Belt Parkway
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| Belt Parkway |
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| Reference Route 907B/907C/907D | |||||||||
| Length: | 25.29 mi[1] (40.70 km) | ||||||||
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| Formed: | 1941[citation needed] | ||||||||
| West end: |  I-278 in Brooklyn |
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| Major junctions: |
 I-678 in Queens NY 878 in Queens |
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| East end: |   Cross Island/Southern Pkwys in Queens |
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| Counties: | Kings, Queens | ||||||||
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The Belt Parkway, also known as the Belt System or Circumferential Parkway, is a series of limited-access highways that form a complete circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens on Long Island. The system is composed of four separate parkways; however, three of the four are signed as the "Belt Parkway". The three parkways that make up the signed "Belt Parkway" are 25.29 miles (40.7 km) long.
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[edit] Route description
The Shore Parkway, Southern Parkway, Laurelton Parkway and Cross Island Parkway are collectively known as the "Belt System".[2] The four components of the Belt System are designated as New York State Reference Routes 907C, 907D, 907B, and 907A, respectively, all unsigned reference routes. Excluding the Cross Island Parkway, the other three segments are now known collectively as the official "Belt Parkway". It is designated an east-west route, and its exit numbering system begins, in standard fashion, at the western terminus of the Shore Parkway, the westernmost parkway in the system. The numbering increases as the parkway proceeds eastward, and continues onto the Cross Island at the eastern terminus of the Belt Parkway. The north-south parkway retains the numbering scheme to its northern terminus.
[edit] Shore Parkway
The Shore Parkway begins at the Gowanus Expressway near the east end of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and proceeds westward through Brooklyn. The Shore, the part of the system most people think of when they mention "Belt Parkway," makes a large arc to the south, passing under the Narrows bridge and turning southeast. Entering the Coney Island area, the parkway turns east, roughly following the former path of Coney Island Creek before turning northeast to skip across former islands in Jamaica Bay and reach the Southern Parkway. The Shore Parkway Greenway lies between the Parkway and the shore, connecting Owl's Head Park to Coney Island and Sheephead Bay to Howard Beach.
Shore Road Drive parallels the first stretch of the Shore Parkway. Exit 1 is for the Shore Road Drive. The road makes a curve to the south after Exit 1 and heads towards the Verrazano Bridge. The Shore Parkway goes through Shore Road Park until Exit 2, which is for Shore Road and 4th Avenue, both parts of the former State Route 439. Exits 2 and 3 are westbound only, while going eastbound, the next exit is number 4. Exit 3 is for the Verrazano Narrows Bridge towards Staten Island. In Dyker Beach Park, Exit 4 interchanges for Bay 8th Street. Exit 5 is next, for the Bay Parkway, which heads northward towards Queens.
Exit 6 going westbound is for Cropsey Avenue, which heads towards Coney Island. Exit 6 in the westbound direction is split into Exits 6S and 6N. Exit 6N has access to Stillwell Avenue. Exit 7 going eastbound is for Ocean Parkway while westbound it is for Shell Boulevard and is numbered 7A. Exit 7B going westbound is for the Ocean Parkway as well. Exit 8 going westbound is the first signed exit for Coney Island. The exit is also for East 14th Street. Exit 9A going eastbound is for Knapp Street and Sheepshead Bay. Exit 9B comes right after and is for Emmons Avenue. Exits 11S and 11N make a full cloverleaf interchange for Flatbush Avenue.
Exit 13 is next for Rockaway Parkway, which begins at a traffic circle. Exit 14 comes after for Pennsylvania Avenue. As the Shore Parkway gets closer to Jamaica, Exit 15 comes for Erskine Street. After exits 17S and 17N for State Route 27 and Cross Bay Boulevard, the road becomes known as the Southern Parkway.
[edit] Southern Parkway
The Southern Parkway, distinct from the Southern State Parkway in Nassau and Suffolk counties, is located entirely within the median of Conduit Boulevard between Cross Bay Boulevard and Brookville Boulevard. Just west of Brookville, the Southern exits the median, turning to the northeast and becoming the Laurelton Parkway.
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[edit] Laurelton Parkway
The Laurelton Parkway is a short connector between the Southern Parkway and the Cross Island Parkway. At exit 25A (Southern State Parkway), the Laurelton, as well as the Belt Parkway, becomes the Cross Island Parkway.
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] Cross Island Parkway
The Cross Island Parkway continues north from the interchange with the Southern State Parkway near the border of Nassau County, then west to the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, where it terminates at the Whitestone Expressway.
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Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
[edit] History
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (August 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
The Belt Parkway was proposed by builder and highway advocate Robert Moses in 1930 to provide modern highway access to Manhattan and to connect to, and use similar design principles to, parkways already constructed on Long Island and Westchester County, New York. Construction began in 1934. The full loop was completed when the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (also known as the "BQE") was finished in 1960.
[edit] The Belt System
Though some signage bears the name "Belt Parkway," the original plan never called for a highway of that name, rather a system of different named parkways called the "Belt System." The Belt System is made up of a series of interconnecting highways, none of which are actually named the Belt Parkway. Originally, the highways were the Gowanus Parkway from the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel to the Shore Parkway; the entirety of the Shore, Southern, Laurelton, and Cross Island Parkways; the Whitestone Parkway from the Cross Island to the Grand Central Parkway; and the Grand Central from the Whitestone to the Triborough Bridge.
