New York State Route 24

NY 24 begins at an intersection with the southern end of I-295 (the Clearview Expressway) and a junction with NY 25 (Hillside Avenue) in the Queens Village section of Queens. NY 24 proceeds southeast along two one-way couplets along Hollis Court Boulevard and 212th Street through dense housing for several blocks (the only unsigned section of the route). At the intersection with 91st Avenue, the couplets bend southward, entering an intersection with Jamaica Avenue, where NY 24 turns off Hollis Court and 212th and follows Jamaica Avenue eastbound for a block. At the junction with Hempstead Avenue, NY 24 turns off Jamaica for Hempstead, crossing under the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) main line through Queens Village.[3]

Passing a Long Island Rail Road substation, NY 24 proceeds southeast along the four-lane commercial strip of Hempstead Avenue, intersecting with Springfield Boulevard as it crosses through Queens Village. A short distance later, the route enters a partial cloverleaf interchange with the Cross Island Parkway's exit 26B. After crossing the Cross Island Parkway, NY 24 enters Nassau County, changing names to Hempstead Turnpike and passing south of Belmont Park Racetrack and the Belmont Park LIRR station, along with UBS Arena, the home of the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League. Now a six-lane boulevard through the town of Hempstead, NY 24 crosses several parking lots used for Belmont Park Racetrack and UBS Arena, paralleling the grounds to the south for several blocks.[3]

After crossing into the Elmont neighborhood of Hempstead, NY 24 reduces to four lanes, crossing through a long commercial strip east of the racetrack. The route crosses through East Elmont before entering Floral Park Crest, where the roadway bends northeast through Hempstead. After crossing an intersection with Covert and Meacham Avenues, NY 24 straightens eastward once again, crossing a long commercial strip through town. The route soon makes a short bend to the southeast, crossing an intersection with New Hyde Park Road and Franklin Avenue later into West Hempstead. In West Hempstead, NY 24 crosses over the former connection between the Long Island Railroad West Hempstead Branch and Hempstead Branch before entering an intersection with NY 102 (Front Street).[3]

Eastbound lanes of NY 24 (Fulton Avenue) in the Village of Hempstead.

At this intersection, NY 24 drops the Hempstead Turnpike moniker, changing to Fulton Avenue. NY 24 then proceeds northeast through downtown Hempstead, remaining a four-lane commercial street through the city, bending south of a local park. At the junction with Clinton Street, NY 24 bends east for a block, turning northeast again at Peninsula Boulevard. Paralleling NY 102, NY 24 returns to its northeastern progression, regaining the Hempstead Turnpike moniker in front of Hofstra University. At Oak Street on the western end of the campus, NY 24 becomes a four-lane divided highway through Hempstead, passing south of Hofstra University Stadium and past several parking lots for the campus. East of Hofstra Boulevard, the road widens to six lanes. Just after Earle Ovington Boulevard, the route continues east in to Uniondale and runs alongside the parking lots for Nassau Coliseum, the former home of the Islanders from their 1972 founding until 2015, then 2018 until 2021, when they moved 7.7 miles (12.4 km) west down the pike to UBS Arena.[3]

At the junction with Glenn Curtiss Boulevard, NY 24 passes the main entrance to the Coliseum's parking lots before passing north of Rexcorp Plaza. Just after Rexcorp Plaza, NY 24 enters an interchange (exits M4 and M5) with the Meadowbrook State Parkway. After the Meadowbrook, NY 24 enters East Meadow, remaining a six-lane boulevard past Merrick Avenue, passing south of Eisenhower Park. While the park runs along the westbound lanes, several commercial businesses line the eastbound lanes. After Bly Road, the park changes over to more businesses and a short distance later, NY 102 terminates at NY 24 at Front Street. After Carman Avenue, the route passes south of Nassau University Medical Center before returning to the commercial businesses that have surrounded the roadway.[3]

Just to the east of Nassau University Medical Center, NY 24 enters an intersection with NY 106 (North Newbridge Road), and four blocks later, exit W3 of the Wantagh State Parkway. Continuing east through the town of Hempstead, NY 24 remains a six-lane divided boulevard, crossing north of the Levittown Public Library as the route crosses into Levittown, intersecting with Jerusalem Avenue at the western end of the community. NY 24 continues east along a commercial strip into an intersection with North Wantagh Avenue, bending southeast into an intersection with NY 107 (Hicksville Road). The route then crosses into the town of Oyster Bay. Retaining the Hempstead Turnpike name, NY 24 enters the Plainedge neighborhood of Oyster Bay.[3]

