Bronx River Parkway
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The Bronx River Parkway (sometimes abbreviated as the Bronx Parkway) is a long
parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...
in
downstate New York Downstate New York is a region that generally consists of the southeastern and more densely populated portion of the U.S. state of New York, in contrast to Upstate New York, which comprises a larger geographic area with much sparser population di ...
in the United States. It is named for the nearby
Bronx River The Bronx River (), approximately long, flows through southeast New York in the United States and drains an area of . It is named after colonial settler Jonas Bronck. Besides the Hutchinson River, the Bronx River is the only fresh water river i ...
, which it parallels. The southern terminus of the parkway is at Story Avenue near the
Bruckner Expressway The Bruckner Expressway is a freeway in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It carries Interstate 278 (I-278) and I-95 (and formerly I-878) from the Triborough Bridge to the south end of the New England Thruway at the Pelham Parkw ...
in
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
neighborhood of
Soundview Soundview is a neighborhood on the Clason Point peninsula, on the southern section of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, White Plai ...
. The northern terminus is at the Kensico Circle in
Valhalla In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat e ...
, Mount Pleasant,
Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
, where the parkway connects to the
Taconic State Parkway The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G) is a parkway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest in the U.S. state of New York. It follows ...
and, via a short connector,
New York State Route 22 New York State Route 22 (NY 22) is a north–south state highway that parallels the eastern border of the U.S. state of New York, from the outskirts of New York City to the hamlet of Mooers in Clinton County near the Canadian borde ...
(NY 22). Within the Bronx, the parkway is maintained by the
New York State Department of Transportation The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) is the department of the New York state government responsible for the development and operation of highways, railroads, mass transit systems, ports, waterways and aviation facilities in ...
and is designated New York State Route 907H (NY 907H), an unsigned reference route. In Westchester County, the parkway is maintained by the Westchester County Department of Public Works and is designated unsigned County Route 9987 (CR 9987). Most of the exits on the parkway, including the traffic light-controlled intersections in Westchester County, have interchange numbers. The term "Bronx River Parkway" originally referred to the Bronx River Reservation, New York's first
linear park A linear park is a type of park that is significantly longer than it is wide. These linear parks are strips of public land running along canals, rivers, streams, defensive walls, electrical lines, or highways and shorelines. Examples of linear p ...
, of which the road is a portion, from the Bronx–Westchester county line to
Kensico Dam The Kensico Reservoir is a reservoir spanning the towns of Armonk ( North Castle) and Valhalla ( Mount Pleasant), New York, located 3 miles (5 km) north of White Plains. It was formed by the original earth and gravel Kensico Dam constructed in 188 ...
Plaza. Current usage of the term is confined to the roadway, but extends it to the portion which now continues southward beyond the Reservation. Its northern terminus ends with a rotary near the Kensico Dam with exits for the
Taconic State Parkway The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G) is a parkway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest in the U.S. state of New York. It follows ...
and Route 22.


Route description

The southern third of the parkway, in the Bronx, is exclusively limited-access. It serves as a commuter route, intersecting several major east–west routes. Halfway through the borough it begins to closely parallel the
Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southea ...
of
Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...
, a pairing which continues to the road's northern terminus. In Westchester County, the road continues to have the same character until the
Sprain Brook Parkway The Sprain Brook Parkway (also known as The Sprain) is a long north–south parkway in Westchester County, New York, United States. It begins at an interchange with the Bronx River Parkway in the city of Yonkers, and ends at the former site ...
splits off at
Bronxville Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises one square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, ...
, allowing most through traffic to bypass White Plains. The stretches north of that junction have more of the original park character, and are still used that way. North of White Plains the exits are at-grade intersections with traffic lights.


