The Northern State Parkway (also known as the Northern State or Northern Parkway) is a controlled-access parkway on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. The western terminus is at the Queens–Nassau County line in Lake Success – west of which the parkway continues westward into New York City as the Grand Central Parkway. The eastern terminus is at New York State Route 347 (NY 347) and NY 454 in Hauppauge, in Suffolk County. As its name implies, the parkway services communities along the northern half of the island. The parkway is designated New York State Route 908G (NY 908G) – an unsigned reference route – and has been ceremoniously named Purple Heart Way since 2011.
In western Nassau County, the parkway features six lanes – three eastbound and three westbound, narrowing to four lanes in central Nassau at the Wantagh State Parkway (exit 33) and continuing east as such to its terminus in Hauppauge, Suffolk County. It was constructed in stages throughout the 1930s and again following World War II, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, until it reached its current terminus in Hauppauge in 1965. The Northern State Parkway is an eastern extension of the Grand Central Parkway. It was part of master planner Robert Moses' extensive road-building campaign and was built as a sister road to the Southern State Parkway. In recent years its design has quickly become dated due to an increase in commuter traffic using the roadway, and numerous improvements have been made (including the widening from four to six lanes in Central Nassau west to the Nassau–Queens line, where it becomes the Grand Central) or are still on paper.
Route description Like its siblings in the State Parkway system on Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and in New York City, commercial truck traffic is banned from the parkway due to low overpasses. The Long Island Expressway (Interstate 495) was built later on by Moses to handle truck traffic traveling between New York City and Long Island's famed East End. The Long Island Expressway runs directly alongside the Northern State in some parts of Nassau County.
Lake Success to Woodbury The Northern State Parkway begins at the Queens–Nassau county line in front of the Towers Country Club in Little Neck, as an eastward continuation of the Grand Central Parkway. After crossing the county line, the Northern State proceeds east through Lake Success as a six-lane parkway, passing the northern end of the campus of Long Island Jewish Medical Center. A short distance east of the medical center, the parkway crosses under Lakeville Road and enters exit 25, which connects to Lakeville Road via Marcus Avenue. The parkway proceeds northeast through Lake Success, entering exit 26 which serves New Hyde Park Road. At this junction, the parkway remains in close distance of the Long Island Expressway (I-495). The parkway winds northeast through North Hills, approaching the eastbound lanes of the Long Island Expressway, but entering exit 27, which connects to Shelter Rock Road (County Route 8).
The Northern State and the Long Island Expressway begin paralleling each other in both directions, passing north of Searingtown. Just east of exit 36 on the expressway, the Northern State breaks away to the east for a short distance through Albertson, entering exit 28, which connects to Willis Avenue. The six-lane parkway continues eastward through Albertson, crossing under a railroad line and entering exit 29, which connects to Roslyn Road. The Northern State then enters Old Westbury, passing a large set of baseball fields. Now paralleling Glen Cove Road, the Northern State proceeds south into exit 30, I.U. Willets Road. A short distance to the south, the parkway enters Wheatley Hills Golf Club and into Carle Place.
Through Carle Place, the Northern State enters exit 31, which connects to NY 25, crossing under NY 25B (Hillside Avenue). Bending east, the parkway crosses over NY 25 (Jericho Turnpike), entering exit 31A, which serves the northern terminus of the Meadowbrook State Parkway in Westbury. After the interchange, the parkway proceeds northeast, passing under Carle Road in Westbury, entering The Hedges section, where exit 32, serving Post Road, interchanges. The Northern State then crosses through Birchwood Knolls and West Jericho as a six-lane parkway, where it enters exit 33, the northern terminus of the Wantagh State Parkway. After crossing under the southbound lane access ramp, the Northern State crosses under a flyover from the Wantagh northbound, then entering exit 34 in the town of Oyster Bay, which serves Brush Hollow Road.
Continuing east through Jericho Gardens, the Northern State Parkway proceeds northeast as a four-lane roadway, passing north of Cantiauge Park as it enters West Birchwood. In West Birchwood, the Northern State bends northeast, beginning a new parallel with the Long Island Expressway. Like at exit 27, approaching the expressway, the Northern State enters interchange 35, which serves the concurrency of NY 106 and NY 107 (North Broadway). After the cloverleaf interchange, the parkway enters East Birchwood on a parallel of the Long Island Expressway, which connects to the Northern State via exit 42. Like the previous parallel, the Northern State forks east away from the expressway, crossing over a one-track railroad line through Birchwood. A short distance after, the parkway enters exit 36, a cloverleaf interchange with South Oyster Bay Road (CR 9) before entering Woodbury.
