
Nassau Hempstead Southern State Parkway westbound becomes the Belt Parkway.
0.00 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).
16 Franklin Avenue Westbound exit, eastbound entrance.
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 State 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 To Nassau University Medical Center.
26 Bellmore Road Eastbound exit and entrance.
North Wantagh 11.77 27S-N Wantagh State 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 State Parkway north/Linden Street – Massapequa Park, Bethpage State Park Exit B1 (Bethpage Pkwy).
Southern terminus of Bethpage Parkway.
No access to Linden Street westbound.
Suffolk North Amityville 16.88 32S-N NY 110 – Huntington, Amityville 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)
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 PRIOR TO THIS EXIT
25.53 41A Sagtikos State Parkway north – Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park
Southern State Parkway eastbound becomes the Heckscher State Parkway.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Traffic Data Report - NY 908F to NY 953B (PDF). NYSDOT (2007-07-16). Retrieved on 2007-08-17.
  2. ^ [Regional Plan of New York and it's Environs; 1929]
  3. ^ State police to crack down on speeders, drunk drivers.
  4. ^ Southern State Parkway @ NYCROADS.com
  5. ^ Southern State Parkway @ NYCROADS.com
  6. ^ H.M.G. New York City & Vicinity Map (1967)

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Parkways in New York City
Manhattan
The Bronx
Brooklyn-Queens
Staten Island
Korean War Veterans (Richmond)
Former: Willowbrook - Proposed: Wolfe's Pond
v • d • e
Parkways on Long Island, New York
East-west
North-south
Formerly proposed