County Route 83 (Suffolk County, New York)

County Route 83
Route information
Maintained by SCDPW
Length:	11.55 mi[1] (18.59 km)
Existed:	1949 – present
Major junctions
South end:	NY 27 in North Patchogue
	CR 99 in North Patchogue I-495 near Medford NY 25 in Selden NY 112 near Coram
North end:	NY 25A in Mount Sinai
Highway system
Numbered highways in New York Interstate • U.S. • N.Y. (former) • Reference • County (Suffolk) ← CR 82 CR 84 →

Suffolk County Road 83 is a major county road in Suffolk County, New York. It runs north and south from New York State Route 27 (Sunrise Highway) at exit 52A in North Patchogue to New York State Route 25A in Mount Sinai. The road was to have to run further south along North Ocean Avenue and South Ocean Avenue through the Village of Patchogue, but that proposal was canceled.

Route description

North Ocean Avenue

North Ocean Avenue begins at the historic four corners of Patchogue, where West Main Street, East Main Street(both formerly NY 27A), and South Ocean Aveue also begin. From there, the road exists as a local two-lane village street. until the area between intersection with Roe Boulevard East and Roe Boulevard West, and the intechange with NY 27, where it begins to open up in preparation for its status as a county designated, four-lane mostly undivided highway towards Farmingville.

North of the Long Island Expressway, North Ocean Avenue crosses County Road 16 (Horse Block Road/Farm-to-Market Road), and terminates at Granny Road, a street connecting Farmingville to Gordon Heights. CR 83, on the other hand, continues northward along Patchogue-Mount Sinai Road to NY 25A southeast of Mount Sinai.

Patchogue-Mount Sinai Road

Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the median near Bald Hill

North Ocean Avenue has always ended at Granny Road; however, the right of way of North Ocean Avenue continues north as an extension called Patchogue-Mount Sinai Road built between 1971 and 1972. Located in the vicinity of the former Bald Hill Ski Bowl, it acts like a limited-access highway. In reality, the only reason for the limited-access portion was to make driving through hilly region of Farmingville much easier. The bridge over South Bicycle Path was actually installed at least twelve years before the road was laid out. The ski bowl was closed and converted into a cultural arts center, and two former nearby overlooks were converted into the Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park. A housing development that was being built along Granny Road almost blocked construction of the roadway. Loftier plans once existed to extend the limited-access status north of Mooney Pond Road, but legend has it they were literally crossed out in pencil.

Beyond Bald Hill, there was to be an interchange across New York State Route 25. The northbound CR 83/NY 25 ramps were to be accessible to on and off ramps leading to a residential side street called New Lane. A half-mile north of NY 25 is an intersection with Old Town Road. The status of any formerly proposed upgrade of this junction is undetermined and requires further research. New York State Route 112 had a proposed interchange as well that would have utilized Hawkins Road. For a short time, NY 112 acted as the northern terminus of CR 83.

The segment north of NY 112 included an intersection with Pine Road. Another intersection with Canal Road was to be upgraded as part of County Road 111, better known as the unbuilt Port Jefferson-Westhampton Beach Highway. Naturally, an interchange was expected here as well. Coram-Mount Sinai Road, the final intersection on CR 83, is less than a half-mile away from CR 83's terminus at New York State Route 25A. This too was planned to be rebuilt with another limited-access highway known as the North Brookhaven Expressway, a road that was planned to start as County Road 26 and upgraded into part of New York State Route 347.

By the mid-1970s, North Ocean Avenue would be widened to four lanes as well, at least as far south as the Sunrise Highway. This widening finally filled the gap beneath the Long Island Rail Road bridge, but eliminated a connecting road to Brookrun Drive.

History

North Shore extensions

There were once plans to extend CR 83 northward beyond its northern terminus at New York State Route 25A. Unlike most proposed highway extensions north of NY 25A, this proposal was to extend it north then curve it east through Miller Place and then into Sound Beach.

Aside from the extension to Sound Beach, there was also another proposed spur to the Cedar Beach Town Park. Along with a local Yacht Club, Cedar Beach lies on a peninsula between the Long Island Sound and Mount Sinai Harbor.^[2][3] The spur would have been designated County Road 83A.