Woodbury to Commack In Woodbury, the Northern State Parkway continues east, crossing under Woodbury Road before entering a partial cloverleaf interchange with NY 135 (the Seaford–Oyster Bay Expressway). After NY 135, the parkway bends northeast, entering exit 37, which connects to Manetto Hill Road. A short distance after, the parkway enters another interchange with the Long Island Expressway (exit 37A) and an interchange with Sunnyside Boulevard (exit 38). Here, the route enters Trail View State Park before becoming a divided four-lane parkway through dense woods. The parkway makes a gradual bend to the east, then southeast, crossing the county line into Suffolk County just west of exit 39. Now in the town of Huntington, the Northern State enters exit 39, which serves Round Swamp Road.
After exit 39, the Northern State Parkway proceeds eastward as a four-lane freeway, crossing through West Hills County Park, where it winds through dense woods east and southeast through Huntington. Passing north of a cemetery, the parkway enters exit 40, which was formerly a cloverleaf interchange with NY 110 (Walt Whitman Road). After exit 40, the Northern State proceeds northeast, passing south of Whitman Park before bending east once again near Old Country Road. The four-lane parkway becomes divided once again, crossing northeast through Huntington into exit 41, a diamond interchange with Wolf Hill Road. The parkway soon enters the Caledonia section of town, bending eastward under Dix Hills Road as it enters the Arista section of town. The parkway crosses back into Caledonia, entering a partial cloverleaf interchange with Deer Park Road (NY 231 and CR 35). This interchange serves as the northern terminus of NY 231.
After Deer Park Road, the Northern State Parkway bends northeast once again, leaving the Caledonia area before bending southeast as a four-lane parkway. A short distance later, the route enters the Vanderbilt section of Huntington, paralleling north of CR 67 (Vanderbilt Parkway). In Vanderbilt, the parkway enters exit 43, a junction with CR 4 (Commack Road). Immediately after crossing over Commack Road, the large cloverleaf interchange that is Exits 44 and 45 comes in. Exit 44 serves the Sagtikos State Parkway and exit 45 serves the Sunken Meadow State Parkway, which share the same right-of-way. Now in the town of Smithtown, the Northern State enters the hamlet of Commack. Through Commack, the parkway becomes a divided four-lane roadway once again, entering exit 46 eastbound, which connects to New Highway via a service road.
After exit 46, the Northern State Parkway bends northeast, crossing through Mayfair and east of Hoyt Farm Park. The parkway soon crosses under New Highway in Commack, before entering a large interchange with New York State Route 347 and New York State Route 454 (Veterans Memorial Highway). This unnumbered interchange serves as the eastern terminus of the Northern State Parkway, whose northbound lanes merge into NY 347/NY 454 east.
History
Design
Wheatley Hills opposition Designs for the Long Island Parkway system were first brought up in 1925 by Long Island State Park Commission chairman Robert Moses. These designs included a new highway, designated as the "North Parkway"; this new highway was to be a scenic roadway through Wheatley Hills, which was congested during the holiday seasons. Almost immediately, several wealthy residents of the neighborhood wanted the parkway realigned out of their neighborhood. The residents suggested that the North Parkway would damage home values through the Wheatley Hills area, a more centered parkway, designated the "Middle Parkway" would be better to develop, since most of the right-of-way would be along "wasted lands". The new parkway would soon reach the North Shore and Smithtown and would eventually improve the land along it.
Although they opposed the project, the committee developed by Wheatley Hills admitted that local property owners should ignore the case for the good of the general public. On March 6, 1925, the State of New York approved that the land for parks and parkways would not require the consent of the State Land Board, which would help Moses and the commission get land and start clearing the opposition of Wheatley Hills. On May 8, the LISPC held a public announcement of the system for parkways through Long Island, including a Northern State Parkway, connecting from Nassau Boulevard, and the Southern State Parkway, a new parkway from Central Avenue in Valley Stream. Both roads would have right-of-way. The decision to expand the system was brought up by Governor Alfred E. Smith; the roads coming out of Queens are not capable of handling traffic from New York City.
The right-of-way would be bought by Nassau County authorities and the state disapproved the "Middle Parkway" proposal that would bypass Wheatley Hills. The middle alignment would be much more expensive and cross through several larger settlements through the county. Grade crossings could not be eliminated either in design of the new parkway and in general the proposed alignment was not feasible. The route preferred would parallel the former Long Island Motor Parkway through western Nassau County, which turned south near East Williston. The parkway would start paralleling the Motor Parkway again in Suffolk County as the route approached Hauppauge. However, the problems with Wheatley Hills persisted into May 1925, with the Regional Plan Association getting involved in the debates. Smith and the LISPC toured the right-of-way to inspect the new alignment through Wheatley Hills – along with an estate in East Islip that would affect the Northern State; the case had already been brought to courts to prevent the LISPC from taking the estate. Smith stated that the opponents of the new highway should prove to have a serious argument. While Wheatley Hills opposed the project, it was admitted that they had offered to give land for use. An editorial written in the New York Times stated that the circular route that the Northern State Parkway would bring would be stronger in handling traffic than the Middle Parkway.