NY 24 eastbound after Secatogue Avenue in Farmingdale

After passing St. Joseph's Hospital, NY 24 crosses through Plainedge and into a large cloverleaf interchange (exit 7) with the Seaford–Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135). Three blocks to the east, NY 24 condenses to four lanes, entering a partial cloverleaf interchange with the Bethpage State Parkway (exit B3). After crossing over the Bethpage, the route proceeds northeast through the town of Oyster Bay, crossing into the town of Farmingdale. After crossing under a line of the Long Island Rail Road, the route crosses Merritt Avenue at-grade, entering a junction with NY 109 (Fulton Street). Past the junction with NY 109, NY 24 changes monikers to Conklin Street, crossing through Farmingdale as a four lane street.[3]

For several blocks, NY 24 passes residential homes, before becoming a two-lane commercial street. A short distance to the east, the route intersects with Secatogue Avenue, which connects to the Farmingdale station to the northwest. Re-expanding to four lanes, NY 24 crosses through Farmingdale on Conklin before crossing the county line into Suffolk County. Now in the town of Babylon, retaining the Conklin Street moniker before entering an at-grade junction with NY 110 (Broad Hollow Road) in front of Airport Plaza. This junction serves as the eastern terminus of NY 24's western segment.[3]

As of October 2014, NY 24's Farmingdale section between its junction with New York State Route 109 and the eastern terminus at New York State Route 110 has been reduced to a two lane street.

The overlap with NY 25 was extended twice over the next decade. In the late 1930s, NY 25 was realigned to follow Queens Boulevard (NY 24) from Skillman Avenue to Horace Harding Boulevard.[9][10] It was altered again in the early 1940s to use the section of Queens Boulevard between Horace Harding Boulevard and Union Turnpike.[10][11] The concurrency was reduced slightly in the mid-1940s, however, as NY 24 was rerouted to follow the Crosstown Connecting Highway (now the right-of-way of I-278) and Midtown Highway (I-495) to the Queens–Midtown Tunnel. It then continued through the tunnel to end at NY 1A in Manhattan.[11][12] The Crosstown Connection Highway and the Midtown Highway were upgraded into the first portions of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) and the Queens Midtown Expressway, respectively, in the early 1950s. At the time, the Queens Midtown Expressway ended at 61st Street.[13][14]

By 1956, the highway had been renamed the Long Island Expressway (LIE) and extended east to Queens Boulevard. Although NY 24 intersected the highway twice—where it left the LIE at the BQE and at Queens Boulevard—NY 24 still followed the BQE and Queens Boulevard.[15] The portion of the LIE from Queens Boulevard to the Northern State Parkway (now exit 38) was completed in the late 1950s, at which time NY 24 was rerouted to follow the LIE between Manhattan and East Hills. The original routing of NY 24 from the BQE to Farmingdale was then redesignated as NY 24A. However, unlike NY 24 before it, NY 24A left NY 25 at the junction of Queens Boulevard and Hillside Avenue and followed Queens Boulevard and Jamaica Avenue through Queens.[16][17] The portion of NY 24 from Manhattan to the Clearview Expressway was co-signed as I-495 by 1960.[17][18]

NY 24 was removed from the LIE and shifted southward to replace NY 24A c. 1962. However, NY 24 was truncated to begin at the LIE instead.[18][19] On January 1, 1970, NY 24 was truncated again to the junction of Queens Boulevard and Hillside Avenue. This eliminated its overlap with NY 25, which was altered to follow NY 24's former routing through Queens.[20][21] NY 24 was rerouted once more between 1977 and 1981 to follow 212th Street once again to end at NY 25 and I-295.[22][23]

In Riverhead, NY 24 initially had a brief overlap with the northernmost portion of CR 104 (then NY 113) between Riverleigh Avenue (CR 103) and Main Street (NY 25), where both terminated.[24] This concurrency was eliminated by 1970 as NY 113 was truncated to end at NY 24.[20] On July 1, 1972, NY 24 was extended westward along a new divided highway following the course of the Peconic River. The roadway began at the Long Island Expressway and ended just south of Riverhead.[20][25] This segment of NY 24 is maintained by Suffolk County and is co-signed as CR 94.[26] It is one of three locally maintained sections of NY 24; the others are in Queens, where the route is maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), and in the village of Hempstead, where the route is maintained by Nassau County as CR 107 from North Franklin Street to Truro Lane.[27][28][29]

In the 1960s, there was a proposal to build a bypass around the current eastern terminus of the western segment of NY 24. The highway, named the "Republic Bypass", would begin at NY 24 midway between the Nassau–Suffolk County line and NY 110 and would parallel Conklin Street along its north side to Wellwood Avenue, where the bypass would merge with Long Island Avenue. The bypass was part of a plan to re-link the western and eastern segments.[30] Other proposed extensions built by Suffolk County were Suffolk Avenue (CR 100), Furrows Road, Peconic Avenue, and the formerly proposed Central Suffolk Highway (CR 90).[31] The right-of-way for the Central Suffolk Highway can be found beneath the bridge carrying CR 101 bridge over the main line of the Long Island Rail Road.[32]