New York State Route 25A (NY 25A) is astate highway onLong Island inNew York, United States. It serves as the main east–west route for most of theNorth Shore of Long Island, running for 73 miles (117 km) fromInterstate 495 (I-495) at theQueens–Midtown Tunnel in theNew York City borough ofQueens toNY 25 inCalverton,Suffolk County. The highway is a northern alternate route of NY 25, which follows a more inland routing alongJericho Turnpike.

New York State Route 25A
NY 25A highlighted in red
Route information
Auxiliary route ofNY 25
Maintained byNYSDOT andNYCDOT
Length	72.91 mi[1] (117.34 km)
Existed	c. 1927[2][3]–present
Major junctions
West end	I-495 Toll inLong Island City
Major intersections	NY 25 in Long Island City I-278 inWoodside Grand Central Parkway /Whitestone Expressway inCorona I-678 /Whitestone Expressway inFlushing I-295 inBayside Cross Island Parkway in Bayside Sunken Meadow State Parkway inFort Salonga NY 25 /NY 111 inVillage of the Branch CR 97 inStony Brook NY 347 inMount Sinai CR 46 inEast Shoreham
East end	NY 25 inCalverton
Location
Country	United States
State	New York
Counties	Queens,Nassau,Suffolk
Highway system
New York Highways Interstate US State Reference Parkways
←NY 25 →NY 25B

The route is known for its scenic path through decidedly lesser-developed areas such asBrookville,Fort Salonga,Centerport, andRoslyn. It is known by various names along its routing, the most prominent of which include Northern Boulevard, North Hempstead Turnpike, Main Street, Fort Salonga Road, and North Country Road. It merges with NY 25 for approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km) inSmithtown.

NY 25A begins atI-495 exit 14, the second exit off theLong Island Expressway, inLong Island City in the New York City borough ofQueens. The route initially heads northward, following 21st Street for three blocks before turning northeast onto Jackson Avenue. Here, NY 25A widens from two to four lanes, a width that the road retains well intoNassau County. The highway serves theLong Island City Courthouse on its way to a junction withQueens Boulevard (NY 25) at the foot of theQueensboro Bridge. Here, the road changes names again, becomingNorthern Boulevard. Unlike the first two names, the Northern Boulevard name extends for a considerable distance, remaining with NY 25A through the neighborhoods of Long Island City,Woodside,Jackson Heights,Corona,East Elmhurst,Flushing,Bayside,Douglaston andLittle Neck. Northern Boulevard is the starting point of several prominent streets, such asSpringfield Boulevard,Steinway Street,Roosevelt Avenue and Woodside Avenue.

As Northern Boulevard, NY 25A begins to follow a more easterly path, loosely paralleling theSunnyside Yard to the south. NY 25A continues east into Woodside, and theBrooklyn–Queens Expressway (I-278) intersects with Northern Boulevard at the Woodside–Jackson Heights border. Northern Boulevard serves as the southern border forEast Elmhurst from theBrooklyn-Queens Expressway to 114th Street. It also serves as the northern border forJackson Heights andNorth Corona. NY 25A becomes a part of a large street grid and running along a linear alignment through Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, and Corona. It eventually reachesFlushing Meadows-Corona Park, where the highway intersects with theGrand Central Parkway just northwest ofCiti Field, where it briefly becomes afreeway whilst running parallel to theWhitestone Expressway. NY 25A then proceeds east as a surface road again toFlushing, where it intersects the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678).

Northern Boulevard continues through Flushing, where it was once known as Broadway, towards Bayside. The route travels generally easterly across Bayside, intersecting with the Clearview Expressway (I-295) along the way. Not far to the east, it crosses over theCross Island Parkway atAlley Pond Park. Past the Cross Island Parkway, NY 25A goes through Douglaston and Little Neck before crossing the New York City line intoNassau County. The five-mile (8 km) stretch of Northern Boulevard stretching eastward from Flushing has been described as roughly coterminous withKoreatown, Queens.^[4][5]

NY 25A, still bearing the Northern Boulevard name, crosses into Nassau County at theGreat Neck hamlet known asUniversity Gardens. It winds its way around a steep curve in the Great Neck area before descending intoManhasset and the hamlet'sMiracle Mile shopping area. The route continues eastward, intersecting withNY 101 andNassau County Route 101 (Port Washington Boulevard and Searingtown Road, respectively) just south ofPort Washington, in the villages ofFlower Hill (on its north side) andRoslyn Estates (on its south side), ahead of a split in Northern Boulevard. Old Northern Boulevard, which once carried the NY 25A designation, is the old route, which passes through the village ofRoslyn, whilst Northern Boulevard itself bypasses the village via. theRoslyn Viaduct, which carries NY 25A overHempstead Harbor.

