Parkways in New York State

The New York State Parkway System opened its first section in 1908 and was a series of then-high speed (25 miles per hour (40 km/h)) four-lane roads that were created to provide a scenic way into, out of, and around New York City. The parkway system is still in use today. Most of the early roads have been replaced and redesigned to address higher speed requirements and to increase capacity.

The parkway system introduced the concept of limited-access roads.[1] These highways were not divided and allowed no driveway cuts, but did have intersections for some of the streets they crossed. A small section of the privately financed Long Island Motor Parkway was the first limited-access road to begin operation as a toll road[2] and the first highway to use bridges and overpasses to eliminate intersections.[3]

In later sections north of New York City, the road ways were typically divided by a wide landscaped median and provided service areas along the way that offered fuel and restrooms.[4] Many of these parkways were built by regional agencies such as the Long Island State Park Commission (LISPC), New York City Parks Department, Taconic State Park Commission (TSPC), Westchester County Parks Commission (WCPC), and Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC).

Today, Parkways are for the most part equivalent to expressways and freeways built in other parts of the country, except for a few oddities. First, because many of these roads were either designed before civil engineers had experience building roads for automobile use or widened in response to increasing traffic, many New York parkways lack shoulders. Second, because designers focused more on making routes scenic rather than efficient, the parkways are meandering, often built to follow a river, and so contain many turns. Finally, because most use low, decorative stone-arch overpasses that would trap trucks, commercial vehicles are banned from parkways. Because Manhattan island has only one short interstate passing through the far Upper West Side, this has led to the oddity of forcing all trucking in Manhattan onto local streets.

The Vanderbilt Parkway, an exception in western Suffolk County, is a surviving remnant of the Long Island Motor Parkway that became a surface street, no longer with controlled-access or non-commercial vehicle restrictions.

Contents

State parkways

In Western New York

In the Adirondacks

In the Hudson Valley

In New York City

On Long Island

County and local parkways

Besides those under NYSDOT jurisdiction, many other regions of New York have their own parkways. Westchester County, for example contains some that were originally part of the TSPC and WCPC, while Suffolk County has preserved a section of the former Vanderbilt Motor Parkway for current driving, and built their own roads on land originally reserved for the LISPC.

In Central New York

In the Hudson Valley

On Long Island

References

  1. ^ nycroads.com Bronx River Parkway
  2. ^ Sam Berlinner's Long Island Motor Parkway page; Map of Toll Booths on Long Island Motor Parkway
  3. ^ nycroads.com Long Island Motor Parkway
  4. ^ nycroads.com Long Island Parkway System History

External links