New York State Route 9A

New York State Route 9A
Map of the New York City area with NY 9A highlighted in red
Route information
Auxiliary route of US 9
Maintained by NYSDOT, NYCDOT, MTAB&T and the city of Yonkers
Length:	47.25 mi[1] (76.04 km)
Existed:	1930[2] – present
Component highways:	Henry Hudson Parkway from Riverside South to Riverdale
Restrictions:	No commercial vehicles along Henry Hudson Parkway section
Major junctions
South end:	Battery Place in Battery Park
	FDR Drive in Battery Park City I-478 in Battery Park City I-95 / US 1 / US 9 in Fort Washington Park Henry Hudson Parkway / US 9 in Riverdale Saw Mill River Parkway in Yonkers I-87 / New York Thruway in Ardsley I-287 in Elmsford Saw Mill River Parkway in Mount Pleasant NY 100 / NY 141 in Hawthorne US 9 from Ossining to Croton
North end:	US 9 in Peekskill
Location
Counties:	New York, Bronx, Westchester
Highway system
New York Highways Interstate U.S. State Reference Parkways ← US 9 NY 9B → ← US 6 NY 6B →

New York State Route 9A (NY 9A) is a state highway in the vicinity of New York City in the United States. Its southern terminus is at the northern end of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel in New York City, where it intersects with both the unsigned Interstate 478 (I-478) and FDR Drive. The northern terminus of NY 9A is at U.S. Route 9 (US 9) in Peekskill. It is predominantly an alternate route of US 9 between New York City and Peekskill; however, in New York City, it is a major route of its own as it runs along the West Side Highway and Henry Hudson Parkway. In Westchester County, NY 9A follows the Briarcliff–Peekskill Parkway.

The origins of NY 9A date back to the 1920s when an alternate route of then-NY 6 from Yonkers to Tarrytown was designated as New York State Route 6A. NY 6 was redesignated as US 9 in 1927; however, NY 6A was not renumbered to NY 9A until the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. NY 9A was extended south into New York City in 1934 and north to Ossining in the late 1930s. In 1933, the Briarcliff–Peekskill Parkway opened as New York State Route 404. All of NY 404 was incorporated into an extended NY 9A on January 1, 1949. NY 9A was extended northward to Peekskill in 1967 following the completion of the Croton Expressway and southward to the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel in the mid-1990s.

Route description

NY 9A and NY 100 southbound in Briarcliff Manor

NY 9A begins in Lower Manhattan at the north end of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel (unsigned I-478) and heads north on the surface West Side Highway and Henry Hudson Parkway, crossing US 9 for the first time at the east end of the George Washington Bridge. After crossing into the Bronx via the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority-owned Henry Hudson Bridge, NY 9A proceeds to leave the parkway at exit 23, joining US 9 on Broadway.^[3] The portions of NY 9A between 34th and 72nd streets in Manhattan and from the Henry Hudson Parkway to the New York City line in the Bronx are maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation.^[4][5] The concurrency between US 9 and NY 9A runs for 2.87 miles (4.62 km) within the city of Yonkers.^[1] All of NY 9A within Yonkers is maintained by the city.^[6]

NY 9A separates from US 9 along Ashburton Avenue and heads north as Saw Mill River Road. It parallels the Saw Mill River Parkway through Ardsley and Elmsford, to the west side of Hawthorne. The route meets the southbound New York State Thruway (I-87) at a partial interchange and later meets I-287 (the Cross-Westchester Expressway) at a full interchange that provides a route to the northbound Thruway (I-87).^[7] NY 100 merges with NY 9A to form a 3.11-mile (5.01 km) concurrency^[1] carrying the names Saw Mill River Road and Briarcliff–Peekskill Parkway, parallel to the Taconic State Parkway. NY 9A exits off this highway along the Briarcliff–Peekskill Parkway, while NY 100 continues straight as Saw Mill River Road. NY 9A merges to form a brief concurrency with US 9 as the Croton Expressway in Ossining just south of the Croton River.^[7]

The second concurrency between US 9 and NY 9A runs for 0.65 miles (1 km), with NY 9A leaving the Croton Expressway at Croton Point Avenue in Croton-on-Hudson. The highway heads north along Riverside Avenue and eventually joins old Albany Post Road. After crossing US 9 once more in Cortlandt, NY 9A ends at the Welcher Avenue interchange in southern Peekskill.^[7]

History

Origins

Prior to the establishment of the U.S. Highway System, US 9 was designated as NY 6. An alternate route from Yonkers to Tarrytown was assigned the NY 6A designation by 1926. This ran along the present alignment of NY 9A from Yonkers to north of Elmsford, where it turned west on Old Saw Mill River Road, Neperan Road, County House Road and Bedford Road to end at NY 6 in Tarrytown.^[8] NY 6 was redesignated as US 9 when U.S. Highways were first posted in New York in 1927; however, NY 6A was not renumbered at this time.^[9] It was finally renumbered to NY 9A as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York.^[2]

Tarrytown, including US 9 and NY 9A, in 1938.