The Bronx

The parkway begins at Story Avenue in the neighborhood of
Soundview Soundview is a neighborhood on the Clason Point peninsula, on the southern section of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, White Plai ...
in
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
, where two roadways merge near Metcalf and Morrison Avenues. Immediately to the north is the
cloverleaf interchange A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passes over or under the ...
at the
Bruckner Expressway The Bruckner Expressway is a freeway in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It carries Interstate 278 (I-278) and I-95 (and formerly I-878) from the Triborough Bridge to the south end of the New England Thruway at the Pelham Parkw ...
(
Interstate 278 Interstate 278 (I-278) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York in the United States. The road runs from US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) in Linden, New Jersey, northeast to the Bruckner Interchange in the New York ...
or I-278), where most traffic enters the parkway. Basketball courts and baseball fields flank the highway in the strip of parkland as the road leads to the north, slightly northwestward. North of Watson Avenue, within a half-mile (1 km) of the southern terminus, an on-ramp carries northbound traffic from Metcalf. The corresponding offramp for southbound traffic merges onto Harrod Avenue north of Westchester Avenue. Now in West Farms, the Bronx River Parkway has an onramp to the southbound lanes from East 174th Street. North of it is exit 4, the interchange with the Cross Bronx Expressway (
I-95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...
). The single ramp of exit 5 allows southbound traffic to follow East 177th Street to the northern terminus of NY 895 (Sheridan Boulevard) and the
Triborough Bridge The Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (RFK Bridge; formerly known and still commonly referred to as the Triborough Bridge) is a complex of bridges and elevated expressway viaducts in New York City. The bridges link the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, a ...
. North of the interchange the road veers to the northeast slightly and crosses the railroad tracks of
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
's
Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...
line. At East 180th Street, the linear park ends temporarily. The road becomes elevated to cross the
East 180th Street Yard The New York City Transit Authority operates a total of 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system, and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared betw ...
along the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...
's
IRT White Plains Road Line The White Plains Road Line is a rapid transit line of the A Division of the New York City Subway serving the central Bronx. It is mostly elevated and served both subway and elevated trains until 1952. The original part of the line, the part op ...
, which carries the , as well as the former
New York, Westchester and Boston Railway The New York, Westchester and Boston Railway Company (NYW&B, also known to its riders as "the Westchester" and colloquially as the "Boston-Westchester"), was an electric commuter railroad in the Bronx and Westchester County, New York from 1912 t ...
. After crossing the yard, wooded surroundings resume as the parkway follows the eastern edge of the
Bronx Zoo The Bronx Zoo (also historically the Bronx Zoological Park and the Bronx Zoological Gardens) is a zoo within Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York. It is one of the largest zoos in the United States by area and is the largest metropolitan zoo in ...
in the
Bronx Park Bronx Park is a public park along the Bronx River, in the Bronx, New York City. The park is bounded by Southern Boulevard to the southwest, Webster Avenue to the northwest, Gun Hill Road to the north, Bronx Park East to the east, and East 180 ...
neighborhood and the
Bronx River The Bronx River (), approximately long, flows through southeast New York in the United States and drains an area of . It is named after colonial settler Jonas Bronck. Besides the Hutchinson River, the Bronx River is the only fresh water river i ...
, which gives the road its name, begins to follow it on the west. On the northbound side, as it enters the park, is an unnumbered exit allowing authorized vehicles (like those of people working at the NYC Parks Department) access to local streets via Birchall Avenue. A quarter-mile to the north is the main exit for the zoo at Boston Road, with access to Boston Road ( U.S. Route 1 or US 1 northbound) for northbound traffic, then the full cloverleaf at
Pelham Parkway The Bronx and Pelham Parkway, also known formally as the Bronx–Pelham Parkway but called Pelham Parkway in everyday use, is a parkway in the borough of the Bronx in New York City. The road begins in Bronx Park at the Bronx River Parkway and ...
, where traffic can join US 1 southbound on
Fordham Road Fordham Road is a major thoroughfare in the Bronx, New York City, that runs west-east from the Harlem River to Bronx Park. Fordham Road houses the borough's largest and most diverse shopping district. It geographically separates the North Bron ...
. Past the exit the large wooded area on the west is the
New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...
, a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
(NHL). One half-mile (1 km) further north, exit 8 allows access to the
Mosholu Parkway Mosholu Parkway is a hybrid freeway-standard parkway and grade-level roadway in the borough (New York City), New York City borough of the Bronx, constructed from 1935 to 1937 as part of the roadway network created under Robert Moses. The roadway e ...
and Allerton Avenue. At the next exit, Gun Hill Road, the Williamsbridge station serving that neighborhood on
Metro-North Railroad Metro-North Railroad , trading as MTA Metro-North Railroad, is a suburban commuter rail service run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State public benefit corporations, public authority of the U.S. state of New Yor ...
's
Harlem Line The Metro-North Railroad Harlem Line, originally chartered as the New York and Harlem Railroad, is an commuter rail line running north from New York City to Wassaic, in eastern Dutchess County. The lower from Grand Central Terminal to Southea ...
, which closely parallels the parkway from this point on, is located immediately west of the highway. The railroad tracks join the river and the parkland in paralleling the road north as it continues straight along the east edge of Woodlawn Cemetery, another NHL. Almost a mile and a half () to the north, the Woodlawn station is located at the northeast corner of the cemetery next to the East 233rd Street exit. The highway bends left and then right again, crossing the river and the railroad, near the split along the tracks between the Harlem and
New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
lines immediately north of the station. After the curves, the Bronx River Parkway crosses the county line into
Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
at the McLean Avenue/Nereid Avenue overpass and leaves the Bronx.


