Interstate 495 (New York)
Interstate 495 is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in southeastern New York state. It is jointly maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation, the New York City Department of Transportation, MTA Bridges and Tunnels, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. East of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, I-495 is known as the Long Island Expressway.
Spanning approximately, I-495 traverses Long Island from the western portal of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel in the New York City borough of Manhattan to County Route 58 in Riverhead in the east. I-495 intersects with I-295 in Bayside, Queens, through which it connects with I-95. The 2017 route log erroneously shows the section of highway between I-278 in Long Island City and I-678 in Corona as New York State Route 495.
The LIE designation, despite being commonly applied to all of I-495 east of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, technically refers to the stretch of highway in Nassau and Suffolk counties. The section from the Queens Midtown Tunnel to Queens Boulevard is known as the Queens Midtown Expressway, and the section between Queens Boulevard and the Queens–Nassau county line is known as the Horace Harding Expressway. The service roads which run parallel to either side of the expressway in Queens are signed as Borden Avenue and Queens Midtown Expressway and as Horace Harding Expressway and Horace Harding Boulevard; from the Queens–Nassau county line to Sills Road, they are designated as the unsigned New York State Route 906A and New York State Route 906B.
Route description
New York City
The highway begins at the western end of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan. The route heads eastward, passing under FDR Drive and the East River as it proceeds through the TBTA-maintained tunnel to Queens. Once on Long Island, the highway passes through the site of the tunnel's former toll plaza and becomes the Queens–Midtown Expressway as it travels through the western portion of the borough. after entering Queens, I-495 meets I-278 at exit 17, then briefly becomes a two-level, 12-lane highway traveling across Calvary Cemetery. Merging into one level at Maurice Avenue, I-495 continues through the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Elmhurst, and Rego Park. East of NY 25 in Rego Park, I-495 becomes the Horace Harding Expressway. I-495 heads northeast through Corona to Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, intersecting both the Grand Central Parkway and the Van Wyck Expressway within the park limits. Because the interchanges in this area are close together, the highway employs two sets of collector–distributor roads through this area: one between 69th and 99th streets and one between the Grand Central Parkway and I-678.The expressway continues east as a six-lane highway, veering to the southeast to bypass Kissena Park before curving back to the northeast to meet the Clearview Expressway at the northern edge of Cunningham Park. Past I-295, I-495 passes by the "Queens Giant", the oldest and tallest tree in the New York metropolitan area. The tree, located just north of I-495 in Alley Pond Park, is visible from the highway's westbound lanes. To the east, the freeway connects to the Cross Island Parkway at exit 31 in the park prior to exiting the park. The highway has one final interchange, Exit 32 for Little Neck Parkway, before exiting the New York City limits, crossing into Nassau County and becoming the LIE.
Although the LIE name officially begins outside the New York City border, almost all locals and most signage use "the Long Island Expressway" or "the LIE" to refer the entire length of I-495. The service roads of I-495 are called Borden Avenue and Queens Midtown Expressway between I-278 and Queens Boulevard, and they are known as Horace Harding Expressway between Queens Boulevard and the Nassau County line. The Horace Harding Expressway section follows the path of Horace Harding Boulevard, which was named for J. Horace Harding, a finance magnate who directed the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and the New York Municipal Railways System. Harding used his influence to promote the development of Long Island's roadways, lending strong support to Robert Moses's "great parkway plan". Harding also urged construction of a highway from Queens Boulevard to the Nassau County Line, in order to provide better access to Oakland Country Club, where he was a member. After his death, the boulevard he helped build was named for him. Horace Harding was not related to the former President Warren G. Harding.