New York City initially did not mark numbered routes within its limits.^[10] In 1932, the New York Automobile Club drafted a plan establishing alignments for several routes through the city. In this plan, NY 9A went south through the Bronx and into Manhattan on Broadway while US 9 used Riverdale Avenue north of 230th Street. As a result, the two routes would have had a short concurrency across Spuyten Duyvil Creek. NY 9A would have split to the south on Tenth Avenue at 218th Street in order to join the Harlem River Drive via Nagle Avenue and Dyckman Street. From there it would head west on 155th Street to Amsterdam Avenue, where it would head south to 79th Street, heading west there to rejoin US 9 at Riverside Drive. US 9 would have continued south through lower Manhattan to Staten Island via the Staten Island Ferry; however, it is unclear whether NY 9A would have continued south with US 9 to lower Manhattan.^[11]

The New York Automobile Club released another plan in 1933. This plan made no changes to NY 9A; however, US 9 was changed to use Broadway all the way through the Bronx and to travel to New Jersey by way of the Holland Tunnel.^[12] In the final plan implemented in mid-December 1934, no route was assigned to the Harlem River Drive–Amsterdam Avenue corridor. Instead, NY 9A used what had been planned as US 9, splitting at Broadway and Dyckman Street. NY 9A ran south along the west side of Manhattan on Riverside Drive and the West Side Elevated Highway (detouring around an unfinished section via 57th Street, Eleventh Avenue and 48th Street) to end at the entrance and exit plazas of the Holland Tunnel. US 9 was shifted northward to enter New Jersey via the George Washington Bridge.^[10]

Westchester County

In Westchester County, Saw Mill River Road originally followed the Saw Mill River Parkway corridor from Eastview to Hawthorne. This section of Saw Mill River Road gained a number c. 1931, becoming part of NY 142, a route that began at NY 100 on the Greenburgh–Mount Pleasant town line and followed Grasslands Road, NY 9A, and Saw Mill River Road north to Hawthorne, where it rejoined NY 100.^[13][14] The route went unchanged until it was removed c. 1938.^[15][16] Its former routing was split into two routes—an extended NY 141 north of NY 9A and the new NY 100C along Grasslands Road—by 1940.^[17] NY 9A was extended northward c. 1939 from Tarrytown to Archville, a small hamlet midway between Tarrytown and Ossining, by way of Sleepy Hollow Road.^[18][19]

Farther north, a new highway was built around Ossining from Saw Mill River Road (NY 100) in Briarcliff Manor to US 9 north of Ossining. The highway, known as the Briarcliff–Peekskill Parkway, was completed c. 1933 and initially designated as NY 404.^[20][21] On January 1, 1949, NY 9A was altered to continue north along a slightly realigned Saw Mill River Road from NY 100C near Elmsford to the south end of the Briarcliff–Peekskill Parkway in Briarcliff Manor. At this point, NY 9A left Saw Mill River Road and followed the parkway to its end at US 9, supplanting NY 404. The realignment created a 3-mile (5 km) overlap between NY 9A and NY 100 from Hawthorne to Briarcliff Manor and resulted in the truncation of NY 141 back to its previous terminus in Hawthorne.^[22]

1974 photo of the collapsed section of the West Side Elevated Highway at 14th Street

Construction on the Croton Expressway, the only piece of the failed Hudson River Expressway project that was ever built, began in the mid-1960s.^[23][24] It became part of a realigned US 9 when it was completed by 1967. The former surface routing of US 9 along Albany Post Road between Croton-on-Hudson and Buchanan became a northward extension of NY 9A, which reached the old alignment by way of an overlap with US 9 from the north end of the Briarcliff–Peekskill Parkway to Croton-on-Hudson.^[24]

New York City

NY State Route 9A End sign in Battery Park City.

