County Route 36 (Suffolk County, New York) - County Route 50

County Route 50

County Route 50 is an east-west county road running from Babylon to Great River, along the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The road serves as a commuter-feeder route in southwestern Suffolk County. Most of the road is two lanes wide, although there are some areas where it opens up to four lanes, or simply allows center-left-turn lanes

Route description

CR 50 begins at the intersection of Deer Park Avenue in the village of Babylon, north of the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road as Simon Street, but this name doesn't carry the designation very long. At the intersection of Cedar and Cooper streets, CR 50 makes a sharp right turn along Cooper Street to cross under the tracks and immediately make a left onto John Street along the south side of the Montauk Branch for a slightly longer distance until reaching the quarter cloverleaf interchange with the New York State Route 231 (NY 231, the Babylon–Northport Expressway) on the Babylon Village–West Islip border, where it suddenly takes on the name Union Boulevard, the street that defines CR 50. Union Boulevard continues to carry CR 50 along the south side of the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road between Babylon and Great River.

East of the intersection of CR 82 (Higbie Lane), CR 50 runs beneath a pedestrian-railroad bridge, that spans between a shopping center and the intersection of Orinoco Drive and Patricia Avenue across the Montauk Branch, and another limited-access highway known as the Robert Moses Causeway in West Islip. Unlike the BNE, no access to this road is provided. The bridge that carries the Robert Moses Causeway over Union Boulevard, also carries it over the LIRR railroad tracks. After passing through northern sections of West Bay Shore and the village of Brightwaters, CR 50 approaches southbound-only Clinton Avenue (CR 13A) and northbound-only Fifth Avenue (CR 13) in Bay Shore. Continuing its eastbound run on the south side of Bay Shore's LIRR train station then intersecting with CR 57 (Third Avenue), the road would serve as the unofficial northern border of downtown Bay Shore if it were not for the LIRR's Montauk Branch.

The last major intersection within Bay Shore is Brentwood Road, although Saxon Avenue also leads through NY 27. While Union Boulevard runs south of the railroad tracks, another street called Moffit Boulevard runs parallel to the north side of the tracks, which runs between Brentwood Road and Carleton Avenue. As the road enters the heart of Islip it intersects Nassau Avenue and more importantly NY 111, two streets that serve Islip's train station. Shortly after passing over the north end of Knapp Lake and Champlin Creek, the road curves somewhat further southeast as it intersects with Carleton Avenue (CR 17) in East Islip, which was originally a segment of NY 111 until 1966.

Union Boulevard runs beneath a third limited-access road between East Islip and Great River. This time it is the Heckscher State Parkway. No access to this parkway is provided, however exit 45W on the parkway leads to Harwood Road, which takes commuters to both NY 27A and CR 50. From the parkway bridge, the road enters both Suffolk County and New York State protected areas then intersects with Connetquot Avenue south of Great River's train station. The road finally terminates at an at-grade interchange with NY 27A and the entrance to the Bayard Cutting Arboretum.

Major intersections