The old and new routes converge east of the viaduct at an interchange with Bryant Avenue, and Northern Boulevard heads northeastward throughEast Hills andGreenvale, where it intersects withGlen Cove Road. InBrookville, NY 25A passes theNew York Institute of Technology and theC.W. Post Campus ofLong Island University before intersecting withNY 107. Past this point, the route slowly curves back to the east ahead of a junction withNY 106 south ofEast Norwich. NY 25A's run as a four-lane road ends here, and the route becomes a simple two-lane country road. It briefly reverts to four lanes at Cold Spring Road, and the highway entersSuffolk County less than a mile (1.6 km) later.

Some discrepancy exists over NY 25A's street name in Nassau County, particularly regarding the eastern half of the county. While signage for Northern Boulevard exists as far east as Cold Spring Road, implying that Northern Boulevard extends from Queens to the Suffolk line, several businesses located between NY 107 and NY 106 give North Hempstead Turnpike as the highway's name.^[6] Additionally, an old, undatedHagstrom Map from the late 1940s indicates that the Turnpike name extends as far west as the Queens line.^[7]

NY 25A makes a sharp northward turn just inside the county line at an intersection withNY 108. It travels throughCold Spring Harbor, where it is initially called Harbor Road, and then Main Street, before curving back to the east and heading intodowntown Huntington. In the hamlet, the road widens to four lanes and is also known as Main Street. At an intersection withCounty Route 35 (CR 35) on the east side of Huntington, NY 25A narrows to two lanes once more and heads towardCenterport, where it becomes Fort Salonga Road. This name remains in place through Centerport,Northport andFort Salonga to the vicinity ofSunken Meadow State Park. Just south of the park, NY 25A intersects with its firstlimited-access highway since the Cross Island Parkway in Queens when it encounters the northernmost exit on theSunken Meadow State Parkway.

Past the parkway, the route changes names from Fort Salonga Road to Main Street as it entersKings Park, home to the now-closedKings Park Psychiatric Center. The similarly numberedNew York State Bicycle Route 25A (NY Bike Route 25A) joins NY 25A here, switching fromCR 11 to NY 25A at the former's east end in the center of the hamlet. NY 25A continues on an eastward track toSan Remo (just east of Kings Park), where it makes a sharp southward turn at an intersection with St. Johnland Road in the center of the community. The route takes on the St. Johnland Road name and loosely parallels theNissequogue River as it heads towardSmithtown. They cross just west of theVillage of the Branch at the Smithtown Bull, where NY 25A intersects with its parent route. NY Bike Route 25A ends here; however, NY 25A continues east into thehamlet of Smithtown by way of anoverlap with NY 25 alongJericho Turnpike.

The Jericho Turnpike name ends a short distance into the community at a junction with Edgewood Avenue, giving way to Main Street. The Main Street name continues into the adjacent Village of the Branch, where NY 25 and NY 25A split at an intersection that also serves as the northern terminus ofNY 111. The latter route heads to theSouth Shore of Long Island while NY 25 continues eastward and NY 25A heads northeast towardSt. James andStony Brook as North Country Road. This section of NY 25A runs along thePort Jefferson Branch of theLong Island Rail Road (LIRR) and is also mostly part ofNY Bike Route 25, with occasional diversions. Along this stretch, NY 25A passes theStony Brook Museum and Carriage House andStony Brook University.

On the eastern edge of the Stony Brook campus, the route intersects with the north end ofCR 97 (Nicolls Road). It continues on a generally northeasterly track toEast Setauket, where it turns to head due east towardPort Jefferson. It enters the village as West Broadway, but turns south onto Main Street once the road reaches the harbor. NY 25A follows Main Street southeastward toPort Jefferson Station, home to the end of the LIRR's Port Jefferson Branch and NY 25A's junction with the north end ofNY 112. At the latter, NY 25A makes a sharp turn to the east, heading through the hamlet on Hallock Avenue toward its intersection withNY 347 (Nesconset Highway). NY 347 ends here, and NY 25A briefly becomes a wider highway to match the width of the former road.

