New York State Route 27A

NYS Route 27A
Route information
Auxiliary route of NY 27
Maintained by NYSDOT and Nassau County
Length:	17.31 mi[3] (27.86 km)
Existed:	ca. 1931[1][2] – present
Major junctions
West end:	NY 27 in Massapequa
	Robert Moses Causeway in West Islip Heckscher Parkway in East Islip
East end:	NY 27 / CR 85 in Oakdale
Location
Counties:	Nassau, Suffolk
Highway system
Numbered highways in New York Interstate • U.S. • N.Y. (former) • Reference • County ← NY 27 NY 28 →

New York State Route 27A (NY 27A) is a state highway extending from Massapequa in Nassau County to Oakdale in Suffolk County on Long Island, New York in the United States. Its two most prominent components are Merrick Road and Montauk Highway.

Route description

NY 27A starts out at the intersection of Sunrise Highway, Old Sunrise Highway and Carman Mill Road in eastern Massapequa. Once at the intersection, NY 27A travels south (east on the route shield) along Carman Mill Road for 6/10 of a mile to Merrick Road. Once at Merrick Road, NY 27A makes a left, heading eastbound as an unsigned, county-maintained route to the Nassau/Suffolk County border. Once in Suffolk County, NY 27A is a full-fledged state route with reassurance shields and reference markers. NY 27A remains Merrick Road through Amityville until it reaches Copiague, where it becomes Montauk Highway. This name remains along NY 27A through Lindenhurst and Babylon to the Robert Moses Causeway in West Islip. Along the route, Montauk Highway is also called South Country Road east of Robert Moses Causeway up to Brightwaters, and then Main Street through Bay Shore and Islip to its eastern terminus in Oakdale. East of Heckscher State Parkway, NY 27A is lined with parkway style lampposts. At its terminus at NY 27 at the Oakdale Merge, NY 27A becomes County Route 85, then Main Street in Patchogue, and County Route 80 east of Patchogue.

Geographically, NY 27A is the southernmost state route that, under normal state laws, can be employed by trucks. However, some parts of Long Island's barrier beaches are south of this road and can only be reached by accessing the parkways, which trucks cannot normally use. Because of this, a conditional exemption is in place. A truck making a delivery to the beaches may employ the parkways, but only if they enter and exit no farther north than this road or its Nassau counterpart, former Nassau County Route 27A.

History

Designation and initial extension

The entirety of modern NY 27A east of Carman Mill Road was originally designated as part of NY 27 in the mid-1920s. West of Carman Mill Road, NY 27 followed Merrick Road through southern Nassau County to the New York City line, where it ended.^[4][5] Ca. 1931, NY 27 was realigned between New York City and Oakdale to follow the Sunrise Highway. The Suffolk County portion of its former alignment on Merrick Road and Montauk Highway was designated as NY 27A. At the Nassau–Suffolk county line, NY 27A turned to follow County Line Road north to NY 27.^[1][2]

NY 27A was one of a handful of routes that was extended into New York City in mid-December 1934. Following the extension, it began at NY 1A (Varick Street) in Lower Manhattan and followed Broome, Kenmare, and Delancey Streets east to the Williamsburg Bridge leading to Brooklyn. After crossing the East River, it went generally southeastward through Brooklyn on Grant Street, Bushwick Avenue, Highland Boulevard, Force Tube Avenue, Ridgewood Avenue, and Rockaway Boulevard. Force Tube and Ridgewood Avenues, both one way, eastbound-only streets, made up half of a one-way couplet that also utilized the westbound-only Eldert Lane and Etna Street. As a result, Force Tube and Ridgewood Avenues carried NY 27A eastbound while Eldert Lane and Etna Street handled NY 27A westbound.^[6]

In Queens, NY 27A was routed on Rockaway, Baisley, and Merrick Boulevards to the eastern borough line, where it continued eastward into Nassau County on the original alignment of NY 27 on Merrick Road.^[6] The route remained on Merrick Road to the Suffolk County line, where it joined its original alignment. NY 27 and NY 27A crossed paths in Rockville Centre, where the Sunrise Highway intersected Merrick Road.^[7]