As the Henry Hudson Parkway replaced Riverside Drive in the mid-1930s, NY 9A was moved onto it, eventually using the new parkway to where it crossed US 9 (Broadway) in the Bronx. Here, NY 9A exited the parkway and ran concurrent with US 9 to the split in Yonkers.^[16][25] The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel connecting Manhattan's Battery Park to Brooklyn was completed in 1950.^[26] By 1960, an extension of the West Side Elevated Highway south to the Manhattan tunnel portal became part of NY 27A,^[27] which had ended in Brooklyn prior to the construction of the tunnel.^[28] On January 1, 1970, NY 27A was truncated on its western end to eastern Nassau County while NY 27 was extended northward over NY 27A's former routing through the Battery Tunnel and the West Side Elevated Highway.^[29]

However, by 1973, NY 27 had been cut back to its interchange with the Gowanus Expressway in Brooklyn while unsigned I-478 was assigned to both the Battery Tunnel and all of the West Side Elevated Highway south of the Lincoln Tunnel. NY 9A was cut back to the Lincoln Tunnel as a result.^[30][31] The extension of I-478 into Manhattan was eliminated following the collapse of part of the Elevated Highway in 1973,^[32] an event which led to the demolition of the highway south of 59th Street. Demolition was completed in 1989.^[33] NY 9A was shifted onto 12th Avenue, one of the surface streets that the Elevated Highway had run atop of, but was otherwise unaffected as the route's south end was initially kept at the Lincoln Tunnel.^[34][35]

In the mid-1990s, NY 9A was extended south to the Battery Tunnel by way of 12th Avenue and two other streets the Elevated Highway had previously run atop of, West Street and 11th Avenue.^[35][36] Construction began in early 1996 on a project to convert the section of NY 9A south of 59th Street into the West Side Highway, a six-lane urban boulevard with a parkway-style median and decorative lightposts. The first of the project's seven segments—between Clarkson and Horatio streets in the Greenwich Village neighborhood—was completed in 1998.^[37] Completion of the project was originally set for October 2001; however, it was delayed for years due to damage caused by the September 11 attacks.^[38] It is expected to be finished by the end of 2013.^[39]

Major intersections

All exits on the Briarcliff–Peeksill Parkway and Croton Expressway are unnumbered.