Nassau and Suffolk counties
Heading into Nassau County, the expressway contains a high-occupancy vehicle lane in each direction, which begins at exit 33 and runs to central Suffolk County. I-495 and the adjacent Northern State Parkway, which parallels the LIE through the county, meet three times, although they actually cross only once near exit 46 near the county line in Plainview.I-495 interchanges with the Seaford–Oyster Bay Expressway. In Suffolk County, the LIE continues its eight-lane configuration with the HOV lane to exit 64. At this point, the HOV lane ends and the highway narrows to six lanes; additionally, the concrete Jersey barrier gives way to a wide, grassy median, the asphalt road surface is replaced by a concrete surface, and the expressway is no longer illuminated by streetlights, reflecting the road's location in a more rural area of Long Island.From NY 112 east, the expressway runs through more rural, woodland areas on its trek towards Riverhead. At exit 66, the service roads become fragmented, and they fully terminate at exit 68. Exit 70 in Manorville is the last full interchange, as it is the last interchange that allows eastbound traffic on, and the first to allow westbound off. After exit 71, the expressway begins to narrow as it approaches its eastern terminus. Until 2008, just before exit 72, the three eastbound lanes narrowed to two, which, in turn, narrowed almost immediately to a single lane at exit 73, which lies east of exit 72., of the two lanes, one lane is designated for exit 72 and the other is for exit 73, which ends the squeeze into a single lane that formerly existed at exit 73. At exit 73, all traffic along the expressway is diverted onto a ramp leading to eastbound CR 58, marking the east end of the route.
HOV restrictions
There is one HOV lane in each direction, in the median of the highway, between exit 32, near the Queens–Nassau border, to exit 64, in central Suffolk County. From 6:00 am to 10:00 am and from 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm Monday through Friday, the HOV lanes are limited to busses, motorcycles, and passenger vehicles with at least two occupants. Trailers and commercial trucks are always prohibited therein. Vehicles are only allowed to enter and exit the lanes at designated junctions.Originally, the HOV lanes were restricted to passenger vehicles with at least two occupants. In 2006, drivers of certain hybrid vehicle models were allowed to use the lanes even if they were driving alone under the Clean Pass Program. However, The restriction was removed in 2025, after the Program ended. By 2014, over one-third of all traffic on the LIE between exits 32 and 64 used the HOV lane during peak hours. NYSDOT contemplated restricting the lanes to passenger vehicles with at least three occupants but ultimately decided against this change.
History
I-495 was constructed in stages from 1940 to 1972. Its completion was intended to alleviate congestion along local roads on Long Island. Most of the highway in Queens was built as part of the Interstate Highway System, with 90 percent funding from the federal government and 10 percent from the New York state government. The portion of the highway in Nassau and Suffolk counties was built with equal funding from the federal and state governments.Construction of Queens segment
Queens–Midtown Expressway
The first piece of what is now I-495 – the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, linking Manhattan and Queens – opened to traffic on November 15, 1940. The highway connecting the tunnel to Laurel Hill Boulevard was built around the same time and named the "Midtown Highway". The tunnel, the Midtown Highway, and the segment of Laurel Hill Boulevard between the highway and Queens Boulevard all became part of a realigned NY 24 in the mid-1940s. Parts of this highway were built on the right-of-way of a streetcar line that extended from Hunters Point to southern Flushing. In the 1940s, city planner Robert Moses proposed the construction of a system of highways that would traverse the New York City area. The plan was to cost $800 million, and, in February 1945, the city agreed to pay $60 million of that cost. That November, the city, state, and federal governments agreed to fund several new highways in New York City. Among these was the Queens Midtown Expressway, which was to cost $10.62 million.Plans did not proceed further until March 1951, when Moses proposed constructing the six-lane Queens–Midtown Expressway between Laurel Hill and Queens boulevards. This was part of a larger, $30-million plan that also included the Horace Harding Expressway. By October 1952, the cost of the two projects had increased to $55 million, of which the Queens–Midtown Expressway was to cost $21 million. To help fund the Queens–Midtown Expressway, Moses reallocated funding from two other highway projects in early 1953. That October, the New York City Planning Commission approved a minor revision to the Queens–Midtown Expressway's route in Maspeth and South Elmhurst, thus reducing land acquisition costs by $769,000.
The city government awarded the first construction contracts for the highway in July 1953. The first section of the highway to open was the section between Laurel Hill Boulevard and Maurice Avenue, which opened on February 24, 1955. The six-lane highway ran through Calvary Cemetery. Afterward, the old Midtown Highway became known as the "Queens–Midtown Expressway". The entire highway from Laurel Hill Boulevard to the junction of Queens Boulevard and Horace Harding Boulevard opened on November 5, 1955. This section of the LIE had cost $29.5 million and was funded by the TBTA, of which Moses was chair. NY 24 initially remained routed on Laurel Hill and Queens boulevards.