| County Route 21 | ||||
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| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by SCDPW | ||||
| Length: | 11.75 mi[1] (18.91 km) | |||
| Existed: | 1930 – present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end: | NY 27 in Brookhaven | |||
| CR 16 in Brookhaven I-495 near Yaphank NY 25 in Middle Island |
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| North end: | NY 25A near Rocky Point | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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Numbered highways in New York
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Suffolk County Route 21 is a north–south county road in Suffolk County, New York. Its southern end is at County Route 16 at its interchange with New York State Route 27 in Brookhaven, and the highway ends at New York State Route 25A in Rocky Point.
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Suffolk County Route 21 ends at Montauk Highway, although this portion of the road was severed by Sunrise Highway. For all intents and purposes as an uninterrupted route, CR 21 ends at Horseblock Road.
As the road leaves Brookhaven, it enters Yaphank, a formerly agrarian area that has been built up by Suffolk County into a government office center, which includes the Suffolk County Police Department headquarters, and one of the main county jails. In conjunction with the development of this zone, County Route 21 was widened in the mid-1970s. This project included a bridge over the Long Island Railroad Main Line as well as some local streets, one of which leads directly to Yaphank Station. North of the tracks, the Suffolk County Almshouse Barn can be found west of the road, as well as the former Suffolk County Sanitorium, and other county government buildings. In this area, County Route 21 also crosses Interstate 495 (New York), which was built through the existing road in the late 1960s. The interchange here was not finished until the year 2000, when a westbound on-ramp and eastbound off-ramp were added.
North of the Long Island Expressway, Yaphank Avenue runs on top of the dam for Lower Yaphank Lake before its terminus at East Main Street. Here the historic Homan-Gerard House and Mills can be found on the southeast corner, while the former Yaphank Garage can be found on the southwest corner. Suffolk County Road 21 makes a left turn at the intersection and proceeds through historic Yaphank. East Main Street leads to another historic Long Island road named Moriches-Middle Island Road, which took residents between Rocky Point and The Moricheses long before the automobile was invented, let alone the Suffolk County Highway System.
Near Upper Yaphank Lake, Suffolk CR 21 intersects with West Main Street, at one of two former Yaphank triangles (the other being at Mill Road & Patchogue-Yaphank Road). At this point, Suffolk County Route 21 resumes its northward heading. Also at this point, a former section of the road is visible on land now owned by the Suffolk County Parks Department. It is visible diagonally across the street from and north of a building formerly owned by New York Telephone.
Suffolk County Route 21 meanders through a variety of landscapes as it heads north to Middle Island, including farmland and forest. It passes close to the Carman's River at this point, particularly in the area of Cathedral Pines County Park. This area was notorious as one of the most deadly stretches of the road until safety improvements realigned and modernized the roadway near East Bartlett Road and again north of Longwood Road.
Another former section of road called "Old Middle Island-Yaphank Road" breaks off to the left near County Route 21's intersection with New York State Route 25. North of State Route 25, the name of the road is changed from Yaphank-Middle Island Road, to Rocky Point-Yaphank Road. The former alignment of the road continues roughly parallel to the newer road, rejoining it near the intersection of Bayliss Road (also known as Bailey Road). Additionally, a former meander in the road is visible on either side of County Route 21 just south of Whiskey Road.
Between Middle Island and Rocky Point, much of Suffolk CR 21 runs through the Rocky Point Natural Resources Management Area, a major conservation area on land once owned by the Radio Corporation of America. This land was once considered the world's largest radio transmitting field.[2] Here, the road is given a second name of Marconi Boulevard. North of the former RCA Labs, Suffolk CR 21 runs between a high school and a housing project, before terminating at New York State Route 25A. North of NY 25A, the road turns into Hallock Landing Avenue as it heads towards the bluffs of the Long Island Sound.
Though Suffolk County Route 21 runs almost the entire breadth of Central Long Island, it does not intersect many major highways. Due to steep public opposition to highway improvements, there are multiple proposed and never-built highways that would have intersected this road:
With the construction of exits 57 N-S along Sunrise Highway, which interrupted original sections of both Horse Block Road and Yaphank Avenue, the new section of Horse Block Road was originally designated Suffolk County Road 21A. This designation was eventually deleted, when it was integrated into part of Suffolk CR 16.