The Long Island Motor Parkway (LIMP), also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway and Motor Parkway, was the first roadway designed for automobile use only.[1] It was privately built by William Kissam Vanderbilt with overpasses and bridges to remove intersections. It opened in 1908 as a toll road and closed in 1938 when it was taken over by the State of New York in lieu of back taxes. Parts of the parkway survive today in sections of other roadways and as a bicycle trail in Queens, New York.
Contents |
History
William Kissam Vanderbilt II, the great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt was a racing enthusiast and created the Vanderbilt Cup, the first major road racing competition, in 1904. However, the race came under fire after a series of accidents and, with the goal of building a safe road that was also free of the dust churned up by horses, he floated a company to build a roadway that would serve only motor cars. Primarily so that he could organize his Vanderbilt Cup race safely, he floated a company to construct a roadway where the race could be run safely. The resulting Long Island Motor Parkway, with its banked turns, guard rails, reinforced concrete tarmac, and controlled access, was the first limited-access roadway opened in the world.[2]
The turnpike was originally planned to stretch for 70 miles (110 km) as a route in and out of New York City as far as Riverhead, the county seat of Suffolk County, New York, and point of division for the north and south forks of Long Island. Eventually, though, only 45 miles (from Queens in New York City to Lake Ronkonkoma, New York) were actually constructed, at a cost of $6 million.[2] Construction began in June 1908 (a year after the Bronx River Parkway), and a 10-mile-long section of the parkway opened (as far as modern Bethpage) to traffic in October 1908, making it the first superhighway put into use. The Long Island Motor Parkway was a toll road. By 1911, the road was extended to Lake Ronkonkoma.
The parkway, the first roadway designed exclusively for automobile use, was the first concrete highway built in the United States and it was the first to use overpasses and bridges to eliminate intersections.[3]
Roadway design advances of the 1920s rendered the Motor Parkway obsolete less than 20 years after construction. At the same time Robert Moses was planning the Northern State Parkway. Initially the owners and some Long Island officials wanted the Motor Parkway integrated into the state parkway system, despite its narrow roadway and steep bridges not meeting new standards. Robert Moses was against the idea stating the parkway would need significant reconstruction. The completion of the Northern State Parkway signaled the end for the Motor Parkway. In 1938 the parkway was sold to New York State for $80,000 in lieu of backtaxes and closed.[2] Most of the Motor Parkway in Queens (west of Winchester Boulevard whose widening destroyed an overpass) exists as a bicycle trail from Cunningham Park to Alley Pond Park, part of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway.
The Nassau County roadway has been developed, or turned into a right of way for Long Island Power Authority transmission lines. Part of the parkway in Suffolk County exists as Suffolk County Route 67 and parts of the parkway were incorporated into the Meadowbrook State Parkway.[2]
Racing
An impetus for the building of the road was to provide a graded, banked and grade-separated highway suitable for racing. Vanderbilt had operated his Vanderbilt Cup races over local roads in Nassau County during the first decade of the 20th century, but the killing of two spectators and the injury of many others showed the need to eliminate racing on residential streets.
The parkway hosted races on its first open portion in 1908 and on the full road in 1909 and 1910, but another accident in the latter year, killing four with additional injuries, caused the New York Legislature to ban racing except on race tracks, ending the parkway's career as a racing road.
Access
As an early limited access road, access was only provided at a small number of toll booths, joined to local roads by short connector roads. Traffic could turn left between the parkway and connectors, thus crossing oncoming traffic, so it was not a freeway. The following access points existed:
- Nassau Boulevard (now Long Island Expressway) west of Francis Lewis Boulevard
- Hillside Avenue - Springfield Boulevard south of 77th Avenue
- Great Neck - Lakeville Road south of Lake Road
- Roslyn - Roslyn Road south of Barnyard Lane
- Mineola - Jericho Pike at Rudolph Drive
- Garden City - Clinton Road at Vanderbilt Court
- Meadow Brook - Merrick Avenue north of Stewart Avenue
- Massapequa - Hicksville Road (New York State Route 107) south of Avoca Avenue
- Bethpage - Round Swamp Road south of Old Bethpage Road
- Huntington - Broad Hollow Road north of Spagnoli Road
- Deer Park - Deer Park Road (New York State Route 231)
- East Commack - Commack Spur along Harned Road to Jericho Turnpike (New York State Route 25)
- Brentwood - Washington Avenue
- Ronkonkoma - Rosevale Avenue
When the parkway opened, the toll was set at $2. Over the years, the toll declined to $1.50 in 1912, $1 in 1917, and 40c in 1938. The first six toll houses were designed by John Russell Pope, the architect who designed the rotunda in the American Museum of Natural History and the Jefferson Memorial.[2] The toll houses were designed to include living space for the toll collectors so that toll could be collected at all hours. The last surviving toll house now houses the Garden City Chamber of Commerce in Garden City, Long Island.[4]
Remaining portions
Most of the road from Queens to Western Suffolk County has been obliterated by homes, other roads and structures, or has returned to nature. Some parts can be traced, some bridges still exist.
The western portion in Queens was reopened a few months after closure as a bicycle path from Kissena Park to Alley Pond Park, but the highway itself survives as a continuous county road, Vanderbilt Motor Parkway (County Route 67) from Half Hollow Road in Half Hollow Hills to its original end in Ronkonkoma, just a few blocks short of the lake. Signage along the way also identifies it variously as Vanderbilt Parkway and Motor Parkway.
Though not a limited access road since 1938, most of the road was recognizable into the 1970s, while new intersections continued to be cut through it. In the approximate middle of the road in and around Islandia, New York, office construction and other commercial building has widened the road and made it appear a typical highway. Nonetheless, other portions, especially at the western and eastern ends of the surviving road, can be enjoyed for greenery, graded and banked turns, and rolling hills, albeit at considerably less than racecar speeds.
Preservation
In 2005, two historians / preservationists voiced their intentions of preserving what undeveloped portions of original Long Island Motor Parkway pavement remain for use as part of a historical hike/bike trail (minus the existing Queens trail segment), submitting a formal proposal to Nassau County, Suffolk County, the Long Island Power Authority (which uses several portions of the old right-of-way to run powerlines) and the State of New York. Work is expected to begin on the idea at some point in the near future, and most of that work will be carried out by the New York State Department of Transportation.
The most prominent remaining toll house can be found in Garden City. Once located at the juncture of Clinton Road and Vanderbilt Court, it was moved in 1989 to its current location in the heart of the village on Seventh Street. It now serves as the headquarters of the Garden City Chamber of Commerce.
References
- ^ Kroplick, Howard; Al Velocchi (2009). Long Island Motor Parkway, The. Charleston SC: Acadia Publishing: Images of America. p. 7. ISBN 0738557935.
- ^ a b c d e Patton, Phil (2008-10-09). "A 100-Year-Old Dream: A Road Just for Cars". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/automobiles/12LIMP.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
- ^ http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history-hs701a,0,6567870.story
- ^ http://www.newsday.com/community/guide/lihistory/ny-history-hs701e,0,6830018.story
External links
- Long Island Motor Parkway (VanderbiltCupRaces.com)
- Long Island Vanderbilt Parkway (NYCROADS.com)
- Long Island Motor Parkway (Sam Berliner III)
- Long Island Motor Parkway (Arrt's Arrchives)
- "The Age of the Auto: Sportsman William K. Vanderbilt II's cup race paves the way to the future," by Sylvia Adcock (Newsday -- Long Island; Our Story)
- LIMP route (Route as traced by Russ Nelson with help from other LIMP historians' resources.)
|
|||||||||||
|
||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
