Hutchinson River Parkway

Hutchinson River Parkway
Route information
Length:	18.78 mi[1] (30.22 km)
Existed:	1928[citation needed] – present
Major junctions
South end:	I-678 in Throgs Neck
	I-95 in Baychester I-95 in Eastchester Cross County Parkway in Mount Vernon I-287 in Harrison I-684 in Harrison
North end:	Route 15 / Merritt Parkway at Greenwich, CT
Location
Counties:	Bronx, Westchester
Highway system
Numbered highways in New York Interstate • U.S. • N.Y. (former) • Reference • County ← NY 1B US 2 →

The Hutchinson River Parkway (also known as The Hutch) is a north–south parkway in southern New York, United States. It extends for 18.78 miles (30.22 km) from the massive Bruckner Interchange in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx to the New York – Connecticut state line at Rye Brook. The parkway continues south from the Bruckner Interchange as the Whitestone Expressway (I-678) and north into Greenwich, Connecticut, as the Merritt Parkway. The roadway is named for English-born American religious leader Anne Hutchinson.

Construction of the parkway began in 1924 and was completed in 1941. The portion of the parkway between Eastern Boulevard (now Bruckner Boulevard) in the Bronx and U.S. Route 1 in Pelham Manor was designated as New York State Route 1X from 1941 to 1946. NY 1A was subsequently realigned to follow the Hutch between Eastern Boulevard and US 1. The NY 1A designation was removed ca. 1962.

Route description

Northbound on the Hutchinson River Parkway in Pelham

The Hutchinson River Parkway begins at the Bruckner Interchange in the Bronx, where I-95, I-278, I-295, and I-678 all meet. It heads north, partly following Westchester Creek through the eastern Bronx to Pelham Bay Park, where it meets the Bronx and Pelham Parkway and encounters I-95 just north of the point where it changes from the Bruckner Expressway to the New England Thruway. A bikeway parallels the Parkway from Bruckner Interchange to Pelham Parkway. The Hutch continues on, crossing over the Hutchinson River and passing through Pelham Bay Park before following the river's east bank into Westchester County and the border village of Pelham Manor, where an exit leads to U.S. Route 1.

It heads north from US 1, following the river through North Pelham, Mount Vernon, and Eastchester to New Rochelle, where the river ends amongst three reservoirs in Twin Lakes County Park, near the point where the Hutch intersects the Cross County Parkway. The parkway turns eastward, passing through New Rochelle and Scarsdale and entering Saxon Woods Park, where the Hutchinson Parkway joins the Mamaroneck River at an interchange with Mamaroneck Avenue.

The Hutchinson Parkway from Mamaroneck Avenue

Both the Hutch and the river continue northeast, passing through the southernmost portion of White Plains on its way to Harrison. Here, the parkway meets I-287 and connects to I-684 by way of a short spur linking the parkway and I-684. Past I-684, the parkway heads easterly and northerly into the town of Rye and the village of Rye Brook, where it connects to NY 120A and becomes the Merritt Parkway at the Connecticut state line.

The road is designated as NY 908A within the Bronx and NY 907W within Westchester County. Both designations are unsigned reference routes. Like the Bronx River Parkway, the reference route designation of the parkway in Westchester County violates the numbering scheme used by the New York State Department of Transportation. The second digit of a reference route designation typically indicates its region. While other reference routes in the county carry a second digit of "8", as Westchester County is located in region 8, the "0" in 907W is indicative of regions 10 and 11, containing Long Island and New York City, respectively.

History

Construction of the parkway began in 1924 and the first two-mile (3 km) section was completed in December 1927. By October 1928, 11 miles (18 km) of the parkway were open, connecting U.S. Route 1 in Pelham with Westchester Avenue in White Plains. The original roadway was an undivided, limited-access parkway, designed with gently sloping curves, stone arch bridges, and wooden lightposts. The original 11-mile (18 km) section included bridle paths along the right-of-way. There was also a riding academy where the public could rent horses.^[2]

In 1936, Robert Moses decided to build more parkways in the Bronx and Westchester County. A northward extension of the Hutchinson River Parkway from White Plains to King Street (modern NY 120A) in Rye Brook on the Connecticut state line was completed in 1937 and a southward extension from Pelham Manor to Pelham Bay Park opened in December 1937.^[3] The new southerly extension became part of a rerouted NY 1A.^[4][5][6] The final segment of the parkway—a southward extension to the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge—was completed in 1941 and initially designated NY 1X. The NY 1X designation was removed in 1946^[3] and replaced with a realigned NY 1A,^[7] which had previously followed Bruckner Boulevard and Shore Road between what is now the Bruckner Interchange and exit 5 on the Hutch.^[8] The NY 1A designation was completely removed ca. 1962.^[9][10]

