| Wantagh State Parkway | |
|---|---|
| Route information | |
| Length: | 13.33 mi[1] (21.45 km) |
| Existed: | 1927 – present |
| Major junctions | |
| South end: | Ocean Parkway in Jones Beach State Park |
| Southern State Parkway in North Wantagh | |
| North end: | Northern Parkway in Westbury |
| Location | |
| Counties: | Nassau |
| Highway system | |
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Numbered highways in New York |
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The Wantagh State Parkway is a 13-mile (21 km) state parkway on Long Island in New York, in the United States. It links the Ocean Parkway at Jones Beach State Park with the Northern State Parkway in Westbury. The parkway is located approximately 30 miles (48 km) east of Manhattan and 14 miles (23 km) east of the Nassau–Queens border. Construction began in 1927 on this, one of the earliest of the Long Island parkways, with the initial 5-mile (8 km) segment opening two years later connecting Merrick Road in Wantagh to newly opened Jones Beach State Park. It is inventoried by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) as New York State Route 908T (NY 908T), an unsigned reference route.
Contents |
The parkway runs north–south providing four lanes of traffic north of exit W4 (Southern State Parkway) and six lanes south of exit W4. The parkway starts from the south at Jones Beach (where it meets the Ocean Parkway at a traffic circle), and runs through Wantagh, which is a populated suburb of New York City. As the parkway approaches Westbury, it cloverleafs with larger capacity roadways such as Merrick Road, Sunrise Highway (NY 27), the Southern State Parkway, Hempstead Turnpike (NY 24), and Old Country Road before ending at the Northern State Parkway.
The parkway, between exit W6 (Merrick Road) and its southern terminus at Ocean Parkway, is also unofficially known as the Jones Beach Causeway. The exact start of the Jones Beach Causeway is somewhat unclear however with some Hagstrom Nassau County Atlas editions showing it south of Seaman's Creek, and other editions showing the Causeway commencing at the never-built connection with NY 135 just south of exit W6.
From the southern terminus north to Wantagh, a Greenway, repaved in 2007, lies east of the Parkway, allowing bicyclers, skaters and walkers to travel about 3.5 miles (5.5 km) from Cedar Creek County Park to Jones Beach State Park.
The original section of the parkway, then known as the Jones Beach Causeway, opened on August 4, 1929, along with Jones Beach State Park, running from Merrick Road in Wantagh to Jones Beach Island.[2] The parkway was extended northward to Southern State Parkway in July 1932 and to Northern State Parkway in December 1938.[3][4] A formerly proposed extension to Interstate 495 (the Long Island Expressway) has been on the books since the late 1950s.[5]
Upon completion of the southern extension of the Seaford – Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135), Wantagh State Parkway was to be renamed Jones Beach Causeway between NY 135 and Ocean Parkway. Many have erroneously referred to Ocean Parkway as the Jones Beach Causeway.
The entire route is in Nassau County.
| Location | Mile[1] | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jones Beach State Park |
0.00 | Ocean Parkway | Traffic circle | |
| Bay Parkway west | To Jones Beach Marine Theater and West End Beach | |||
| Toll booth (southbound only, only for parking fees for Jones Beach) | ||||
| Wantagh | 5.05 | W6 E–W | Merrick Road | Former CR 27A; all trucks and buses must exit here northbound; trucks and buses may enter here southbound |
| 5.75 | W5 E–W | NY 27 (Sunrise Highway) – New York, Montauk | ||
| North Wantagh | 7.63 | W4 E–W | Southern State Parkway – Great River, New York | |
| Levittown | 9.65 | W3 E–W | NY 24 (Hempstead Turnpike) – Farmingdale, Hempstead | |
| Westbury | 12.12 | W2 E–W | Old Country Road / Country Road – Plainview, Carle Place | Former CR 25 |
| W1 | Brush Hollow Road | Former CR 63; southbound exit and entrance; northbound access via Northern Parkway eastbound | ||
| 13.33 | Northern Parkway – Hauppauge | To Brush Hollow Road | ||
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | ||||
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