County Route 48 (CR 48) is a major east–west

county road A county highway (also county road or county route; usually abbreviated CH or CR) is a road in the United States and in the Canadian province of Ontario that is designated and/or maintained by the county highway department. Route numbering can ...

on the North Fork of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

Suffolk County, New York Suffolk County ( ) is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York, constituting the eastern two-thirds of Long Island. It is bordered to its west by Nassau County, to its east by Gardiners Bay and the open Atlantic Ocean, to its no ...

, in the United States. It runs for from Sound Avenue in Mattituck to New York State Route 25 (NY 25) just outside the village of Greenport. The route is co-signed as NY 25 Truck, which continues west along Sound Avenue towards

Laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

. CR 48 was originally designated as CR 27 when it became a county road in 1930 and was renumbered to CR 48 in 1988 to avoid confusion with

New York State Route 27 New York State Route 27 (NY 27) is a long state highway that runs east–west from Interstate 278 (I-278) in the borough (New York City), New York City borough of Brooklyn to Montauk Point State Park on Long Island, New York ( ...

, which is the main thoroughfare on the South Fork of

Route description

CR 48, named Middle Road, starts just west of an at-grade intersection with Cox Neck Road and Sound Avenue west of the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

of Mattituck in the town of Southold. From there through Southold, the road becomes four lanes wide. Besides Wickham Avenue, the road intersects with Mill Lane (former CR 84) to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

; Elijah's Lane, which crosses the road after the east end of Wickham Avenue; Depot Lane in

Cutchogue Cutchogue ( ) is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County, New York (state), New York, United States, on the North Fork (Long Island), North Fork of Long Island's East End (Long Isl ...

, which leads to both the former Cutchogue railroad station and Duck Pond Point; and Bridge Lane, which was named for a railroad bridge over the Main Line of the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

. In Peconic, the route intersects Mill and Peconic lanes (the latter is the main road to the former Peconic railroad station while the former leads to Goldsmith's Inlet County Park on the North Shore). East of Ackerly Pond Road in Southold, the road becomes two lanes wide. The first streets that the road encounters are Kenny's Road and Horton Lane, both of which have north shore beaches in their namesake. Unlike Kenny's Road, Horton Lane spans as far south as the Southold Town Hall on NY 25, as does Youngs Avenue, which leads to Southold's railroad station and the Horton Point Lighthouse. The road takes a brief northeast turn at the intersection of Boisseau Avenue before moving back toward the east at North Road. As the road approaches Hashamomuck Pond, it replaces Sound View Avenue as the northernmost road on the North Fork. Sound View Avenue leads to Goldsmith's Inlet County Park, Peconic Dunes County Park, Horton Point Light and Hashamomuck Beach. Between Hashamomuck Pond and Greenport West, a section of Middle Road near a motel with the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a sound (geography), marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York (state), New York to the south. From west to east, ...

in the back yard is still paved with concrete, as it was commonly done during the late 1920s and early 1930s. The section of old-fashioned pavement, however, is short-lived. Along the border of Greenport, the road encounters a former KOA Campground, which today is the privately owned Eastern Long Island Kampground. It also runs along the southern border of Inlet Point County Park, and intersects Moore's Lane as it runs north of the village. CR 48 finally ends at NY 25 on the border between Greenport and Stirling, with CR 48's right of way continuing eastward toward Orient Point as NY 25. All of CR 48 is part of NY 25 Truck, a truck route of NY 25 that runs between

and Greenport.

History

CR 48 was added to the Suffolk County road system on January 27, 1930, as CR 27. The west end of the route was originally located in Mattituck, where it connected to New Middle Road, a newer section designated as CR 27A leading to Sound Avenue west of the hamlet. Within Mattituck, CR 27 followed Wickham Avenue. CR 27 was originally a two-lane road before the Suffolk County Department of Public Works (SCDPW) widened the west half of the route to four lanes in the early 1970s. A four-lane southerly bypass of Wickham Avenue was built as part of the project and designated CR 27B. In 1988, CR 27 was renumbered to CR 48 to eliminate numerical duplication with NY 27 on the South Shore of Long Island. CR 27A and CR 27B were both included in the new CR 48 while ownership and maintenance of Wickham Avenue was later turned over to the town of Southold. Part of the reason SCDPW widened Middle Road was in anticipation of the formerly proposed North Fork extension of the

Long Island Expressway Long may refer to: Measurement * Long, characteristic of something of great duration * Long, characteristic of something of great length * Longitude (abbreviation: long.), a geographic coordinate * Longa (music), note value in early music mens ...

(LIE). Once the expressway had been extended to the west end of CR 48 and Sound Avenue in Mattituck, CR 48 was to be upgraded into another segment of the LIE that would lead to a bridge either between East Marion and

Old Saybrook, Connecticut Old Saybrook is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region, Connecticut, Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region. The population was 10, ...

, or from Orient Point to Watch Hill, Rhode Island. There was also a proposal to extend CR 48 west along Sound Avenue in anticipation of the formerly proposed Jamesport Nuclear Power Plant that was to be built by the

Long Island Lighting Company The Long Island Lighting Company, or LILCO ("lil-co"), was an Electrical power industry, electrical power company and natural gas utility for Long Island, New York (state), New York, serving 2.7 million people in Nassau County, New York, Nassau, Su ...

. SCDPW's official description of CR 48 still lists part of Sound Avenue east of CR 105 as being part of CR 48, despite the fact that signage along the route indicates that Sound Avenue is the western terminus.

Major intersections

References

External links

Middle Road – Suffolk CR 48 (Greater New York Roads)
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091221191429/http://www.greaternyroads.info/suffolk/cr48/index.htm , date=2009-12-21 048