New York City

In the mid-1940s, NY 27A was rerouted within Brooklyn and Queens. It now began at the junction of Tillary Street and Flatbush Avenue (NY 27) in Brooklyn and followed Tillary, Jay, and Smith Streets to Atlantic Avenue, then continued on Atlantic Avenue and Hicks Street to the Gowanus Parkway. NY 27A was then routed on the Gowanus, Shore and Southern Parkways through southern Brooklyn and Queens. NY 27A, concurrent to NY 27 from the western extent of the Southern Parkway, continued to follow NY 27 and the Sunrise Highway to Rockville Centre in Nassau County, where it split from NY 27 to follow Merrick Road.^[8][9]

NY 27A was re-extended into Manhattan in the 1950s. Instead of leaving the Gowanus Parkway at Hicks Street, it continued north on the Gowanus Parkway and passed through the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel under the East River. Once in Manhattan, it followed the West Side Elevated Highway through the borough's West Side to the Holland Tunnel, where the Elevated Highway became NY 9A.^[10][11] On January 1, 1970, NY 27A was truncated to its current western terminus in Massapequa. The portion of NY 27A's former routing north of the interchange between the Gowanus and Prospect Expressways became an extension of NY 27.^[12]

Suffolk County

East of Oakdale, NY 27 originally followed Montauk Highway to Montauk Point.^[5] NY 27A was extended eastward along Montauk Highway to Patchogue in the early 1950s after NY 27 was realigned to follow a new highway between Oakdale and Patchogue.^[10][13] A limited-access highway extension of NY 27 to Shirley opened to traffic in the late 1950s, at which time NY 27A was extended eastward along NY 27's former routing to meet NY 27 in Shirley.^[11][14] Construction on a new alignment for NY 27 between NY 24 in Hampton Bays and Montauk Highway near Water Mill began by 1961 and was completed ca. 1962. The former routing of NY 27 between the two locations became part of NY 27A, even though it did not connect to any other part of the route.^[15][16]

Work was underway by 1962 on an extension of the Patchogue–Shirley limited-access highway to the vicinity of Eastport.^[16] This roadway was completed as a realignment of NY 27 by 1964, allowing NY 27A to be extended once more along NY 27's old routing.^[17] NY 27A was also extended east along NY 27 to connect to the segment of NY 27A between Hampton Bays and Water Mill.^[12] Ownership and maintenance of Montauk Highway between Oakdale and the town of Southampton was gradually transferred from the state of New York to Suffolk County during the 1960s and 1970s. The portion from the Patchogue village line east to NY 24 in Hampton Bays was turned over to the county on October 6, 1966, while the segment between NY 24 and Knoll Road was given to Suffolk County on February 15, 1968.^[18]

Although most of Montauk Highway between Patchogue and the village of Southampton was now maintained by the county, NY 27A continued to follow the road eastward to NY 27 northeast of Southampton.^[12] It was finally cut back to its current eastern terminus in Oakdale on March 29, 1972, after ownership and maintenance of Montauk Highway between Oakdale and Patchogue was transferred from the state to the county. NY 27A's former routing is now County Route 80 from the east village line of Patchogue to Knoll Road, County Route 85 from Oakdale to the west village line of Patchogue,^[18] and NY 900W, an unsigned reference route, from Knoll Road to the west village line of Southampton at Tuckahoe Lane.^[19]

In 1969, the Suffolk County Department of Planning proposed a major reconstruction project of downtown Bay Shore in cooperation with the New York State Department of Transportation. The project, dubbed the "Bay Shore Split", would reroute eastbound and westbound traffic on new alignments running to the north and south of Main Street (NY 27A) and convert Main Street into a pedestrian mall with parking garages at key locations.^[20] The plan was cancelled as a result of public opposition.

NY 27A Truck

NYS Route 27A Truck
Location:	Moriches
Existed:	1958–1972

NY 27A Truck was a truck route of NY 27A in that bypassed the hamlet of Center Moriches to the north. It followed the Moriches Bypass (Frowein Road) between Moriches and East Moriches and was co-designated as County Route 98 by Suffolk County. NY 27A Truck ceased to exist after NY 27A was truncated on its eastern end to Oakdale in 1972.^[21]

The NY 27A Truck designation partially resurfaced during the early 1970s as "Temporary NY 27A Truck". It was routed along NY 24, NY 27, and North Shore Road and served as a bypass for trucks around a reconstruction project along NY 27A between Hampton Bays and Shinnecock Hills.^{[citation needed]}

