New York State Route 231
New York State Route 231 is a north–south state highway located in Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. The route extends for from a partial interchange with NY 27A in Babylon to an interchange with the Northern State Parkway in Dix Hills. The southernmost of NY 231 is a limited-access highway known as the Babylon–Northport Expressway; the remainder of NY 231 is known as Deer Park Avenue.
Route description
NY 231 begins at an interchange with NY 27A in Babylon. The route progresses northward around Hawleys Lake as a four-lane freeway. A short distance after NY 27A, NY 231 meets ramps from County Route 50, but only provides service to the county road from the southbound direction.After John Street, the expressway crosses over the Long Island Rail Road's Babylon Branch and crosses northward through a large residential district. After paralleling Madison Street in North Babylon, NY 231 intersects with NY 27 in a full cloverleaf interchange. From NY 27, NY 231 heads northward and northwestward, intersecting with Hunter Avenue in North Babylon, where the expressway portion ends and the highway becomes an arterial boulevard. The route curves back to the north through the large commercial district, interchanging with CR 34. Right after the interchange, NY 231 interchanges with the Southern State Parkway at a full cloverleaf in North Babylon.
After the Southern State Parkway, NY 231 continues northward as an arterial boulevard named Deer Park Avenue. The surroundings are mostly commercial, continuing as a four-lane road and intersecting with CR 4 at a fork. After Commack Road, NY 231 becomes a residential arterial with a grassy, divided median and intersecting with CR 57 in Deer Park. The highway continues northward through Deer Park, crossing through a large commercial strip and under another Long Island Rail Road line. There is a short interchange with Long Island Avenue in Deer Park as NY 231 continues into Dix Hills, where it becomes residential once again near the intersection with CR 2.
The arterial road remains residential, continuing northward into an interchange with Interstate 495 in Dix Hills. Here, the road widens to five lanes and crosses underneath the interstate, where NY 231 becomes four lanes once again. The highway continues northward along the residential strip, intersecting with CR 67. Further to the north, NY 231 enters a partial cloverleaf interchange with the Northern State Parkway, where the NY 231 designation terminates.
At its northern terminus, Deer Park Avenue forks into two Suffolk County routes, continuing northwest as CR 35, and northeast as CR 66.
History
The entirety of Deer Park Avenue and Deer Park Road was originally designated as part of CR 35 on February 24, 1930.Governor of New York Nelson Rockefeller announced in 1961 funding would be allocated for the reconstruction and widening of Deer Park Avenue.
The project would help reduce congestion along the southern section of Deer Park Avenue during commutes and travel on weekends. The project would also help the ability to reduce flooding along Deer Park Avenue, which was a significant problem even during the lightest of rains. To relieve this issue, a system of drainage pipes would be constructed underneath the roadway.
In the 1960s, there were plans to upgrade the entirety of NY 231 into a limited-access highway, leading to much of CR-35 being transferred to the State of New York. However, only a short segment of this route was ever upgraded to a limited-access highway.
Plans for the Babylon-Northport Expressway
As suggested by its name, the Babylon-Northport Expressway was originally intended to be a north-south expressway spanning most of the width of Long Island, between the NY-27A in the village of Babylon on Long Island's south shore and the intersection of Elwood Road, Fort Salonga Road, and Reservoir Avenue at the southern edge of Northport village on its north shore. However, local opposition to the expressway eventually resulted in the cancellation of the project before anything more than the existing 2 mile stretch could be constructed. Despite this, roughly 40% of properties along the proposed expressway's right-of-way were acquired by NYS for the unbuilt extension, including along Elwood Road, in the vicinity of Northport.In 1962, the New York State Department of Public Works announced that Deer Park Avenue would be widened for a fourteen-mile stretch from Montauk Highway and NY 25A. The road would be expanded from a two-lane boulevard to a four-lane boulevard, at a cost of about $20 million with a slated completion of 1970. The first section would have its contract let on May 3, 1962, with a cost of $2.4 million. This stretch would include the piece between the Southern State Parkway and Lake Avenue in Deer Park. The new piece of the right-of-way would be completed by the middle of 1965, in which a new road would be constructed along the section from the Montauk Highway to the Southern State Parkway.
In the 1960s, the portion of CR 35 between the Southern and Northern State Parkways was transferred to the state of New York, which designated the highway as NY 231. Initially, NY 231 followed Deer Park Avenue south to NY 27A in Babylon; however, it was realigned to follow the aforementioned section of the new Babylon–Northport Expressway.
The map in this section shows the route of the never-built northern segment of the expressway.
Hot Rod Mecca
For at least 30 years, Deer Park Avenue served as one of the nation's hottest cruising strips. The New York Times twice called the stretch from North Babylon to Deer Park, New York a "Mecca for young people" where crowds of teens and young adults, usually those below legal drinking age, from Long Island and Queens, would line parking lots, hoods up, chatting and showing off their rides.On June 4, 2001, at 7:30 p.m., in part due to a second feature in The New York Times, the Joint Civic and Taxpayers Association met with elected town and New York State Department of Transportation officials for an action plan to crack-down on the drag-racing, littering and cruising calling it a significant quality of life issue for community residents.