About 1 mile (1.6 km) from NY 347, NY 25A intersects withCR 83 (Patchogue–Mount Sinai Road). From here, the road passes throughMount Sinai andMiller Place before splitting again to bypassRocky Point. The old path of the road passes through the community while NY 25A veers south of the hamlet. They reconnect east of Rocky Point to continue towardShoreham and an intersection withCR 46 (William Floyd Parkway) nearBrookhaven State Park. NY 25A continues east for another 3 miles (4.8 km) throughWading River to afork in the road atCalverton National Cemetery, where the route veers southeast while Sound Avenue, the other leg of the fork, heads due east towards theNorth Fork of Long Island. NY 25A runs along the eastern edge of the cemetery and through part of theBrookhaven National Laboratory grounds before ending about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the split at a junction with NY 25 inCalverton.

The route inQueens andNassau County was originally an east–west Indian trail between the current town ofNorth Hempstead andFlushing.^[8] Meanwhile, the original road inSuffolk County was realigned and straightened in several locations prior to becoming a state highway. The old route is now known as North Country Road fromPort Jefferson Station toSound Beach (formerlyCR 20) and fromShoreham toWading River. FromSmithtown toSaint James, it is nowEdgewood Avenue (itself onceCR 87).

A handful of smaller, mostly local sections also exist. InNorthport, the through road originally utilized Woodbine Avenue from Fort Salonga Road to Main Street and Bayview Avenue, and all of Main Street from there to Fort Salonga Road. InSetauket, it followed Main Street from Ridgeway Avenue and North Country Road to Old Town Road and current NY 25A.^[9] Finally, inPort Jefferson, the main road was initially East Broadway from Main Street and West Broadway to East Main Street, and East Main Street from there to the current Main Street.

All of modern NY 25A east of theNew York City limits was originally designated as part ofNY 25 in the mid-1920s. At the time, the section ofJericho Turnpike between New York City andSmithtown was state-maintained but unnumbered.^[2][10] It gained a designationc. 1927 when it was designated as NY 25A.^[2][3] By 1930, NY 25 was shifted southward onto its modern alignment between Smithtown andRiverhead while NY 25A was extended east over its former routing viaPort Jefferson. In the1930 renumbering of state highways in New York, the alignments of NY 25 and NY 25A west of Smithtown were flipped, placing NY 25 on Jericho Turnpike and NY 25A on the more northerly route viaRoslyn andHuntington.^[11]

NY 25A was one of several routes that was extended west into New York City in mid-December 1934 when the city signed routes within its limits for the first time. The route followedNorthern Boulevard west across northernQueens toQueens Boulevard, which at the time carriedNY 24 andNY 25. Here, NY 25A joined NY 24 and NY 25 across theQueensboro Bridge intoManhattan, where it followed2nd Avenue and57th Street for five blocks to meetNY 22 andNY 100 atPark Avenue.^[12] The extension into Manhattan was eliminated by 1952 when NY 25A was truncated to the intersection of Northern and Queens Boulevards.^[13] In the 1960s, NY 25A was extended southwestward along Jackson Avenue to meet theLong Island Expressway (I-495) just east of where it enters theQueens–Midtown Tunnel.^[14][15]

The east end of NY 25A was reconfiguredc. 1931 to follow Sound Avenue across the north shore ofLong Island fromWading River toMattituck, where it rejoined NY 25.^[11][16] The former routing of NY 25A between Sound Avenue and NY 25 west of Riverhead went unnumbered until the early 1940s when it was re-designated as NY 254.^[17][18] NY 25A was moved back onto its original routing through thetown of Riverhead in the early 1950s, supplanting NY 254 in the process.^[13][19]

NY 25A has been realigned in several locations in order to bypass local streets or entire communities along its routing.^[20][21]

The construction of theRoslyn Viaduct in the 1940s, for example, enabled traffic to flow more freely over Hempstead Harbor and keeping thehistoric community to the south preserved intact. The new route, known as the Roslyn Cut-Off, opened in 1949, and it bypasses the old alignment, which travels through the heart of Roslyn's downtown area.^[22][23] The old route through this area is now known as Old Northern Boulevard, and is located within theVillages ofFlower Hill,Roslyn, andRoslyn Estates.^[22][23][24] Much of Old Northern Boulevard within the downtown area of the Village of Roslyn is also part ofits own historic district.