Westchester County

Once across the county line the parkway is in
Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...
, close to its boundary with
Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
. A southbound exit, 10C, serves
Bronx River Road Bronx River Road is a major street and neighborhood in Yonkers, New York. It runs alongside the Bronx River, Bronx River Parkway, and Metro-North railroad tracks in south-eastern Yonkers. On the other side of the Bronx River is the City of Mou ...
at Wakefield Avenue near that train station a quarter-mile (500 m) north of the county line, even though the station is in the Bronx and the Harlem Line enters Westchester north of it. Northound traffic has 10A, for Mount Vernon Avenue and
Yonkers Avenue Yonkers Avenue is an east–west street in the city of Yonkers in Westchester County, New York, in the United States. It is one of four major east–west through routes in the city. The western terminus of the street is at Nepperhan Avenue, which ...
at the Mount Vernon West station three-quarters of a mile () to the north. Another southbound exit, 10B, serves Bronx River Road just to the north at its Mile Square Road and Winfred Avenue intersections. The park widens around the highway as it bends slightly, heading even more to the northeast. Just past this is exit 11, the
Cross County Parkway The Cross County Parkway (CCP) is a parkway in lower Westchester County, New York, in the United States. The parkway is a critical east–west connection throughout Westchester, having full interchanges with every major north–south high ...
, where the road swings toward the east to allow space for the complex of onramps that also allow access to Broad Street and the
Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...
station. A half-mile north of that junction, the parkland and the roadway narrow as
Bronxville Bronxville is a village in Westchester County, New York, United States, located approximately north of Midtown Manhattan. It is part of the town of Eastchester. The village comprises one square mile (2.5 km2) of land in its entirety, ...
becomes the community on the opposite side of the Bronx River. The road then turns sharply to the northwest, away from the Harlem Line. Vehicles continuing are now on the
Sprain Brook Parkway The Sprain Brook Parkway (also known as The Sprain) is a long north–south parkway in Westchester County, New York, United States. It begins at an interchange with the Bronx River Parkway in the city of Yonkers, and ends at the former site ...
, for which this is the southern terminus; traffic for the BRP must exit. The exit numbers reset; the new exit 1, Paxton Avenue in Bronxville, is on the northbound lanes just north of the split (exit 1A allows southbound traffic to leave the parkway for Desmond Avenue just before merging). Exit 2, West Pondfield Road, also northbound-only, is a thousand feet (300 m) to the north as the highway curves around downtown Bronxville to the east. Here, the road runs through the Armour Villa neighborhood until it runs under the Tuckahoe Road bridge. Almost a mile (1.6 km) separates it from the next exit, at Elm Street in Tuckahoe. The park continues to parallel the parkway, with paved
bike path A bike path is a bikeway separated from motorized traffic and dedicated to cycling or shared with pedestrians or other non-motorized users. In the US a bike path sometimes encompasses ''shared use paths'', "multi-use path", or "Class III bikewa ...
s and a large pond. A thousand feet to the north, Scarsdale Road is the first at-grade interchange, and the parkway then turns sharply to the east, then back to the northeast more gradually. Exit 8, Thompson Street, serves the nearby Crestwood station as the Harlem Line's tracks begin to parallel the road again. Another three-quarter mile north, after the road has resumed its northeast course, comes the next at-grade exit, Leewood Drive, on the northbound side. A quarter-mile (500 m) to the north are abandoned parking lots on both sides that were once gas stations. One-tenth of a mile (150 m) to the north, the roadways diverge and the river runs between them. Just beyond this is another at-grade interchange, Strathmore and Harney roads. The roadways remain apart through a wooded section as they curve westward for the next three-quarter mile, returning to the highway's northeastern heading as it leaves Yonkers and briefly enters Greenburgh south of the southbound Ardsley Road exit east of downtown Scarsdale. Just after it curves eastward again and crosses the Harlem Line, entering Scarsdale, traffic can enter and exit at Crane Road and East Parkway with southbound traffic using a light to cross over the northbound lanes and no entrance onto the southbound lanes. In the next stretch, there are exits for Ogden and Butler roads from the northbound lanes. Fenimore Road, just east of the
Hartsdale Hartsdale is a hamlet located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,293 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of New York City. History Hartsdale, a CDP/hamlet/post-office in the town of Green ...
and its
train station A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing suc ...
, is a northbound exit with southbound entry. Just to its north, southbound traffic can exit onto Greenacres Avenue. The parkway begins heading even more to the northeast, the tracks immediately adjacent, past northbound exits for River and Claremont roads. Just north of the latter exit, the highway enters White Plains, the Westchester
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
. After the northbound Walworth crossing exit, it turns northwest across the river and the tracks and then resumes its northeasterly course. A half-mile (1 km) north it reaches the Main Street (
NY 119 New York State Route 119 (NY 119) is an east–west state highway in Westchester County, New York, in the United States. The road starts in Tarrytown at an intersection with U.S. Route 9 (US 9) and comes to an end at a junctio ...
) northbound exit/southbound entrance, just west of the White Plains station on the west side of heavily developed downtown White Plains. It bends north and then northwest to the first of several at-grade intersections with traffic lights, also signed and numbered as exits, with Central Avenue ( NY 100), at the
Westchester County Center The Westchester County Center is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in White Plains, New York. It hosts various local concerts and sporting events for the area. The County Center was conceived by the Westchester Recreation Commission in 1924 as a m ...
. From here parkway traffic is also directed toward the nearby Cross-Westchester Expressway ( I-287) via NY 119, as the parkway has no direct interchange with it. The two roadways once again diverge, becoming almost apart in the half-mile (1 km) before they converge again as they reach the Old Tarrytown Road intersection just north of the expressway. Beyond it the parkway goes due north before curving slightly into the Fisher Lane intersection just west of the last Metro-North station along the parkway, North White Plains. The Maryton and Virginia Road intersections follow, spaced roughly a thousand feet (300 m) apart. Another thousand feet from that intersection, the highway turns to the northeast again as the roadways diverge and cross the Harlem Line and the Bronx River for the last time. Northbound traffic has the last exit, exit 27, onto Washington Avenue.
Kensico Dam The Kensico Reservoir is a reservoir spanning the towns of Armonk ( North Castle) and Valhalla ( Mount Pleasant), New York, located 3 miles (5 km) north of White Plains. It was formed by the original earth and gravel Kensico Dam constructed in 188 ...
is visible in the distance as the parkway reaches its northern terminus at Kensico Circle, southern terminus of the
Taconic State Parkway The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G) is a parkway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest in the U.S. state of New York. It follows ...
, also listed on the Register. A seven-mile (11 km) section of the Bronx River Parkway in Westchester County south of White Plains is closed to motorist traffic from 10 AM to 2 PM select Sundays in May, June and September (with the exception of Memorial and Labor Day weekends), allowing
bicyclists Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...
to venture along the scenic road. Another section north of the one reserved for bicyclists is reserved for
inline skating Inline skating is a multi-disciplinary sport and can refer to a number of activities practiced using inline skates. Inline skates typically have two to five polyurethane wheels depending on the style of practice, arranged in a single line by a ...
.


