Route Description
The Bethpage State Parkway begins at Southern State Parkway exit 31, a trumpet interchange located within the Massapequa Preserve in the hamlet of North Massapequa. On the southbound Bethpage Parkway, the junction is signed as exit B1. From the Southern State Parkway, the Bethpage proceeds northward through North Massapequa and the town of Oyster Bay as a two-lane highway, traversing the northwesternmost part of the Massapequa Preserve. The forests of the preserve serve as a buffer between the highway and the dense neighborhoods of North Massapequa, and this setup follows the parkway to exit B2, a northbound-only exit for Boundary Avenue. Heading northbound, the 500-foot (150 m) stretch prior to the exit gore is two lanes wide.
After passing under Boundary Avenue, the Bethpage Parkway bends to the northwest, leaving the Massapequa Preserve but continuing to run across a wooded strip of land in an otherwise heavily developed area. The highway passes through South Farmingdale on its way into the Farmingdale section of Oyster Bay, where it briefly widens to four lanes and begins to curve northward ahead of exit B3, a partial cloverleaf interchange with NY 24 (Hempstead Turnpike). The southbound cloverleaf ramps connect directly to NY 24, while the northbound ramps use a short section of Beach Street to reach the state route. Continuing northward, the Bethpage State Parkway passes under the Main Line of the Long Island Rail Road tracks and enters Bethpage, where the highway meets Central Avenue at exit B4 just north of the tracks.
While Central Avenue heads west to Bethpage's commercial center, the parkway bends northeastward into Bethpage State Park and connects to Plainview Road and a local park road by way of unsigned exit B5, a traffic circle. The Bethpage State Parkway ends here while Plainview Road connects to the nearby Seaford–Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135) and the Bethpage State Golf Course. The entire parkway corridor is served by a bike path that runs along the east side of the Bethpage Parkway, and the path continues northwest from exit B5 along the east side of Plainview Road. The Bethpage Parkway is ceremoniously designated as the Philip B. Healey Memorial Parkway for Philip Healey, a New York State Assemblyman from Massapequa who died in May 1996. Healey had served the Massapequa area in the Assembly since 1970.
Read more about this topic: Caumsett State Parkway
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