Both the Sound Beach Extension and the Cedar Beach Spur were stopped by highway opponents on the North Shore, as were the North Brookhaven Expressway, and Port Jefferson-Westhampton Beach Highway.^[4]

Former alignments

Until the late-1950's, North Ocean Avenue ran between Austin Avenue, immediately south of the interchange with NY 27 in North Patchogue, to County Road 99 (Woodside Avenue). The expansion of the Sunrise Highway east of Oakdale cut off the southern terminus between Austin and Willmarth Avenue in the 1950s, but a frontage road reconnected the old and new sections. When the interchange with NY 27 was reconstructed in the late-1980's, another frontage road connecting Old North Ocean Avenue replaced the one that was built in the 1950s. The intersection with Woodside Avenue was eliminated in the mid-1970s. Today, the old road is still intact for the most part as Old North Ocean Avenue.

North Ocean Avenue rejoined its present alignment, following the road northward to Bayside Avenue in Patchogue Highlands. At a location between Bayside Avenue and Fairview Avenue, North Ocean broke from its present alignment, running parallel to the west of the modern routing between Fairview Avenue and Wrana Drive. Today, only two segments of the road remain in the form of First Avenue, a short, dead end street off Fairview Avenue, and Brookrun Drive, a street off Masonic Avenue with a dead end located south of the present CR 83/Wrana Drive intersection.^[5][6]

At Wrana Drive, North Ocean Avenue rejoined the current alignment for 0.7 miles (1.1 km) before separating at a location near Robinson Avenue and Petty Lane. The road rejoined the modern routing at the Long Island Lighting Company High Tension Line Right-Of-Way midway between I-495 and CR 16. This segment was completely abandoned as North Ocean Avenue was realigned to accommodate exit 63 along Interstate 495 (the Long Island Expressway).^[7]

Trolley line

Within Patchogue and North Patchogue, a trolley line used to run along South Ocean Avenue, North Ocean Avenue, and what is now Old North Ocean Avenue. This trolley line ran into Holbrook and veered to the northwest at Canaan Lake along what is known as Traction Boulevard, while the current Old North Ocean Avenue moved northeast.

LIRR bridge

A concrete slab railroad bridge with provisions for a second lane replaced a one-lane arch bridge in the late-1940s.^[8] From the 1940s into the 1970s, this bridge had an empty right of way for an unbuilt Southbound lane, clearly indicating that the proposal to widen this road went back to the post-war era. Ironically, Long Island Avenue was a divided highway at this intersection decades before North Ocean Avenue was.

References

• New Highway Opens Up in Central Brookhaven(Columnist Unknown); The Mid-Island News; December 21, 1972.
• Opposition Rising to Proposed Highway North of 25a; The Long Island Advance(date unknown).

1. ^ "County Road System – County of Suffolk, New York" (PDF). Suffolk County Department of Public Works. December 29, 2005. http://www.greaternyroads.info/pdfs/suffcr.pdf. Retrieved April 2, 2010. 
2. ^ Columbia Marketing Corporation (1978). Long Island Recreational Map (Map). 
3. ^ Columbia Marketing Corporation (1980). Long Island Recreational Map (Map). 
4. ^ Anderson, Steve. "Suffolk County Routes 76–100". NYCRoads. http://www.nycroads.com/roads/suffolk_076-100/. Retrieved March 18, 2010. 
5. ^ Town of Brookhaven (Suffolk County) (August 21, 2000). Town of Brookhaven Zoning Map (Map). 
6. ^ Hagstrom Map (1969). Atlas of Suffolk County, New York (Map). 
7. ^ Hagstrom Map (1958). Atlas of Western Suffolk County, New York (Map). 
8. ^ "1940 Photo of North Ocean Avenue LIRR bridge". TrainsAreFun. http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/trestles/Sta-TunnelRd-Hltsvlle-1940.jpg. Retrieved April 2, 2010. 

External links

• Brookhaven Amphitheater and Bald Hill Cultural Center
• Suffolk County Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park
• Photographs, December 28, 2003 (The Expressway Site)