New York State Route 1A (NY 1A) was a north–south

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

mostly located within

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 ...

. It extended for just under from an intersection with NY 27 near the

Holland Tunnel The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River that connects the New York City neighborhood of Hudson Square in Lower Manhattan to the east with Jersey City in New Jersey to the west. The tunnel is operated by the Port Author ...

Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

to an interchange with U.S. Route 1 (US 1) just north of the New York City line in the

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 ...

village of

Pelham Manor Pelham Manor is an affluent village located in Westchester County, New York. As of the 2020 census, the village had a total population of 5,752. It is located in the town of Pelham. History The Bolton Priory, Edgewood House, and Pelhamdale are ...

. In

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and the

South Bronx The South Bronx is an area of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Bronx, Concourse, Mott Haven, Bronx, Mott Haven, Melrose, B ...

, NY 1A used several surface streets to traverse the

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

s, including a handful of one-way roads. At 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 ...

, it began to follow

limited-access highway A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...

s, specifically 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 Parkway ...

and 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 ...

. The route was among those created when routes were first marked in New York City in 1934. At the time, NY 1A ran from the Holland Tunnel to US 1 and the

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 U ...

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 ...

. Over the next three decades, the route was gradually altered to accommodate changes in New York City's street network, including the construction of new roads and the conversion of parallel two-way streets into

one-way couplet A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descriptio ...

s. The designation was eliminated in the early 1960s.

Route description

NY 1A began in the vicinity of the

at Canal Street, designated as part of NY 27. It initially headed north on a

, with northbound NY 1A following

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...

and southbound traffic using

Varick Street __NOTOC__ Varick Street runs north–south primarily in the Hudson Square district of Lower Manhattan in New York City, United States. Varick Street's northern terminus is in the West Village, where it is a continuation of Seventh Avenue South ...

one block to the west. The couplet ended at

Houston Street Houston Street ( ) is a major east–west thoroughfare in Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs the full width of the island of Manhattan, from FDR Drive along the East River in the east to the West Side Highway along the Hudson River in t ...

, where both directions of the route turned eastward. As the route crossed Manhattan, it intersected the then-southern terminus of

NY 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 border. ...

Lafayette Street Lafayette Street is a major north-south street in New York City's Lower Manhattan. It originates at the intersection of Reade Street and Centre Street, one block north of Chambers Street. The one-way street then successively runs through Chi ...

. The highway continued to follow Houston Street until a junction with Second Avenue, the south end of another one-way couplet. While NY 1A southbound followed Second Avenue, the northbound direction proceeded east along Houston Street for another block to reach First Avenue. North of Houston Street, the couplet ran on a linear northeast–southwest alignment across Manhattan's east side, paralleling NY 22 to the west and

FDR Drive The Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive, commonly called the FDR Drive for short, is a limited-access parkway on the east side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It starts near South and Broad Streets, just north of the Battery Park ...

to the east. The one-way pair continued on First and Second avenues to the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyte ...

, where both directions of the route crossed the river on separate one-way bridges. NY 1A northbound used the

Willis Avenue Bridge The Willis Avenue Bridge is a swing bridge that carries road traffic northbound (and bicycles and pedestrians both ways) over the Harlem River between the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx, United States. It connects First Avenu ...

while the southbound direction used the Third Avenue Bridge three blocks to the northwest. Between the Third Avenue Bridge and Second Avenue, NY 1A was routed on 128th Street. Across the river 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 ...

, both bridges ultimately connected to

Bruckner Boulevard The Bruckner Expressway is a freeway in the borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx in New York City. It carries Interstate 278 (I-278) and Interstate 95 in New York, I-95 (and formerly Interstate 878 (1959), I-878) from the Triboroug ...

, with the Third Avenue Bridge making the connection via Lincoln Avenue and 135th Street. Bruckner Boulevard carried only NY 1A southbound from Lincoln Avenue to Willis Avenue, where NY 1A north left the latter street to join the southbound route. Now a unified route once again, NY 1A followed Bruckner Boulevard northeast through the southernmost part of the

to the

, where the surface street merged into the

. From here, NY 1A was routed along

s for the remainder of its length. It followed the Bruckner Expressway east to the

Bruckner Interchange The Bruckner Interchange is a complex interchange in the New York City borough of The Bronx in the United States. The junction connects four highways: the Bruckner, Cross Bronx, and Hutchinson River (or Whitestone) Expressways, and the Hutchinso ...

, where the route turned north onto the

. NY 1A proceeded along the parkway through the eastern part of the Bronx and

Pelham Bay Park Pelham Bay Park is a public park, municipal park located in the northeast corner of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. It is, at , the largest public park in New York City. The park is more than three times the siz ...

, where it ended at an interchange with US 1 just north of the

line in the village of

. NY 1A would end on the off-ramp to US 1 (now exit 7 on the Hutchinson River Parkway), while the Hutchinson River Parkway continued northeast through Westchester County toward the

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

state line.

History

New York City did not have posted routes until mid-December 1934. Earlier plans, drawn up in 1932 and 1933 by the

New York Automobile Club New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

, took US 1 through the Holland Tunnel and north through the upper east side of Manhattan. However, by 1934, the approaches to the

George Washington Bridge The George Washington Bridge is a double-decked suspension bridge spanning the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee, New Jersey, with Manhattan in New York City. The bridge is named after George Washington, the first president of the United St ...

were completed, and so US 1 was rerouted to use that bridge and cross through

upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park ( 110th Street), ...

. NY 1A was assigned to what had been planned as US 1 south of Fordham Road and the

Bronx and 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 U ...

, using the following streets: *

from the

north to Houston Street (northbound only, as it had become one-way since the 1933 plan; southbound traffic used

) *

from Sixth Avenue (and Varick Street) to Second Avenue * Second Avenue from Houston Street north to 23rd Street * 23rd Street from Second Avenue east to First Avenue * First Avenue from 23rd Street north to the

* Southern Boulevard (now partly

) from the Willis Avenue Bridge northeast to West Farms Road *West Farms Road from Southern Boulevard to Boston Road * Boston Road from West Farms Road to Fordham Road (US 1) and the

In December 1937, the

was extended southward from US 1 in

. The new highway became part of NY 1A, which was rerouted through the Bronx to follow Bruckner Boulevard and Shore Road to Pelham Bay Park. From there, NY 1A followed the parkway north to a new terminus at US 1 just north of the city line. A second southward extension of the parkway from Pelham Bay Park to NY 1A at the

opened in 1941. The new road was originally designated as NY 1X; however, the NY 1X designation was replaced with a rerouted NY 1A in 1946. The Willis Avenue Bridge became one-way northbound on August 5, 1941, and the Third Avenue Bridge became one-way southbound. Southbound NY 1A was thus rerouted along Lincoln Avenue, 135th Street, and

Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...

onto the bridge, and 128th Street, Second Avenue and 122nd Street to return to First Avenue. A direct connection from Southern Boulevard to the Third Avenue Bridge was later built. On June 4, 1951, First and Second Avenues were made into a

one-way pair A one-way pair, one-way couple, or couplet refers to that portion of a bi-directional traffic facilitysuch as a road, bus, streetcar, or light rail linewhere its opposing flows exist as two independent and roughly parallel facilities. Descriptio ...

north of Houston Street, moving northbound NY 1A south of 23rd Street and southbound NY 1A between 23rd Street and 122nd Street. The NY 1A designation was completely removed .

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also