Several smaller sections also exist:

• Huntington: Old Northport Road between Woodruff Court and Huntington Crescent Club.
• Centerport: between Little Neck Road (formerCR 86) and Centershore Road.
• Northport: between Troy Court and the driveway to Stonyhill Equestrian Center.^[20]
• Fort Salonga: Old Route 25A from east of Sunken Meadow Road to east of Tanyard Place.
• Smithtown: Realigned segment between John Street and Monroe Street,^[25] and again at the vicinity of Stone Gate Court.^[21]
• Setauket: North Country Road from Bennet's Road to Ridgeway Avenue and Main Street; Ridgeway Avenue from there to current NY 25A.^[26]
• Rocky Point: North Country Road from west of Rocky Point Landing Road to Woodville Road. The current alignment carries the designationNY 25A Bypass, with the former alignment designated asNY 25A Business.^[27][28]

Several bypasses were planned for NY 25A by theNew York State Department of Transportation. Only the Roslyn Viaduct and the Rocky Point Bypass were constructed; other attempts to realign the highway were cancelled as a result of public opposition. The projects were largely opposed out of fear that they would lower property values and bring more traffic jams and rampant development.

The proposed bypasses were:

• Manhasset Bypass (also known as theMiracle Mile Bypass): from East Shore Road to Manhasset Woods Road, crossing Whitney Pond and Shelter Rock Road.^{[29][30][31][32][33]} The proposal would have consisted of a four-lane or six-lane bypass south of the Miracle Mile, bypassing its western half, and would have cost approximately $5,000,000-$8,000,000 (1956USD).^[29][30] Approximately 10 homes in the South Strathmore subdivision would have been acquired through eminent domain, and would have also taken portions of property from two churches as well as from the Munsey Park School (and closing off one of its major exits).^[31][34] It also would have severed one of the South Strathmore subdivision's major entrances/exits.^[29][34]

A similar proposal was made in 1968 when the Spinney Hill area near Whitney Pond was preparing to receive a slum clearance/urban renewal project.^[35] This proposal would have created a bypass between East Shore Road and Plandome Road.^[35]

• North Shore Expressway (Lloyd Harbor–Kings Park): from Syosset–Cold Spring Road to Main Street, running mostly along Pulaski Road (CR 11).
• Smithtown Bypass North (San Remo–Saint James): beginning at East Main Street, St. Johnland Road, and Rose Street, and ending somewhere in the vicinity of Edgewood Avenue (eastern intersection). Upon completion of this segment,NY 111 would have been extended to Saint James.
• Setauket–Port Jefferson Station Bypass: beginning between North Country Road and Ridgeway Drive, and ending atNY 112 at Hallock Avenue. Upon completion of this segment, New York 112 was to be extended along Main Street to the Port Jefferson–Bridgeport Ferry. Instead, much of the right-of-way was converted into a bicycle trail.^[36]
• Nugent Drive Extension: beginning at the intersection of NY 25A and Sound Avenue, it would have veered right before Hulse Landing Road (CR 54), then turned south to crossNY 25 east of its current terminus before finally reaching Edwards Avenue in Calverton north of the former railroad station. From there, it would have replaced Edwards Avenue and connected with the existing section southeast of exit 71 at theLong Island Expressway. Like the existing section of Nugent Drive, it was to be designatedCR 94, and would have been concurrent with NY 25A from Wading River to CR 94A (Center Drive Spur), as well asNY 24. NY 25A would have ended at Main Street (NY 25) in Riverhead.^[37][38]

Northern Boulevard was mentioned in several episodes ofNorman Lear's hit sitcomsAll in the Family andArchie Bunker's Place – in addition to being the street on which several major locations in the show were located.^{[42][43][40][44][45]} Kelsey's Bar – the tavern whichArchie Bunker frequented (and would eventually purchase and rename Archie Bunker's Place) – was one such location to be located on Northern Boulevard in the show.^[42] Another location was the first dry cleaning store opened byGeorge Jefferson.^[43][40][45] The Bunker family's home at704 Hauser Street – a fictitious street – was also said to be located off Northern Boulevard.^[42][46]

• New York State Route 25A atAlps' Roads •New York Routes
• Greater New York Roads – New York State Route 25A
• New York State Route 25A (Mile by Mile)
• Smithtown Public Library Local History Department