Long Island Motor Parkway
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The Long Island Motor Parkway (LIMP), also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway and Motor Parkway, opened its first section in 1908, before the first section of the Bronx River Parkway opened. It was privately constructed on Long Island, New York.
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[edit] History
It was planned by William Kissam Vanderbilt II to stretch for 70 miles as a route in and out of New York City as far as Riverhead, the county seat of Suffolk County, New York, and point of division for the north and south forks of Long Island.
Eventually only 45 miles (from Queens in New York City to Lake Ronkonkoma, New York) would actually be constructed. Construction began in June 1908 (a year after the Bronx River Parkway), and a 10-mile-long section of the parkway opened to traffic in October 1908, making it the first superhighway put into use. The Long Island Motor Parkway was a toll road.
Roadway construction advances of the 1930s rendered the Motor Parkway obsolete less than 20 years after construction. At the same time Robert Moses was planning the Northern State Parkway. Initially the owners and some Long Island officials wanted the Motor Parkway integrated into the state parkway system, despite its narrow roadway and steep bridges not meeting new standards. Robert Moses was against the idea stating the parkway would need significant reconstruction. The completion of the Northern State Parkway signalled the end for the Motor Parkway. In 1938 the parkway was sold to New York State and closed. Most of the Motor Parkway in Queens (west of Winchester Boulevard) exists as a bicycle trail from Kissena Park to Alley Pond Park.
The Nassau County roadway has been developed, or turned into a right of way for LIPA powerlines. Part of the parkway in Suffolk County exists as a local county route.
[edit] Racing
An impetus for the building of the road was to provide a graded, banked and grade-separated highway suitable for racing. Vanderbilt had operated his Vanderbilt Cup races over local roads in Nassau County during the first decade of the 20th century, but the killing of two spectators and the injury of many others showed the need to eliminate racing on residential streets.
The parkway hosted races on its first open portion in 1908 and on the full road in 1909 and 1910, but another accident in the latter year, killing four with additional injuries, caused the New York Legislature to ban racing except on race tracks, ending the parkway's career as a racing road.
[edit] Access
As an early limited access road, access was only provided at a small number of toll booths, joined to local roads by short connector roads. Traffic could turn left between the parkway and connectors, so it was not a freeway. The following access points existed:
- Nassau Boulevard (now Long Island Expressway) west of Francis Lewis Boulevard
- Hillside Avenue - Springfield Boulevard south of 77th Avenue
- Great Neck - Lakeville Road south of Lake Road
- Roslyn - Roslyn Road south of Barnyard Lane
- Mineola - Jericho Pike at Rudolph Drive
- Garden City - Clinton Road at Vanderbilt Court
- Meadow Brook - Merrick Avenue north of Stewart Avenue
- Massapequa - Hicksville Road (New York State Route 107) south of Avoca Avenue
- Bethpage - Round Swamp Road south of Old Bethpage Road
- Huntington - Broad Hollow Road north of Spagnoli Road
- Deer Park - Deer Park Road (New York State Route 231)
- Smithtown - Commack Spur along Harned Road to Jericho Turnpike (New York State Route 25)
- Brentwood - Washington Avenue
- Ronkonkoma - Rosevale Avenue
[edit] Remaining portions
Most of the road from Queens to Western Suffolk County has been obliterated by homes, other roads and structures, or has returned to nature. Some parts can be traced, some bridges still exist.
The western portion in Queens was reopened a few months after closure as a bicycle path from Kissena Park to Alley Pond Park, but the highway itself survives as a continuous county road, Vanderbilt Motor Parkway (County Route 67) from Half Hollow Road in Half Hollow Hills to its original end in Ronkonkoma, just a few blocks short of the lake. Signage along the way also identifies it variously as Vanderbilt Parkway and Motor Parkway.
Though not a limited access road since 1938, most of the road was recognizable into the 1970s, while new intersections continued to be cut through it. In the approximate middle of the road in and around Islandia, New York, office construction and other commercial building has widened the road and made it appear a typical highway. Nonetheless, other portions, especially at the western and eastern ends of the surviving road can be enjoyed for its greenery and graded and banked turns and rolling hills, albeit at considerably less than racecar speeds.
[edit] Preservation
In 2005, two historians / preservationists voiced their intentions of preserving what undeveloped portions of original Long Island Motor Parkway pavement remain for use as part of a historical hike/bike trail (minus the existing Queens trail segment), submitting a formal proposal to Nassau County, Suffolk County, the Long Island Power Authority (which uses several portions of the old right-of-way to run powerlines) and the State of New York. Work is expected to begin on the idea at some point in the near future, and most of that work will be carried out by the New York State Department of Transportation.
The only remaining toll house can be found in Garden City. Once located at the juncture of Clinton Road and Vanderbuilt Place, it was moved in 1988 to its current location in the heart of the village on Seventh Street. It now serves as the headquarters of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce.
[edit] External links
- Long Island Vanderbilt Parkway (NYCROADS.com)
- Long Island Motor Parkway (Sam Berlinner III)
- Long Island Motor Parkway (Arrt's Arrchives)
- "The Age of the Auto: Sportsman William K. Vanderbilt II's cup race paves the way to the future," by Sylvia Adcock (Newsday -- Long Island; Our Story)
| Parkways of Long Island, New York | |
| East-west | Northern - Southern - Heckscher - Bay - Ocean - Long Island Motor Parkway |
| North-south | Meadowbrook - Loop - Wantagh - Bethpage - Robert Moses - Sagtikos - Sunken Meadow |
| Formerly proposed | Caumsett - Sound Shore - Wildwood - Smith Point - Ponoquogue |
