 New York State Route 164 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 NY 164 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained byNYSDOT | ||||
| Length | 5.06 mi[1] (8.14 km) | |||
| Existed | c. 1940[2][3]–1960s[4][5] | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |   US 9 /NY 9A inYonkers | |||
| East end |  US 1 in theBronx | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | New York | |||
| Counties | Westchester,Bronx | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
New York State Route 164 (NY 164) was astate highway in theNew York City Metropolitan Area. It extended for 5 miles (8 km) fromU.S. Route 9 (US 9) andNY 9A inYonkers toUS 1 in theNew York City borough ofthe Bronx. The route ran mostly along theNew York City line and indirectly met both theSaw Mill River Parkway and theNew York State Thruway in Yonkers. NY 164 followed McLean Avenue in Yonkers and Nereid and Baychester Avenues in the Bronx.
The NY 164 designation was assignedc. 1940 to provide a signed route to the1939–1940 New York World's Fair held inQueens. Originally, it began at the northern approach to theBronx–Whitestone Bridge and followed Eastern Boulevard (now the path of theBruckner Expressway) north to Baychester Avenue. As the Bruckner Expressway (Interstate 95 or I-95) was constructed in the 1960s, NY 164 was gradually truncated northward. The southern terminus was shifted north to the Bruckner Expressway's interchange withGun Hill Roadc. 1962, resulting in a partial realignment of NY 164, and to the junction of US 1 and Baychester Avenue by 1964. By 1970, theNew York State Department of Transportation had completely removed the NY 164 designation, allowing it to be reassigned toanother highway inPutnam County.
During the peak of expressway and parkway construction inNew York City in the 1960s, a proposal was made to construct an expressway that would parallel the northern segment of NY 164. The proposed highway, known as theCity Line Expressway, never advanced past the planning stages.
NY 164 began at an intersection withUS 9 andNY 9A (Broadway) in theWestchester County city ofYonkers. The highway headed southeastward as McLean Avenue, passing Sutherland Park and Pelton Park as it approachedVan Cortlandt Park and the northern boundary ofNew York City. Just before the route reached the city line, it made a U-turn to the north and interchanged with theSaw Mill River Parkway by way of Putnam Avenue. East of Putnam Avenue, the route paralleled the city line southeast toCentral Park Avenue, the latter split into two one-way streets as it served as service roads for theNew York State Thruway.[1][4]
Past the Thruway, NY 164 followed a more pronounced southeasterly alignment and entered theNew York City borough ofthe Bronx, where it became known as Nereid Avenue. The route crossed theBronx River and proceeded eastward through theWakefield neighborhood of the Bronx to an intersection with Baychester Avenue. Here, NY 164 turned onto the aforementioned street and followed it southeastward through the northern Bronx. The route crossedEast 233rd Street and went pastSeton Falls Park just before it ended at a junction withUS 1 (Boston Post Road).[1][4]
NY 164 was assignedc. 1940[2][3] to provide a signed route to theBronx–Whitestone Bridge and the1939–1940 New York World's Fair inQueens fromWestchester County andthe Bronx.[6] The route beganconcurrent withNY 1A at the north approach to the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge and followed NY 1A north on Eastern Boulevard, now the path of theBruckner Expressway. NY 1A and NY 164 split at the location of modern exit 8A, and NY 164 continued northwest on Baychester Avenue into the northern portion of the Bronx. At Nereid Avenue, NY 164 turned west, following Nereid and McLean Avenues toBroadway, where it ended atUS 9 andNY 9A.[3] The designation remained in place even after the World's Fair had concluded.[7]
In the mid-1940s, NY 1A was realigned to follow the recently completedHutchinson River Parkway Extension through the eastern Bronx, eliminating the overlap between NY 1A and NY 164.[7][8] The routing of NY 164 itself remained unchanged untilc. 1961, when the section of Eastern Boulevard (by this time known as Bruckner Boulevard) betweenPelham Parkway and theBruckner Interchange was upgraded into the Bruckner Expressway. Initially, there was no change to NY 164's routing as it followed the new highway from the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge to modern exit 12 (Baychester Avenue);[9][10] however, by the following year, this section of the Bruckner Expressway was redesignated as part ofI-95. As part of the change, NY 164 now began at exit 9 of the Bruckner Expressway and followedGun Hill Road west toUS 1. The two routes then embarked on an overlap northeast to Baychester Avenue, where NY 164 joined its previous alignment.[11]
By 1964, NY 164 was truncated again, this time to the northeastern terminus of its overlap with US 1.[4] The designation was removed entirely by 1970, allowing it to be reassigned toanother road inPutnam County.[5] Most of NY 164's former routing is currently maintained by the cities it passed through (New York City andYonkers); the only part that is not city-maintained is the bridge carrying McLean Avenue over theSaw Mill River Parkway in Yonkers, which is maintained by Westchester County as the unsigned County Route 127.[12]
In the mid-1960s, theRegional Plan Association (RPA) and theTri-State Transportation Commission proposed that an expressway be built along East 223rd Street through theWoodlawn andWakefield neighborhoods of the Bronx. The highway, known as the City Line Expressway, may have become a realignment of NY 164 if completed. The idea did not advance past the planning stages and was shelved in the late 1960s whenRobert Moses was removed from his post as New York City's arterial coordinator.[13]
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Westchester | Yonkers | 0.0 | 0.0 | US 9 /NY 9A (Broadway) | Western terminus |
| 1.1 | 1.8 |   Saw Mill River Parkway south via Putnam Avenue | |||
| 1.8 | 2.9 |   I-87 /New York Thruway via Central Park Avenue | |||
| Bronx | Bronx | 5.0 | 8.0 | US 1 (Boston Road) / Baychester Avenue | Eastern terminus |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
