Parkways in New York

State parkways

The state's parkway system originally began as a series of then-high-speed (25 mph) four-lane roads that were created to provide a scenic way into, out of, and around New York City. The first section of this system opened in 1908. Most of the early roads have been replaced and redesigned to address higher speed requirements and to increase capacity. In later sections north of New York City, the roadways were typically divided by a wide landscaped median and provided service areas along the way that offered fuel and restrooms. During the 1930s, urban planner Robert Moses developed a system of parkways in the New York City area.

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). Most are now maintained, if not owned, by NYSDOT outside New York City and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) within New York City.

Today, the state 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, trucks and tractor trailers are banned from parkways. In Manhattan, this has led to nearly all trucks being forced onto local streets as the island has only one short Interstate (the Trans-Manhattan Expressway) passing through Washington Heights, a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan.

List of parkways

Other parkways

Some regions of New York have parkways that are not owned or maintained by a state agency. Westchester County, for example, contains some highways that were originally part of the TSPC and WCPC, while Suffolk County has preserved a section of the former Long Island Motor Parkway (LIMP) for current driving and built their own roads on land originally reserved for the LISPC. The surviving remnant of the LIMP in western Suffolk County, named the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, became a surface road that is no longer an expressway nor off limits to commercial vehicles.

List of parkways

References

References

1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060208041755/http://www.nycroads.com/roads/bronx-river/ nycroads.com Bronx River Parkway]
2. [http://sbiii.com/limppix/limpgate.gif Sam Berlinner's Long Island Motor Parkway page; Map of Toll Booths on Long Island Motor Parkway]
3. [http://www.nycroads.com/history/motor/ nycroads.com Long Island Motor Parkway]
4. [http://www.nycroads.com/history/parkway/ nycroads.com Long Island Parkway System History]
5. (2008). "The World Beyond the Windshield: Roads and Landscapes in the United States and Europe". Ohio University Press.
6. [https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/operating/osss/repository/NYCDOT%20NYSDOT%20Parkways%20Brochure%20October%202009.pdf New York State Department of Transportation - Got Stuck? ]
7. (November 15, 1936). "New Highway Across Long Island To Link North and South Shores". The New York Times.
8. (November 1, 1962). "L.I. Parkway to Open". The New York Times.
9. (June 28, 1971). "Parkway Now Open". The Evening News.
10. (June 2, 1935). "New Local Roads Soon; Meadowbrook Open for Traffic to Beaches". The New York Times.
11. (August 28, 1958). "Palisades Route Will Open Today". [[The New York Times]].
12. "History of the Pelham Parkway".
13. Brooks, Pamela A.. (June 4, 2007). "Missing veterans honored on mountaintop". [[The Post-Star]].
14. (September 29, 1952). "Two Main Long Island Parkways to Be Linked at East Ends Today". [[The New York Times]].
15. (December 24, 1963). "Parkway Section at Yonkers Opens". The New York Times.
16. (April 1, 1957). "L.I. Parkway Link Will Open Today; New Spur Connects Shore and Northern State Parkway". The New York Times.
17. (July 21, 1935). "Road Up Whiteface Opened To Traffic". The New York Times.
18. Panetta, Roger. (2006). "Westchester: The American Suburb". [[Fordham University]] Press.
19. New York State Department of Transportation. (January 2012). "Official Description of Highway Touring Routes, Bicycling Touring Routes, Scenic Byways, & Commemorative/Memorial Designations in New York State".