Originally, the parkway was built and designated all the way to the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge. However, the original parkway designs did not allow for commercial traffic. When the bridge was designated I-678, the section between the Bruckner Interchange and the Bronx Whitestone Bridge had to be converted to Interstate Highway standards. Once that was completed, that section was assigned the I-678 designation and renamed part of the Whitestone Expressway.^{[citation needed]} Modifications in 1984 included straightening of some curves, increased sight distances, removal of the rustic lightposts, and lengthening of acceleration and deceleration lanes.^[2] Originally, there was a 25¢ toll located in Pelham between exits 7 and 8. The toll was removed on October 31, 1994, as part of a major reconstruction project.^[3]

The claim has been made, most notably in Robert Caro's biography, The Power Broker, that Moses deliberately designed the parkways to have low bridges to prevent low-income families from traveling by bus to destinations outside of New York City.^[11]

Exit list

County	Location	Mile[1]	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Bronx	The Bronx	0.00		I-678 (Hutchinson River Expressway)	Continuation beyond the Bruckner Interchange
			1	Bruckner Boulevard to I-95 (Cross Bronx Expressway) / I-278 (Bruckner Expressway)	Bruckner Interchange
			2	East Tremont Avenue / Westchester Avenue
		1.93	3	Pelham Parkway
		2.36	4A	I-95 south (New England Thruway)	Southbound exit only
			4B	Baychester Avenue	Southbound exit only
		3.35	5	Orchard Beach Road
		4.29	6	I-95 north (New England Thruway)	Northbound exit only
Westchester	Pelham Manor	4.74	7	US 1 (Boston Post Road)
			8	Sandford Boulevard	Southbound exit and entrance
	Pelham	5.47	9	Wolfs Lane	Northbound exit and entrance
			10	East Third Street	Southbound exit only
	Pelham – Mount Vernon line	6.39	12	East Lincoln Avenue – Mount Vernon, Pelham
		6.77	13	Cross County Parkway	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		7.21	14	Pelhamdale Avenue / New Rochelle Road
	Eastchester		15	Cross County Parkway	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	New Rochelle		16	Webster Avenue	No southbound exit
		9.21	17	North Avenue	Northbound exit and entrance
			18	Mill Road	Southbound exit and entrance
			19	Wilmot Road	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				Pinebrook Boulevard	Southbound entrance only
	New Rochelle – Scarsdale line	11.23	20	NY 125 (Weaver Street)	Southbound exit and entrance
			21		Northbound exit and entrance
	Scarsdale	12.25	22	Mamaroneck Road
	White Plains – Harrison line	13.19	23S-N	Mamaroneck Avenue
		14.77	25	NY 127 (North Street)
	Harrison	15.89	26E-W	I-287 (Cross Westchester Expressway)
		16.19		I-684 north	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		16.60	27	NY 120 (Purchase Street)
		17.43	28	Lincoln Avenue
	Rye Brook	18.15	29	North Ridge Street
		18.72	30S	NY 120A (King Street)	Signed as exit 27S on southbound parkway
		18.78		Route 15 / Merritt Pkwy.	Continuation into Connecticut
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

New York Roads portal

1. ^ ^{a b} "2008 Traffic Data Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. June 16, 2009. p. 336. https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/hds-respository/NYSDOT_Traffic_Data_Report_2008.pdf. Retrieved November 17, 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Hutchinson River Parkway Highlights". New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/X101/highlights. Retrieved November 18, 2008. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Anderson, Steve. "Hutchinson River Parkway". NYCRoads. http://www.nycroads.com/roads/hutchinson/. Retrieved September 2, 2007. 
4. ^ Thibodeau, William A. (1938). The ALA Green Book (1938–39 ed.). Automobile Legal Association. 
5. ^ Gulf Oil Company (1940). New York Info-Map (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
6. ^ Esso (1940). New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
7. ^ State of New York Department of Public Works. Official Highway Map of New York State (Map). Cartography by General Drafting (1947–48 ed.). 
8. ^ Esso (1942). New York with Pictorial Guide (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
9. ^ Sunoco (1961). New York and Metropolitan New York (Map). Cartography by H.M. Gousha Company (1961–62 ed.). 
10. ^ Esso (1962). New York with Sight-Seeing Guide (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
11. ^ DeWan, George (May 3, 1998). "The Master Builder: How planner Robert Moses transformed Long Island for the 20th Century and beyond". Newsday (New York City): p. A12. "Although he denied it, the bridges on the parkways had been built too low to accommodate buses so that poor people without cars, especially minorities, could not get to parks and beaches. Caro said that he was told this privately by one of Moses' right-hand men, Sid Shapiro, who later himself became head of the park commission."