All the original parkways, except the Gowanus, were built on grassy rights-of-way with trees, in a more pleasant surrounding than most highways of their time. The Gowanus Parkway was built as an elevated structure over Third and Hamilton Avenues in order to avoid the active docks and industrial areas including Sunset Park, Brooklyn.
[edit] Conversion and completion
Like most parkways in New York State, the parkways comprising the Belt System were closed to commercial traffic, including any vehicle with a non-passenger registration and all commercial trucking of any size. Originally even station wagons, which had "suburban" registrations, were excluded but they were later allowed, along with passenger-registered SUVs and vans.
The system was not completed as a parkway, and some portions of the original system were converted to expressways, which allows commercial traffic to use them. These expressway portions included the Gowanus Expressway, replacing Gowanus Parkway as a connector between Manhattan and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island and New Jersey (now signed as part of Interstate 278); Whitestone Expressway, which converted Whitestone Parkway into a truck route to connect the Van Wyck Expressway to the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge (now signed as part of Interstate 678); and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, built as an expressway to connect the Gowanus Parkway/Expressway to the Triborough Bridge and Grand Central Parkway to complete the system (now signed as part of Interstate 278).
[edit] Exit list
| County | Location | Mile[1] | # | Destinations | Notes |
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| Kings | Bay Ridge | 0.00 | .svg/25px-I-278_(NY).svg.png){kind=small} I-278 east – Queens, Bronx |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |
| 1 | 65th-67th Streets | ||||
| Fort Hamilton | 3.38 | 2 | 4th Avenue, Fort Hamilton Parkway - Verrazano-Narrows Bridge | ||
| 3 | I-278 west (Verrazano-Narrows Bridge) – Staten Island |
Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
| Bath Beach | 4.47 | 4 | Bay 8th Street/14th Avenue | ||
| 5.63 | 5 | Bay Parkway | |||
| Gravesend | 6.73 | 6 | Cropsey Avenue/Stillwell Avenue – Coney Island | Signed as exits 6S (south) and 6N (north) westbound | |
| 7.81 | 7A | Shell Road - Coney Island | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; formerly part of exit 7S | ||
| 7B | Ocean Parkway - Coney Island, Brighton Beach | Signed as exit 7 eastbound; formerly split into exits 7S and 7N | |||
| Sheepshead Bay | 7.89 | 8 | Coney Island Avenue - Brighton Beach | ||
| 9.69 | 9 | Knapp Street – Sheepshead Bay | Two exits - 9A and 9B - eastbound; both lead to Knapp Street | ||
| Floyd Bennett Field | 11.09 | 11 | Flatbush Avenue - Rockaways, Marine Park | Signed as exits 11S (south) and 11N (north) | |
| Bergen Beach | Jamaica Bay Riding Academy | Eastbound exit and entrance | |||
| Canarsie | 14.38 | 13 | Rockaway Parkway | ||
| Starrett City | 15.42 | 14 | Pennsylvania Avenue | ||
| 15 | Erskine Street | ||||
| Queens | Howard Beach | 17.91 | 17 | Cross Bay Boulevard, Cohancy Street - Woodhaven, Rockaways | Signed as exits 17S (south) and 17N (north) westbound |
| 17W | North Conduit Avenue (NY 27 west) | Westbound exit and eastbound entrance | |||
| South Ozone Park | 18.30 | 18B | Lefferts Boulevard – Aqueduct Racetrack | Eastbound exit is part of exit 19 | |
| 19 | .svg/25px-I-678_(NY).svg.png){kind=small} NY 878 north (Nassau Expressway) / I-678 (Van Wyck Expressway) – Kennedy Airport, Whitestone Bridge |
Westbound exit only connects to I-678 west; access to NY 878 and Kennedy Airport is via exit 20 | |||
| 20 | JFK Expressway - Kennedy Airport | Eastbound exit is via exit 19 | |||
| Springfield Gardens | 20.45 | 21A | 150th Street, Rockaway Boulevard | Signed as exit 20 eastbound | |
| 22.29 | 21B | Farmers Boulevard, Guy R. Brewer Boulevard | |||
| 22 | Springfield Boulevard | ||||
| Laurelton | 23.67 | 23A | North Conduit Avenue (NY 27 west), 225th Street | Westbound exit only | |
| 23.67 | 23B |  NY 27 east (Sunrise Highway) |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 24A | Francis Lewis Boulevard | No westbound entrance | |||
| 24.26 | 24B | Merrick Boulevard | Eastbound exit is via exit 24A | ||
| 24B | 130th Avenue | Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | |||
| 25.29 | 25A | Southern State Parkway – Eastern Long Island |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance | ||
| 25.29 | Cross Island Parkway – Whitestone Bridge |
Eastbound exit and westbound entrance |
[edit] References
- ^ a b Traffic Data Report - NY 427 to NY 908F (PDF). NYSDOT (2007-07-16). Retrieved on 2007-08-24.
- ^ NYSDOT List of Parkways
[edit] External links
- Belt Parkway Historic Overview at Steve Anderson's nycroads.com
- Belt Parkway (Greater New York Roads)
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