County	Location	mi[1][40]	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Manhattan	Battery Park	0.00	0.00	–	Battery Place	At-grade intersection; southern terminus of the Joe DiMaggio Highway
	Battery Park City	0.10	0.16	1	FDR Drive north (Battery Park Underpass)- Upper East Side, Roosevelt Island, Randalls Island, Queens	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; southern terminus of the FDR Drive
		0.20– 0.40	0.32– 0.64	2	Hugh L. Carey Tunnel south (I-478) to I-278 – Brooklyn	At-grade intersection except southbound left exit
	Tribeca	1.45	2.33	3	Canal Street east to I-78 (Holland Tunnel) – Chinatown, Little Italy, New Jersey	At-grade intersection
	Greenwich Village	2.43	3.91	4	10th Avenue north – Meat Market	At-grade intersection
	Chelsea	3.32	5.34	5	West 30th Street to Lincoln Tunnel (I-495 west)	At-grade intersection; Lincoln Tunnel exit for cars
	Hell's Kitchen	4.00	6.44	6	West 40th Street / West 42nd Street to Lincoln Tunnel (I-495 west)	At-grade intersection; Lincoln Tunnel exit for all vehicles
		4.66	7.50	7	West 56th Street / West 57th Street	No northbound entrance; no exit number southbound
		4.90	7.89	8	West 59th Street – Ship Terminal	All northbound commercial vehicles must exit
	Riverside South	5.29	8.51	9	West 72nd Street / Riverside Boulevard	Northbound entrance only; exit closed on July 8, 2007[41]
	Riverside Park	5.64	9.08	10	West 79th Street – Boat Basin	Signed as 10A (79th Street) and 10B (Boat Basin) northbound
		6.58	10.59	11[1]	West 95th Street (south) / West 96th Street (north)	Interchange also includes northbound u-turn
	Manhattanville	7.72	12.42	12	West 125th Street
	Hamilton Heights	9.51	15.30	13	West 158th Street
	Fort Washington Park	10.21	16.43	14	I-95 / US 1 / US 9 / West 178th Street – George Washington Bridge, Cross Bronx Expressway, New Haven, Newark, Trenton	West 178th Street not signed southbound
		10.19– 10.99	16.40– 17.69	15	Riverside Drive	No northbound access to northbound Riverside Drive
	Fort Tryon Park	11.69	18.81	16	Fort Tryon Park, Cloisters	Northbound exit and entrance
	Inwood Hill Park	12.07	19.42	17	Dyckman Street
Spuyten Duyvil Creek (Harlem River Ship Canal)		13.04	20.99	Henry Hudson Bridge ($5.00 Toll-by-Mail, $2.44 E-ZPass)
The Bronx	Spuyten Duyvil	13.19	21.23	18	Kappock Street	No entrance ramps
		13.39– 13.69	21.55– 22.03	19	West 232nd Street
	Riverdale	13.84	22.27	20	West 237th Street (south) / West 239th Street (north)
		14.09– 14.49	22.68– 23.32	21	West 246th Street / West 250th Street (north)	No southbound entrance
		14.93	24.03	22	West 254th Street (south) / West 253rd Street (north) / Riverdale Avenue
		14.99	24.12	–	Fieldston Road	Southbound entrance only
		15.34	24.69	23	US 9 south (Broadway) / Henry Hudson Parkway north	North end of concurrency with H.H. Parkway; south end of concurrency with US 9
Westchester	Yonkers	18.21	29.31		US 9 north (Broadway)	Northern terminus of concurrency with US 9
		20.19	32.49		Saw Mill River Parkway north- Elmsford, Mt. Kisco, Danbury, CT	Exit 13 on Saw Mill Parkway
	Ardsley	24.17	38.90		I-87 south / New York Thruway	Exit 7 on I-87 / Thruway
	Greenburgh	25.58	41.17		NY 100B east – White Plains	Western terminus of NY 100B
	Elmsford	28.13	45.27		NY 119 (East Main Street)
		28.41	45.72		I-287- Tappan Zee Bridge, Albany, White Plains	No access from I-287 east; exit 2 on I-287
	Greenburgh–Mount Pleasant town line	29.54	47.54		NY 100C east / Old Saw Mill River Road (CR 303)	Western terminus of NY 100C
	Mount Pleasant	30.94	49.79		Saw Mill River Parkway north	Exit 25 on Saw Mill Parkway
	Hawthorne	32.02	51.53		NY 100 south / NY 141 east to Bronx River Parkway / Sprain Brook Parkway – Hawthorne	Interchange; western terminus of NY 141; southern terminus of concurrency with NY 100
				Southern terminus of the Briarcliff–Peeksill Parkway
	Mount Pleasant	32.22	51.85	–	Saw Mill River Parkway south- Yonkers	Southbound exit only
		33.35	53.67	–	NY 117 – Sleepy Hollow, Pleasantville	Interchange
		34.40	55.36	–	Taconic State Parkway south – New York City	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Briarcliff Manor	35.40	56.97	–	Pleasantville Road	Southbound exit and entrance is shared with NY 100 exit
		35.70	57.45	–	NY 100 north – Millwood	Interchange; northern terminus of concurrency with NY 100
	Village of Ossining	37.50	60.35	–	NY 133
		37.80	60.83	–	Ryder Road	Southbound exit and entrance
	Town of Ossining	38.60	62.12	–	NY 134	At-grade intersection
		38.70	62.28	–	Hawkes Avenue	Northbound exit and entrance
		39.40	63.41	–	Cedar Lane	Northbound exit and entrance
		40.40	65.02	–	US 9 south – Tarrytown, Ossining, Tappan Zee Bridge	Southern terminus of concurrency with US 9
				Briarcliff–Peeksill Parkway merges with the Croton Expressway (US 9)
	Croton-on-Hudson	40.80	65.66	–	Croton Point Avenue – Croton–Harmon Station
		41.50	66.79	–	US 9 north / NY 129 north	Northern terminus of concurrency with US 9; southern terminus of NY 129
				Northern terminus of limited-access section
		42.20	67.91		US 9 / Sensaqua Road	Interchange
	Cortlandt	44.30	71.29		US 9 – Bear Mountain Bridge	Interchange
	Peekskill	47.90	77.09		US 9 / Welcher Avenue – Indian Point	Interchange
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       ETC       Incomplete access       Tolled       Route transition

See also

• U.S. Route 9 Business (now Route 139), which continued NY 9A back to its parent in Jersey City, New Jersey

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New York State Route 9A.

• New York State Route 9A at Alps' Roads • New York Routes
• NYCRoads: Briarcliff–Peekskill Parkway – includes formerly proposed extension off NY 9A
• NY 9A (Greater New York Roads)