County Route E64 is a major, county road between the Incorporated Villages of Mineola and Flower Hill, in Nassau County, on

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 ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. It is owned by Nassau County and maintained by the

Nassau County Department of Public Works Nassau County ( ) is a suburban County (United States), county located on Long Island, immediately to the east of New York City, bordering the Long Island Sound on the north and the open Atlantic Ocean to the south. As of the 2020 United St ...

. The portion of the CR E64 south of the Long Island Expressway (Interstate 495) is known as Willis Avenue, while the portion from the Long Island Expressway north to Northern Boulevard (NY 25A) is known as Mineola Avenue. The portion of the road in

Roslyn Heights Roslyn Heights is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of North Hempstead in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. It is considered part of the Greater Roslyn area, which is anchored by ...

is honorably named Langone Brothers Avenue, after two local firefighters killed on

September 11, 2001 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. A small, bypassed section of Willis Avenue exists in Albertson as a local street; this original alignment is now known as Old Willis Avenue.

Route description

CR E64 begins as Willis Avenue at

Old Country Road Old Country Road is a major east–west thoroughfare through central Nassau County and extending into western Suffolk County on Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), ...

(CR 25) in Mineola. It travels north-northwest underneath 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 ...

's Main Line and

Oyster Bay Branch The Oyster Bay Branch is a rail line and service owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The branch splits from the Main Line (Long Island Rail Road), Main Line just east of Mineola station ...

, then intersecting Second Street (CR E23) shortly thereafter. It then continues and intersects First Street (CR C78) one block to the north-northwest. It then continues straight, eventually intersecting Jericho Turnpike (NY 25). It then continues straight, towards the north-northwest, soon entering the Incorporated Village of Williston Park and intersecting Hillside Avenue (NY 25B). From there, CR E64 continues north through Williston Park, passing and crossing the former route of the

Long Island Motor Parkway The Long Island Motor Parkway, also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway, Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, or Motor Parkway, was a limited-access parkway on Long Island, New York, United States. It was the first highway designed for automobile use only. Th ...

before entering Albertson. Still continuing north, CR E64 soon intersects I.U. Willets Road in Albertson. It then continues north and north-northeast through Albertson, eventually reaching and crossing underneath the

Northern State Parkway The Northern State Parkway (also known as the Northern State or Northern Parkway) is a controlled-access parkway on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. The western terminus is at the Queens– Nassau County line in Lake Success � ...

; Willis Avenue enters

at this location. It continues north-northeast, soon reaching and crossing underneath the Long Island Expressway (I-495), and intersecting with its service roads (Powerhouse Road) at-grade, interchanging with the Long Island Expressway via Exit 37. At Powerhouse Road and the Long Island Expressway, the name of the road changes to Mineola Avenue and turns northwest through Roslyn Heights, eventually reaching Garden Street, and then reaching Warner Avenue one block north, before reaching Hillside Avenue one block later. From there, CR E64 continues northwest, forming the municipal border between the Incorporated Village of Roslyn and the Incorporated Village of Roslyn Estates, gently meandering its way to Old Northern Boulevard (CR D71) at the Flower Hill–Roslyn–Roslyn Estates

tripoint A triple border, tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geography, geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or Administrative division, subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints ...

. The road then enters the Incorporated Village of Flower Hill, continuing north to Northern Boulevard (NY 25A), where the county route designation terminates. North of this intersection, the road becomes Center Drive – a residential street owned and maintained by the Village of Flower Hill.

Old Willis Avenue

Old Willis Avenue is a short, roadway in Albertson, from just north of Nassau Drive to Yale Street; it is a former alignment of Willis Avenue. Both ends of Old Willis Avenue merge back into the current, newer alignment of Willis Avenue.

History

In 1906, portions of Willis Avenue were used as part of the course for the 1906

Vanderbilt Cup The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. History An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County, New York, Nass ...

. In the 1960s, there was a proposal to link Willis Avenue in Mineola with Hempstead Avenue (CR D09) in West Hempstead, by way of an abandoned

right-of-way through the Incorporated Villages of Garden City and Hempstead. The highway extension, which was to be known as County Boulevard, was estimated at the time to cost $9.5 million (1963

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

). Two options were to either have the whole route constructed at-grade – or for the road to be built as a surface road through Garden City, and as a depressed expressway through Hempstead; the latter option was cited in 1968 as having an estimated cost of $23 million. Nassau County, in announcing the proposal, stated that the construction of County Boulevard would ease cross-county travel by providing a direct link between Merrick Road (CR 27) to the south and Northern Boulevard (NY 25A) to the north. The proposal was eventually called off due to strong local opposition and pushback from residents and officials in both villages. Following the

September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, a portion of Mineola Avenue in Roslyn Heights was honorably named Langone Brothers Avenue, in honor of local residents Peter and Thomas Langone. The two brothers, who were volunteer firefighters for the Roslyn Rescue Fire Department, responded to the fire at the World Trade Center following that attacks; both brothers were killed when the

Twin Towers Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

collapsed. The honorary name was approved and dedicated by the Nassau County Legislature in September 2003. In 2021, Willis Avenue's grade crossings with the Long Island Rail Road's Main Line and Oyster Bay Branch were eliminated, as part of the Long Island Rail Road's

Third Track Project The Main Line is a rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It begins as a two-track line at Long Island City station in Long Island City, Queens, and runs along the middle of Long Island about 95 ...

. As part of the reconstruction project, Willis Avenue was lowered in the area to run underneath the tracks, thus eliminating the two grade crossings, which frequently caused congestion and safety hazards along that portion of the road. The elimination of Willis Avenue's two grade crossings – along with others in Mineola – had been proposed by New York State for decades, but had been pushed back and stalled due to community opposition and cost overruns. CR E64 was formerly designated CR 71, prior to the route numbers in Nassau County being altered. It, along with all of the other county routes in Nassau County, became unsigned in the 1970s, when Nassau County officials opted to remove the signs as opposed to allocating the funds for replacing them with new ones that met the latest federal design standards and requirements, as per the federal government's

Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices The ''Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways'' (usually referred to as the ''Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices'', abbreviated MUTCD) is a document issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the Unit ...

Major intersections

References

External links