SOUTHERN STATE PARKWAY

The 'Southern State Parkway' (also known as the 'Southern State' or the 'Southern Parkway') is a long east-west limited-access highway on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. The western terminus of the parkway is at an interchange with the Belt and Cross Island Parkways in Hempstead adjacent to the New York City line. The eastern terminus is at the Heckscher State Parkway in West Islip. The Southern State Parkway comprises the western portion of 'New York State Reference Route 908M' (an unsigned reference route assigned by NYSDOT), with the Heckscher occupying the eastern section. As its name implies, the Parkway services communities along the southern half of the island.
Along with the other state parkways on Long Island, the Southern State is patrolled by Troop L of the New York State Police, based at Republic Airport in East Farmingdale. The parkway is infamous for its meandering zigzagging direction. Very little of the highway is built in a straight line, as it was built to avoid wealthy neighborhoods such as Malverne and Valley Stream along with already existing parks, cemeteries and other places (such as Republic Airport).
The directional counterpart to the Southern, the Northern State Parkway, runs roughly parallel to the Southern approximately 7 miles to the north. Both of these roads, along with other parkways in New York State, prohibit trucks and other large commercial vehicles.

Contents

Route description

History

Exit list

References

External links

Route description

The parkway runs east-west, as it goes through Belmont Lake State Park and Republic Airport, and has its western terminus at the Nassau-Queens border, where it interchanges with the Cross Island Parkway and Belt Parkway. The parkway provides six lanes of traffic most of the way, with eight lanes of traffic between the western terminus and Hempstead Avenue, 7 lanes (3 westbound, 4 eastbound) to Eagle Avenue and six lanes east of there.
The Parkway's first exit is listed as Exit 13. This is because the Cross Island Parkway once began the exit numbering scheme, which the Southern State Parkway continued. However, the Cross Island Parkway's scheme was changed to instead continue those of the Belt Parkway. To avoid further confusion, the exits of the Southern State Parkway have not been changed.
The section of the parkway between Exit 17 (Hempstead Avenue) and Exit 32 (NY 110) is nicknamed "Blood Alley," by locals, as the lack of adequate acceleration and deceleration lanes, numerous bends in the road, and aggressive drivers often travelling at dangerously excessive speeds have caused numerous fatal accidents along that section of the road, making it one of the most dangerous stretches of highway on Long Island.^[2]
It is perhaps best known for being clogged with traffic on summer weekends as it is used as the easiest route out of New York City to major Long Island beaches and resorts, such as Jones Beach, Fire Island, and the Hamptons, however, most of the highway, especially in Nassau County usually has heavy congestion during weekday rush hours as well. Unlike the Northern State Parkway and Long Island Expressway, both of which parallel the Southern to the north, the Southern State Parkway does not provide direct access to Manhattan in New York City.

History

Just east of exit 32, a service area used to operate beneath the underpass of Suffolk CR 47 (Great Neck Road).

Exit list

County	Location	Mile1	#	Destinations	Notes
Nassau	Hempstead	Southern State Parkway westbound becomes the Belt Parkway.
		0.00		Cross Island Parkway north	Southern terminus of Cross Island Parkway.
		0.58	13S-N	Central Avenue/Linden Boulevard – Valley Stream, Elmont	Single exit 13 westbound.
		1.55	14	North Fletcher Avenue – Valley Stream	No westbound exit. To Valley Stream State Park
			15A	Valley Stream State Park	Eastbound exit only.
		2.23	15S-N	Corona Avenue	Single exit 15 eastbound. To Franklin Avenue (eastbound).
			16	Franklin Avenue	Westbound exit, eastbound entrance.
		3.56	17S-N	Hempstead Avenue – West Hempstead, Malverne
	Lakeview	4.72	18	Eagle Avenue	To Hempstead Lake State Park
	South Hempstead	5.38	19S-N	Peninsula Boulevard – Hempstead, Rockville Center
		6.37	20S-N	Baldwin Road/Grand Avenue
	Roosevelt	7.55	21	Nassau Road – Hempstead, Freeport
	North Merrick	8.55	22S-N	Meadowbrook State Parkway – Jones Beach, Mineola
		9.06	23	Meadowbrook Road
		9.31	24S-N	Merrick Avenue – Westbury, Merrick
	North Bellmore	10.60	25S-N		To Nassau University Medical Center.
			26	Bellmore Road	Eastbound exit and entrance.
	North Wantagh	11.77	27S-N	Wantagh State Parkway – Westbury, Jones Beach
		12.50	28S-N	Wantagh Avenue – Levittown, Wantagh
	Wantagh	13.35	28A S-N
	North Massapequa	13.79	29S-N		Single exit 29 eastbound.
		14.94	30S-N	Broadway – Massapequa, Farmingdale
		15.38	31	Bethpage State Parkway north/Linden Street – Massapequa Park, Bethpage State Park	Exit B1 (Bethpage Pkwy). Southern terminus of Bethpage Parkway. No access to Linden Street westbound.
Suffolk	North Amityville	16.88	32S-N		CR 1 (County Line Road) accessible via exit 32S eastbound.
	North Lindenhurst	18.30	33		Same-direction connections only.
			34	CR 28 (New Highway)
		19.03	35	CR 3 (Wellwood Avenue) – Lindenhurst
	West Babylon	20.12	36S-N	CR 2 (Straight Path) - Lindenhurst, Wyandanch
		21.73	37S-N	CR 107 (Belmont Avenue) – West Babylon
	North Babylon	22.12	38	Belmont Lake State Park	Parclo interchange with eastbound loop ramps.
		23.06	39S-N	, Babylon
	West Islip	24.87	40	Robert Moses Causeway south – Ocean Beaches	END: WESTBOUND LOCAL/EXPRESS LANE SETUP. TRAFFIC MERGES INTO 3 LANES AFTER THIS EXIT
			41S-N	CR 57 (Bay Shore Road) – Bay Shore, Deer Park	BEGIN: WESTBOUND LOCAL/EXPRESS LANE (2-2) SETUP PRIOR TO THIS EXIT
		25.53	41A	Sagtikos State Parkway north – Sunken Meadow State Park, Kings Park
		Southern State Parkway eastbound becomes the Heckscher State Parkway.

References

1. Traffic Data Report - NY 908F to NY 953B
2. State police to crack down on speeders, drunk drivers

External links

★ Southern State Parkway Article from NYCROADS Web Site

★ Interchange of the Week; Monday, March 19, 2001 (Empire State Roads)