TheBelt Parkway is the name given to a series ofcontrolled-accessparkways that form a belt-like circle around theNew York City boroughs ofBrooklyn andQueens. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as theBelt System: theShore Parkway, theSouthern Parkway (not to be confused with theSouthern State Parkway), and theLaurelton Parkway. The three parkways in the Belt Parkway are a combined 25.29 miles (40.70 km) in length. TheCross Island Parkway makes up the fourth parkway in the system, but is signed separately.

Belt Parkway
Belt Parkway highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained byNYSDOT andNYCDOT
Length	25.29 mi[1] (40.70 km)
Component highways	NY 27 alongservice roads fromHoward Beach toLaurelton
Restrictions	No commercial vehicles
Major junctions
West end	I-278 inSunset Park
Major intersections	I-278 Toll inFort Hamilton NY 27 inHoward Beach I-678 /NY 878 inSouth Ozone Park NY 27 inLaurelton
East end	Cross Island Parkway /Southern State Parkway at theCambria Heights–North Valley Stream line
Location
Country	United States
State	New York
Counties	Kings,Queens
Highway system
New York Highways Interstate US State Reference Parkways

The Shore Parkway, Southern Parkway, Laurelton Parkway, andCross Island Parkway are collectively known as the "Belt System".^[2] The four components of the Belt System are designated as New York State Route 907C (NY 907C), NY 907D, NY 907B, and NY 907A, respectively, by theNew York State Department of Transportation. All four numbers arereference route designations and arenot signed.^[3] Excluding the Cross Island Parkway, the other three segments are now known collectively as the official "Belt Parkway". It is designated an east–west route, and its exit numbering system begins, in standard fashion, at the western terminus of the Shore Parkway, the westernmost parkway in the system. The numbering increases as the parkway proceeds eastward, and continues onto the Cross Island at the eastern terminus of the Belt Parkway. The north–south parkway retains the numbering scheme to its northern terminus.

The Belt Parkway begins at an interchange (exit 22) with theGowanus Expressway in theBay Ridge section ofBrooklyn. Paralleling Third Avenue, the parkway turns west and crosses over theLong Island Rail RoadBay Ridge Branch, a freight-only line. Bypassing Bay Ridge, the Belt passes exit 1, which services 65th–67th Streets in Bay Ridge. Crossing south pastOwl's Head Park, the parkway turns southward and enters Shore Road Park, paralleling the shore of theUpper New York Bay. The eastbound lanes of the Belt Parkway pass several small parking areas that serve as viewing spots for the bay. Connections across the parkway to Bay Ridge are also present at these parking areas. Beginning the bend to the southeast, the parkway passesAndrew Lehman Field.^[4]

Just east of the field, the Belt Parkway comes within the shadows of theVerrazzano-Narrows Bridge and passes exit 2, which serves as the southern terminus ofFourth Avenue. After crossing under the bridge, the westbound lanes enter exit 3 which connects to the Verrazzano. Eastbound, the lanes from the bridge connecting to the Belt merge in, as the road entersDyker Beach Park and Golf Course. During a short gap away from the shore, the Belt passes a parking area for Dyker Beach Park, entering exit 4, which services Bay 8th Street and 14th Avenue. Continuing along the park, the Belt begins to parallelCropsey Avenue and passes another parking area before reaching exit 5, a junction withBay Parkway. This marks the eastern end of Dyker Beach Park, and the route begins to parallel shoreline strip malls before reachingCalvert Vaux Park.^[4]

Now in theGravesend section of Brooklyn, the Belt passes exit 6, which connects to Cropsey Avenue. Westbound, this junction is split into exit 6N and exit 6S, also servingStillwell Avenue. The parkway bends eastward and crosses over theConey Island Complex, a large railroad yard for theNew York City Subway. Just before passing exit 7, the eastbound lanes cross just north of theNeptune Avenue subway station. Exit 7 eastbound servicesOcean Parkway, which is met by exit 7B proceeding westbound. Westbound, exit 7A services Shell Road in Gravesend. Paralleling the namesake Neptune Avenue, the parkway entersSheepshead Bay and connections toConey Island.^[4]

At exit 8, the Belt Parkway connects toConey Island Avenue, approaching the namesake bay as it continues east. Paralleling Emmons Avenue through Sheepshead Bay, the parkway passes exit 9A eastbound, which connects to Knapp Street and exit 9B, which is a ramp to the eastern end of Emmons Avenue. Westbound, exit 9 services Knapp Street. Crossing south ofGerritsen Beach, the parkway passes south of thePlum Beach Channel and passes a small rest area on the eastbound lanes. Turning northeast through theFloyd Bennett Field area, the parkway bends north and passes a service area with gas services in the median. Just north of the service area, the Belt passes exit 11N–S, acloverleaf interchange which connects toFlatbush Avenue and theRockaways.^[4]

