Hutchinson River Parkway - New York
The Hutchinson River Parkway is a north-south limited-access highway linking the Bronx with Interstate 287 (Cross-West Chester Expressway), Interstate 684, and the Merritt Parkway in Westchester County. The parkway functions as a major commuter route for the northern suburbs, linking directly with Interstate 678 and the Whitestone Bridge to the south. The rustic highway features stone arch bridges, a forested right-of-way, and four overall lanes of traffic. Like all New York City area parkways, commercial trucks are prohibited from using the Hutchinson River Parkway. Locals refer to the roadway simply as "the Hutch".
Planned by the Westchester Parks system, the Hutchinson River Parkway opened to alleviate traffic along the Boston Post Road (U.S. 1). An 11-mile section of the north-south highway opened in stages between 1927 and 1928 in the White Plains area. The roadway included nine foot travel lanes with a 40 MPH speed limit. Extension of the roadway northward lengthened the Hutchinson River Parkway to the Connecticut state line in 1937 for the ultimate seamless connection to the 1940-completed Merritt Parkway. Also during 1937 was the opening of the southward extension of the parkway to Orchard Beach Road in Pelham Bay Park. By 1941 the parkway joined the north end of the Whitestone Bridge.1
Widening of the Hutchinson River Parkway quickly followed the 1941 completion date with the southernmost portion seeing expansion to six lanes by the late 1940s. Planning later involved the upgrading of the parkway into a full fledged expressway to permit use by trucks and busses in addition to passenger vehicles. The Tri-State Transportation Commission favored this upgrade for the parkway between Interstate 287 and Interstate 678, but only 1972 upgrading of the section between the Whitestone Bridge and Bruckner Interchange (Interstates 95, 295, 678, Hutchinson River Parkway) was completed. Plans for expanding the rest of the parkway between Interstate 95 and 287 were abandoned after the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) declined New York's request to extend Interstate 678 northward to the Bronx city line.1
Modernization of the parkway continued in the 1980s-90s with expansion of the roadway near the Interstate 684 & 287 interchange, roadway straightening to improve site distances, and improvements to the on and off-ramps. To accommodate this, Exits 11 (Sparks Avenue) and 24 (West Street) were removed. Completion of that project coincided with the removal of the Pelham Manor toll plaza on October 31, 1994. Additional improvements were undertaken north of Interstate 684 to the Merritt Parkway and along the parkway at the 2002-reconstructed Bruckner Interchange.1 Sign replacements installed in 2003 resulted in the numbering of interchanges south of Exit 7 (U.S. 1).2
Hutchinson River Parkway Highway Guides
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