History

Construction began in
Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
in 1907, making it the earliest limited-access automobile highway to start construction. However, although construction on the
Long Island Motor Parkway The Long Island Motor Parkway, also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway, Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, or Motor Parkway, was a roadway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. It was the first roadway designed for automobile use only. The parkway ...
began a year later, a section of the Long Island road opened for traffic before the end of 1908, opening before the Bronx River Parkway as the first limited access automobile highway to be put into use. Neither was up to modern
freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
standards, utilizing left turns across the opposing direction at access points. The Bronx River Parkway was the first highway to utilize a
median strip The median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also a ...
to separate the opposing lanes, the first highway constructed through a park, and the first highway where intersecting streets crossed over bridges. The Westchester section of the Bronx River Parkway first opened to traffic in 1922 and was completed in 1925. A new roadway in the
New York City borough New York City is composed of five boroughs: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Each borough is coextensive with a respective county of New York State, making New York City the largest U.S. municipality situated in mult ...
of
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
including an extension south of the former
Botanical Gardens A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
/Burke Avenue terminus opened in 1951. That extension diverges eastward from the river. From 1953 to 1955, a segment of the parkway between Bronxville and the Bronx was closed to straighten and widen the road. During this reconstruction period, a new overpass was also built for the
Cross County Parkway The Cross County Parkway (CCP) is a parkway in lower Westchester County, New York, in the United States. The parkway is a critical east–west connection throughout Westchester, having full interchanges with every major north–south high ...
. In 1957, a half mile stretch of the Parkway between Woodland Viaduct in White Plains and the Scarsdale border was reconstructed to eliminate sharp dips and twists that purportedly provided a "roller coaster-like" effect for drivers.