After exit 11N, the Belt Parkway continues east through Floyd Bennett Field, crossing over theMill Basin Drawbridge intoBrooklyn Beach and passes the entrance to theJamaica Bay Riding Academy, the only business served directly on the parkway. Crossing over another bridge, the parkway enters theCanarsie section of Brooklyn. The parkway, now running northeast, parallels a bicycle path, reachingCanarsie Pier and exit 13, which serves as the southern end ofRockaway Parkway. Crossing over another bridge over Spring Creek, the parkway passes exit 14, which connects toPennsylvania Avenue inStarrett City. The interchange is adjacent to the former Pennsylvania AvenueLandfill. After crossing another waterway, Hendrix Creek, the Belt passes the formerFountain Avenue Landfill and passes exit 15, a diamond interchange with Erskine Street leading to theGateway Center shopping complex.^[4]

Now crossing over the Old Mill Basin section ofJamaica Bay, the Belt Parkway continues northeast in the borough ofQueens, entering exit 17N–S,Cross Bay Boulevard and Cohancy Street, which also connects to theCross Bay Bridge and towards the Rockaways. Crossing into an interchange withNY 27, the parkway travels under theIND Rockaway Line (A train) and passes exit 18B, which connects toAqueduct Racetrack inOzone Park.^[4]

Now on the Southern Parkway section of the Belt, the Belt continues eastward into exit 19, which connects toNY 878 (the Nassau Expressway) and indirectly withI-678, the Van Wyck Expressway.This interchange also serves as access toJohn F. Kennedy International Airport. Now with North and South Conduit Avenues serving as westbound and eastboundfrontage roads for the parkway, passing exit 20, a junction with theJFK Expressway and the airport. Crossing under the Van Wyck, the Belt continues east through multiple underpasses and overpasses before reaching exit 21A, westbound side, which services 150th Street andRockaway Boulevard. Crossing under Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, the Belt passes exit 21B, which connects to Farmers Boulevard and Guy R. Brewer Boulevard.^[4]

Exit 22 servicesSpringfield Boulevard, where the Belt Parkway begins to parallel aLong Island Rail Road line throughLaurelton. Westbound, exit 23A services North Conduit Boulevard (NY 27) and 225th Street, while eastbound, exit 23B services NY 27 and theSunrise Highway. At this junction, the parkway turns northeast and joins the Laurelton Parkway segment, which connects to exit 24A,Merrick Boulevard (also known as Floyd H. Flake Boulevard^[5]) in both directions, andFrancis Lewis Boulevard on the eastbound lanes. Exit 24B on the eastbound lanes connects also to Merrick Boulevard and 130th Avenue and on the westbound lanes connect Francis Lewis Boulevard. Just after crossing under 130th Avenue, the Belt passes exit 25A–B. At this interchange, the Laurelton Parkway segment ends, with exit 25A connecting to the western terminus of theSouthern State Parkway and exit 25B servicing Elmont Road.^[4]

At this interchange, the Belt Parkway crosses over the Southern State and becomes theCross Island Parkway, which continues north through Queens, connecting toI-495, theGrand Central Parkway and eventually I-678, the Whitestone Expressway.^[4]

The Belt Parkway was proposed by public official and highway advocateRobert Moses on February 25, 1930 to provide highway access to Manhattan and to connect to, and use similar design principles to,parkways already constructed onLong Island andWestchester County, New York. At the time, the Belt project was referred to as the "Marginal Boulevard".^[6][7] The Belt system was part of a "Metropolitan Loop" running through all five boroughs of New York City as well asNew Jersey, proposed by theRegional Plan Association in 1929. Other highways proposed in this loop included the futureCross Bronx Expressway andStaten Island Expressway.^[8][9][10]

In a 1937 report titled "New Parkways in New York City", the New York City Parks Department proposed the Belt Parkway in the following outline:

The Circumferential Parkway begins at Owl's Head Park at the Narrows, and follows the Shore Drive through Fort Hamilton and Dyker Beach Park. The City of New York was vested title in an extension along Gravesend Bay to Bensonhurst Park, and is about to acquire the remaining rights-of-way up to Guilder Avenue, including sufficient land for the conversion of Guilder Avenue into a genuine parkway with service roads. It is proposed to acquire the rights-of-way for the extension of Guilder Avenue by means of a new parkway parallel to, and north of Emmons Avenue to the Marine Parkway extension, for which land is already in the possession of the City. It is proposed to carry the Circumferential Parkway from Flatbush Avenue where the Marine Parkway extension ends, along or near Jamaica Bay to a point on Southern Parkway, just east of the Rockaway division of the Long Island Railroad in Queens. Work on the conversion of the Sunrise Highway into a genuine parkway is already under way. This will be known as Southern Parkway.^[6]

