County Route 17 (Suffolk County, New York)

County Route 17
Route information
Length:	5.51 mi (8.87 km)
Existed:	1966 – present
Major junctions
South end:	NY 27A in East Islip
	NY 27 in East Islip Heckscher Parkway in Islip Terrace CR 67 in Central Islip
North end:	NY 111 near Hauppauge
Highway system
Numbered highways in New York Interstate • U.S. • N.Y. (former) • Reference • County (Suffolk) ← CR 16 CR 18 →

Suffolk County Road 17 is a county road located in western Suffolk County, New York. The route runs north–south from New York State Route 27A in East Islip to New York State Route 111 near Hauppauge, just south of exit 56 on Interstate 495 (the Long Island Expressway). Prior to 1966, CR 17 was part of NY 111.^[1]

Route description

Carleton Avenue

The NY 111 designation was moved from Carleton Avenue to Islip Avenue, which runs parallel to Carleton Avenue between NY 27A and I-495, on September 13, 1966, in order to facilitate access to the Heckscher State Parkway. Evidence of County Road 17's former status as a State Highway can be found at the railroad bridge in Islip, which carries the Montauk Line of the Long Island Rail Road.^[2] Between then and the mid-to-late 1980s, CR 17 passed over the Heckscher State Parkway with no access, other than to nearby frontage roads that were used for residents. Exit 43A, linking CR 17 to the parkway, was built in the 1980s.

Carleton Avenue also runs through the grounds of the former Central Islip Psychiatric Center. Nursing quarters were located on a frontage road along the west side of the street. The hospital was closed in 1990, and converted into a campus for the New York Institute of Technology. The road was widened to four lanes in the 1990s from Heckscher Parkway to the northern terminus of the former hospital grounds.

North of the NYIT Campus, Carleton Avenue squeezes through downtown Central Islip. The former Central Islip railroad station was on the corner of the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road just south of County Road 100 (Suffolk Avenue). A modernized station was built down the tracks on the corner of CR 100 and Lowell Avenue.

Wheeler's Road

North of Suffolk Avenue, CR 17 moves northwest onto Wheeler's Road. This section kept its given name while NY 111 was renamed "Wheeler Road" in order to distinguish the state route from CR 17. From there, CR 17 crosses County Road 67 (the Long Island Motor Parkway) and encounters Bridge Road, a side road that mainly runs parallel to Motor Parkway for much of its run south of the Long Island Expressway.

The northern terminus is at a fork in the road with NY 111 roughly 250 yards south of I-495. The NY 111/CR 17 intersection has quite a history. It was originally an at-grade interchange with an overhead expressway signpost holding two signs mounted on the corner that could be seen from the Long Island Expressway. The NY 111 shield was moved from one sign to the next in 1966, but the outline of the former NY 111 shield could still be seen on the original sign. Eventually, as the road was downgraded and the area developed, this sign came down. A Texaco gas station was built at the fork in the road in the mid-1970s. It was shortly converted into a Park and Ride for traffic from the Long Island Expressway.

Major intersections

The entire route is in Suffolk County.

Location	Mile	Destinations	Notes
East Islip	0.00	NY 27A (Montauk Highway)
		CR 50 (Union Boulevard)
		NY 27 (Sunrise Highway)	Exit 46
Islip Terrace		Heckscher Parkway	Exit 43A, added in the early 1990s
Central Islip		CR 100 (Suffolk Avenue)
		CR 67 (Long Island Motor Parkway)
Hauppauge	5.51	NY 111
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

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. ^ "October 12, 2001 trestle photo". TrainsAreFun. http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/trestles/CarltonAveex-Rte111viewN10-12-01stevelynch.jpg. Retrieved April 2, 2010. 

External links

• NYCRoads.com - Suffolk CRs 1–25