Late exit modifications

During the 1960s and since then an entrance and exit on the northbound side between current exits 5 and 6 in the Bronx, and an associated
U-turn A U-turn in driving refers to performing a 180° rotation to reverse the direction of travel. It is called a "U-turn" because the maneuver looks like the letter U. In some areas, the maneuver is illegal, while in others, it is treated as a m ...
from southbound to northbound, formerly open to general traffic, were reserved for official use by police and the Parks Dept. which maintains an office there. This was around the time other U-turns were being eliminated from various parkways in New York City. A gas station in the wide median between Bronx exits 7 and 8, north of the pedestrian overpass to the Botanical Garden, was closed due to fire in the early 1980s and has since been razed and the median relandscaped. Of a pair of former gas stations on the outer margins of the roadway in Westchester near Crestwood, the southbound one is currently being used as a Westchester County Police Sub-Station, and the northbound used only as a tourist information stand. The interchange with the Cross County Parkway did not provide direct access to and from both directions of the latter until extra ramps and an extra overpass were provided beginning in the 1970s. The original interchange is now exit 11W. In 2009 the northbound exit ramp to Oak Street in Yonkers was replaced by an exit to Yonkers Avenue, a block to the south. From 2012 to 2015, a realignment and bridge replacement project was carried out in Scarsdale.


Truncation and extension

The Bronx River Parkway originally went beyond its northern terminus at Kensico Circle to NY Route 22 northbound. Today, the most obvious route through the circle leads motorists directly to and from the
Taconic State Parkway The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G) is a parkway between Kensico Dam and Chatham, the longest in the U.S. state of New York. It follows ...
, and the way to NY 22 northbound is considered to be a little spur off the circle. This spur from the Kensico Circle to NY 22 is unsigned CR 68. Prior to heightened security measures enacted post-September 11 motorists could take the road that leads towards NY 22 and then drive across the top of the Kensico Dam and eventually re-connect with the Taconic State Parkway. An extension from the southern terminus in the Bronx into
Soundview Park Soundview Park (sometimes referred to as Sound View Park) is a park on Clason Point in the southern portion of the Bronx, New York City. The park is adjacent to the Clason Point, Hunts Point, and Soundview neighborhoods, situated where the B ...
was proposed until the 1970s.


Westchester designation

The southernmost portion of the parkway in Westchester, south of the Sprain, is internally designated as NY 907G, an unsigned reference route, in apparent violation of the numbering standard. Ordinarily, the second digit should be the region.
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
, regions 10 and 11, share 0; Westchester is region 8 (the
Hutchinson River Parkway The Hutchinson River Parkway (known colloquially as The Hutch) is a north–south parkway in southern New York in the United States. It extends for from the massive Bruckner Interchange in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx to the New York ...
also shares this oddity). The section south of here is marked only with reference markers, and the section north only with county mileposts. This middle section has county mileposts in the middle, and reference markers with state mileposts (counting from the southern terminus in the Bronx, not the city line) alongside. However, Reference Route 907G is no longer listed in the NYSDOT traffic counts and the entirety of the parkway in the county is considered a county route by Westchester County. The parkway was documented by the
Historic American Engineering Record Heritage Documentation Programs (HDP) is a division of the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) responsible for administering the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), and Historic American Landscapes ...
in 2001. Drawings and photographs from the documentation project were made available throug
the Westchester County Archives
winning an award of excellence from the Lower Hudson Conference.


Exit list


See also

*
List of county routes in Westchester County, New York County routes in Westchester County, New York, are maintained by the Westchester County highway department. They provide additional interconnections between state highways within the county. Some portions of state highways in Lower Westchester Count ...
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National Register of Historic Places listings in Bronx County, New York List of Registered Historic Places in Bronx County, New York (Borough of The Bronx): This is intended to be a complete list of the 76 properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Bronx County, New York. The l ...
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National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Westchester County, New York __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Westchester County, New York, excluding the city of Peekskill, which has its own list. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and distric ...
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National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Westchester County, New York __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in southern Westchester County, New York, excluding the cities of New Rochelle and Yonkers, which have separate lists of their own. This is intended to be a complete ...


References


Further reading

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External links


Bronx River Parkway
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History of Scenic Road Programs - New York: Westchester County Parkways

Bronx Parkway (Greater New York Roads)
{{Authority control Parkways in New York City Transportation in Westchester County, New York Transportation in Yonkers, New York Parkways in New York (state) Transportation in the Bronx Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in New York City National Register of Historic Places in the Bronx National Register of Historic Places in Westchester County, New York Historic American Engineering Record in New York (state) Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)