Construction began in 1934. New highway designs were implemented, including dark main roads and lighter-colored entrance and exit ramps. The parkway first opened on June 29, 1940, with most of Cross Island, Southern, and Shore Parkway sections completed.^[11] A 12-mile (19 km) bike path along the Southern Brooklyn section of the Belt Parkway opened in 1941.^[12]

The construction of Belt Parkway entailed:

• 11,800,000 cubic yards (9,000,000 m³) of hydraulic fill pumped
• 4,800,000 cubic yards (3,700,000 m³) of dry fill moved
• 1,500,000 square yards (1,300,000 m²) of pavement used
• 530,000 cubic yards (410,000 m³) of concrete used
• 11,500 cubic yards (8,800 m³) of masonry used
• 400,000 feet (120,000 m) of piles used
• 320,000 short tons (290,000 long tons) of steel used
• 9,000 men employed^[6]

All the original parkways, except the Gowanus, were built on grassy rights-of-way with trees, in a more green surrounding than most highways of their time. To build sections between exits 7 and 8 in the 1930s parts ofConey Island Creek were filled in, finishing the process, begun over a decade before construction began, of turningConey Island from an island into a peninsula.^[13] The Gowanus Parkway, in part replacing the demolishedFifth Avenue Line, was built as an elevated structure over Third and Hamilton Avenues in order to avoid the active docks and industrial areas includingSunset Park, Brooklyn.

Like mostparkways in New York State, the parkways comprising the Belt System were closed to commercial traffic, including any vehicle with a non-passenger registration and all commercial trucking of any size. Originally evenstation wagons, which had "suburban" registrations, were excluded but they were later allowed, along with passenger-registered SUVs and vans.

The Belt Parkway formed the southern portion of a system of parkways and highways that connected every borough exceptStaten Island. At its eastern end, the Belt Parkway became the Cross Island Parkway, which connected to theBronx–Whitestone Bridge and theHutchinson River Parkway in the east Bronx. At its western end, the Belt Parkway led to the Gowanus Parkway, theBrooklyn–Battery Tunnel, theWest Side Elevated Highway, and theHenry Hudson Parkway to the west Bronx. The Henry Hudson and Hutchinson River parkways were connected in the Bronx viaVan Cortlandt Park,Mosholu Parkway, andPelham Parkway, all of which were service-level roads.^[14][15] Some portions of the original system were converted toexpressways, which could be used by commercial traffic. TheGowanus Expressway replaced the Gowanus Parkway in 1950^[16] and became part of theInterstate Highway System as I-278.^[17] The Whitestone Parkway was expanded into theWhitestone Expressway starting in 1957;^[18] it also became an Interstate Highway and is signed as part ofI-678.^[19] In the late 1940s, the parkway was widened in its entirety.^[6]

In 1969, theNew York City Council co-named the Belt ParkwayLeif Ericson Drive between exit 2 and exit 9, to recognize the large Scandinavian population in Bay Ridge.^[20] By 1970, signage on much of the parkway's length (except for the Cross Island Parkway section) had been replaced by signs reading "Belt Parkway".^[6] The segment of NY 27A that ran concurrently with the parkway was removed in 1972.^[6] In the 1980s, the viaduct carrying traffic over theConey Island Yard was reconstructed.^[6] In September 2002, Exit 15 was opened to serve the nearbyGateway Center commercial development.^[21] in 2005, a project to reconstruct Exit 17 was competed. The old cloverleaf interchange was demolished, and a new Diamond interchange with wider deacceleration lanes and gentler turns was constructed in its place.^[6]

In October 2009, NYCDOT launched the first phase of a capital project to reconstruct seven obsolete bridges along the Belt Parkway.^[22] The first phase included the reconstruction of an overpass ramp from Guider Avenue, as well as the replacement of the Paerdegat Basin and Rockaway Parkway bridges, which was completed in 2012.^[23] In 2021, theMetropolitan Transportation Authority proposed widening a 2-mile (3.2 km) section of the Belt Parkway near the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.^[24][25]

• Belt Parkway atAlps' Roads
• Belt Parkway (Greater New York Roads)
• Belt Parkway (Jeff's Parkway Site: Photo Gallery)