Interstate 495 - Long Island Expressway
Sagtikos Parkway north at the loop ramp (Exit S1W) for Interstate 495 west. - 06/13/2005
Interstate 495 follows all of the Long Island Expressway from the tolled Queens Midtown Tunnel east to Riverhead in Suffolk County. I-495 ends at the west portal of the Queens Midtown Tunnel, 71 miles from its start at Old Country Road and NY 25. The New York State Route Log attributes 66.38 miles to I-495, excluding the Queens Midtown Tunnel across the East River.
Interstate 495 New York Guides
East
West
The Long Island Expressway was a part of New York Route 25D prior to the establishment of Interstate 495. The expressway was nearly complete across Queens by 1958.
Until 1983, the Interstate 495 designation ended at the Cross Island Parkway in east Queens. Long Island officials sought to have an Interstate so legislation was passed to redesignate the New York 495 portion of the L.I.E. to an extension of I-495.
The Lincoln Tunnel (NY Route 495 / NJ Route 495) was signed as the western extent of Interstate 495 until 1989. It was to connect with the Queens Midtown Tunnel via the Mid-Manhattan Expressway, but that freeway was scrapped in 1971 due to extreme costs both economically and socially. The tolled crossing is generally referred to by name and not number today.
E 34th Street west at 1st Avenue. E 34th Street provides part of the connection from FDR Drive northbound to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel (I-495).
12/17/17
E 34th Street heads west from Murray Hill to the Empire State Building.
12/17/17
Tunnel Approach Street stems north from E 34th Street westbound just ahead of 2nd Avenue to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel.
12/17/17
Queens-Midtown Tunnel trailblazer posted at E 34th Street and Tunnel Approach Street north.
12/17/17
Tunnel Approach Street heads two blocks north from E 34th Street to the Queens-Midtown Tunnel entrance.
12/17/17
Tunnel Approach Street north feeds into the Queens-Midtown Tunnel along with E 36th Street, 2nd Avenue south and Tunnel Approach Street south.
12/17/17
The connection from Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive south to the Queens Midtown Tunnel utilizes FDR Drive Service Road from Exit 8 to E 37th Street. E 37th Street leads west two blocks to eastbound entrances at Tunnel Approach Street and 2nd Avenue south.
10/03/04
E 37th Street westbound at Tunnel Approach Street. An internally lit street sign for the Queens Midtown Tunnel either directs motorists into the tunnel east here, or one block further to 2nd Avenue south.
10/03/04
East
CR 58 (Old Country Road) continues 0.4 miles east from end of I-495 to Kroemer Avenue at Gateway Plaza. Kroemer Avenue heads south to NY 25 (W Main Street).
06/13/05
Old Country Road (CR 58) east at Mill Road and the Riverhead town line. Pulaski Street formerly tied into this intersection from the southeast.
06/13/05
Osborn Avenue heads south from Sound Avenue and crosses CR 58 en route to NY 25 near the Suffolk County government complex in Riverhead.
06/13/05
Photo Credits:
- ABRoads: 12/17/17
- Alex Nitzman, Carter Buchanan: 10/03/04
- Alex Nitzman, Justin Cozart: 06/13/05
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Page Updated Tuesday July 13, 2021.