Major intersections

County	Location	Mile[3]	Destinations	Notes
Nassau	Massapequa Park	0.00	NY 27 (Sunrise Highway)
Suffolk	Amityville	1.57	NY 110	Southern terminus of NY 110
	Village of Babylon	6.41	NY 109	Eastern terminus of NY 109
		7.30	NY 231	Southern terminus of NY 231
	West Islip	8.87	Robert Moses Causeway	Exit RM2 (RMC)
	Hamlet of Islip	13.95	NY 111	Southern terminus of NY 111
	East Islip		CR 17 (Carleton Avenue)	Former routing of NY 111
	Islip Terrace	15.90	Heckscher Parkway	Original terminus of the Heckscher State Parkway
	Great River		CR 50 (Union Boulevard)
	Oakdale	17.31	NY 27
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

New York Roads portal

1. ^ ^{a b} Standard Oil Company of New York (1930). Road Map of New York (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Kendall Refining Company (1931). New York (Map). Cartography by H.M. Gousha Company. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "2008 Traffic Volume Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. June 16, 2009. p. 83. https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/engineering/technical-services/hds-respository/NYSDOT%20TVR%202008%20by%20Route.pdf. Retrieved January 31, 2010. 
4. ^ "New York's Main Highways Designated by Numbers". The New York Times: p. XX9. December 21, 1924. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E13F73F5B12738DDDA80A94DA415B848EF1D3. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
5. ^ ^{a b} State of New York Department of Public Works (1926). Official Map Showing State Highways and other important roads (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Mark Ways in the City". The New York Times: p. XX12. December 16, 1934. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0A10F63558177A93C4A81789D95F408385F9. Retrieved July 18, 2010. 
7. ^ Sun Oil Company (1935). Road Map & Historical Guide – New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
8. ^ Esso (1942). New York with Pictorial Guide (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
9. ^ Sinclair Oil Corporation (1947). New York Road Map and Pictorial Sight-Seeing Guide (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
10. ^ ^{a b} Sunoco (1952). New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
11. ^ ^{a b} Gulf (1960). New York and New Jersey Tourgide Map (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
12. ^ ^{a b c} State of New York Department of Transportation (January 1, 1970) (PDF). Official Description of Touring Routes in New York State. http://www.greaternyroads.info/pdfs/state70.pdf. Retrieved May 24, 2009. 
13. ^ Esso (1954). New York with Special Maps of Putnam–Rockland–Westchester Counties and Finger Lakes Region (Map). Cartography by General Drafting (1955–56 ed.). 
14. ^ Esso (1958). New York with Special Maps of Putnam–Rockland–Westchester Counties and Finger Lakes Region (Map). Cartography by General Drafting (1958 ed.). 
15. ^ Sunoco (1961). New York and Metropolitan New York (Map). Cartography by H.M. Gousha Company (1961–62 ed.). 
16. ^ ^{a b} Esso (1962). New York with Sight-Seeing Guide (Map). Cartography by General Drafting. 
17. ^ Sinclair (1964). New York and Metropolitan New York (Map). Cartography by Rand McNally and Company. 
18. ^ ^{a b} Suffolk County Department of Public Works. "County Road System - County of Suffolk, New York" (PDF). http://www.greaternyroads.info/pdfs/suffcr.pdf. Retrieved May 24, 2009. 
19. ^ New York State Department of Transportation (January 2009) (PDF). Official Description of Highway Touring Routes, Bicycling Touring Routes, Scenic Byways, & Commemorative/Memorial Designations in New York State. https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/operating/oom/transportation-systems/repository/2009%20tour-bk.pdf. Retrieved June 7, 2010. 
20. ^ Suffolk County Department of Planning (1969). Sketch Plan – 1969 Bay Shore Study (Map). 
21. ^ Anderson, Steve. "Suffolk County Routes 76–100". NYCRoads. http://www.nycroads.com/roads/suffolk_076-100/. Retrieved March 18, 2010. 

External links

• Alps' Roads – New York State Route 27A
• New York Routes – New York State Route 27A
• New York State Highway Termini – New York State Route 27A
• Oakdale Merge @ Empire State Roads.com
• NY 27A (Greater New York Roads)