County Route 101 (Suffolk County, New York)

Infobox NY County Route
county=Suffolk
route=101
road_name=Patchogue-Yaphank Road(or Sills Road)
length_mi=
length_round=1
length_ref= [ [http://www.greaternyroads.info/pdfs/suffcr.pdf Suffolk County Department of Public Works] ]
established=1961
direction_a=south
starting_terminus=
junction= Exit 66
direction_b=North
ending_terminus=Long Island Avenue in Yaphank

Suffolk County Road 101 is a county road in Suffolk County, New York. It runs northeast and southwest from Suffolk County Route 80(Montauk Highway) to Long Island Avenue, north of Exit 66 on the Long Island Expressway.

At one point much of the road was intended to be part of the formerly proposed Atlantic Expressway. When the New York State Department of Transportation caved into public opposition and cancelled the expressway in 1966, Suffolk County took up the task of improving Suffolk CR 101 for itself. Upon doing so in the 1970s, two segments were realigned; One between Hospital Road and Martha Avenue in East Patchogue, and the other between Old Dock Road and the eastbound service road of Interstate 495(Long Island Expressway) in Yaphank. Suffolk County Department of Public Works built a bridge over New York State Route 27 parallel to the one built by the New York State Department of Transportation as part of the improvement project.

The former segment between Hospital Road and Gazzola Drive(formerly part of Sipp Avenue) was left to local residents. One portion of the segment between Gazzola Drive and Martha Avenue became an extension of Martha Avenue with a connecting road to Suffolk CR 101, while the rest of it was closed to traffic in the late-1980's.

The former segment between Old Dock and the Long Island Expressway was abandoned south of the main line of the Long Island Rail Road, while the rest of it as well as a connecting road in between was made into an extension of Long Island Avenue. The south side of the bridge over the railroad tracks that replaced the old one also contains a right-of-way for the formerly proposed Suffolk County Road 90(Central Suffolk Highway).

Like many of the roads built by Suffolk County between the 1940s and 1970's, it had the potential to be upgraded into a limited-access highway, but those proposals were thwarted by development and public opposition.

History

Proposed extension

Suffolk County Road 101 terminates at the northern intersection of another Long Island Avenue, although Patchogue-Yaphank Road continues in a northwesterly direction as it curves towards the heart of Yaphank. However the Suffolk County Department of Public Works originally planned to extend SCR 101 from the northeast corner of that intersection over Gerard Road, Lower Yaphank Lake, Suffolk CR 21(East Main Street) and eventually to a future interchange with Suffolk CR 46 and Longwood Road at the entrance to the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York. [ [Hagstroms Atlas of Suffolk County, New York (1973)] ]

In addition, at the vicinity of the interchange with the Long Island Expressway, there was to be a southern terminus of Suffolk County Road 8 a.k.a., the proposed Yaphank Bypass. This was planned either in conjunction with the Sills Road extension, or in the event of its cancellation.

References

*Old Hagstroms Maps and atlases.

External links

* [http://www.nycroads.com/roads/suffolk_101-117/ NYCRoads.com - Suffolk CRs 101-117]