According to ejiaxing, New York or New York City in full is the largest city in the United States. The metropolitan area of New York is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. The city has 8,467,000 inhabitants, and an agglomeration of 19,768,000 inhabitants (2021). The city consists of 5 so-called boroughs, which all consist of a county. The 5 boroughs are The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island. The city is also the most densely populated with 10,502 inhabitants per square kilometer. However, the urban area is not the most densely populated in the country. This is because the suburbs are less populated than the suburbs of Los Angeles.
History of the highway network
The oldest grade separated road in the world, the Long Island Motor Parkway is located just outside of New York and opened to traffic in 1908. The region is characterized by some major bridges, some of which were de facto highways before the connecting infrastructure was also developed as highways. The Bronx River Parkway was the first 4-lane grade separations road, the first section of which opened in 1922. In the 1920s and 1930s, parkways were outside New York, particularly in Westchester County and Long Island. Its design requirements evolved over that time, gradually moving from 1×4 lanes to split lanes, to grade separations, and eventually the elimination of left turners, allowing the parkways to mature in design throughout the 1930s, eventually evolving into the first modern motorways in the second half of the 1930s. It is difficult to say exactly what the first modern highway is, as the Merritt Parkway is often mentioned.
In the 1930s, several major bridges and tunnels were constructed, as well as an extensive network of parkways, particularly on Long Island and the Hudson Valley. During the Second World War, the construction of highways stagnated, especially in the period 1941-1945. But some highways opened in the 1940s. In the early 1950s, freight traffic increased to such an extent that the parkways, with their low headroom and intended use, were unsuitable for this, prompting a new wave of expressways, which were part Interstate Highways from 1956. The heyday of New York highway construction was in the 1950s and 1960s. Construction declined sharply in the 1970s to almost a standstill. Only in New Jersey From that time on, new highways were built on some scale, often as Interstate Highways.
Main road network
The metropolitan area of New York City in the states of New York and New Jersey.
New York has one of the first highway networks in the world, well before the Interstate Highway system. The first fast roads were in the form of Parkways was built around 1910. This Parkway system was expanded considerably from the 1920s and 1930s. The Parkways were intended for New Yorkers to drive recreationally. The rapid growth of the suburbs made these Parkways busy commuter routes. Many Parkways and Expressways in and around New York are seriously outdated. Freight traffic is not allowed on almost all Parkways due to the bridges that are too low. The Parkways usually had 2×2 or 2×3 lanes, and have never been expanded or improved since. A stark contrast is New Jersey, which has adapted its highways to the population growth. In New York, Long Island and the New York suburbs, virtually no highway is wider than 2×3 lanes, but in New Jersey, 2×5 to 20 lanes are more common, especially on toll roads.
In total, the New York metropolitan area has 58 different highways, many of which are Parkways. In New York and Long Island, these are no wider than 2×3 lanes. New Jersey has a less dense network of Parkways. However, these are newer than in New York and Long Island.
Radiating highways
Although the region has a lot of different highways, there are a number of highways that have a clear through character. Chief among these is Interstate 95, which runs from the Washington / Philadelphia area toward Providence / Boston. To the north is Interstate 87, which runs to the state capital, Albany, and the Canadian city of Montreal. Two main highways run west, Interstate 80 passing through northern Pennsylvania toward Cleveland / Chicago runs, and the parallel Interstate 78, which connects the city of Allentown and Harrisburg in central Pennsylvania to New York a little more south. As a tangential connection, the Garden State Parkway runs along the west side of the metropolitan area from south to north, but it performs less of a through function, but connects the urbanized coast of New Jersey with the western suburbs of New York. Although Long Island is eccentric from the rest of the region and actually belongs to the New York metropolitan area, a clear main axis can be distinguished, this is Interstate 495.
Overview Expressways
New York City
| Road name | length | first opening | last opening | max AADT 2008 |
| Major Deegan Expressway | 13 km | 1939 | 1956 | 134,000 |
| Trans-Manhattan Expressway | 1 km | 1962 | 1962 | 289,000 |
| Cross Bronx Expressway | 11 km | 1955 | 1963 | 184,000 |
| Staten Island Expressway | 12 km | 1964 | 1964 | 190,000 |
| Gowanus Expressway | 9 km | 1941 | 1964 | 190,000 |
| Brooklyn-Queens Expressway | 17 km | 1950 | 1964 | 168,000 |
| Bruckner Expressway | 7 km | 1962 | 1972 | 166,000 |
| Clearview Expressway | 15 km | 1960 | 1963 | 111,000 |
| Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel | 3 km | 1950 | 1950 | 52,000 |
| Long Island Expressway | 114 km | 1940 | 1960 | 184,000 |
| Van Wyck Expressway | 23 km | 1939 | 1963 | 155,000 |
| Throgs Neck Expressway | 2 km | 1961 | 1961 | |
| Sheridan Expressway | 2 km | 1962 | 1962 | |
| Prospect Expressway | 3 km | 1960 | 1962 | 106,000 |
| Nassau Expressway | 9 km | 1971 | 1990 | 51,000 |
Long Island
| Road name | length | first opening | last opening | max AADT 2008 |
| Long Island Expressway | 114 km | 1958 | 1972 | 223,000 |
| Sunrise Highway | 140 km | 145,000 | ||
| Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway | 17 km | 1962 | 1969 | 104,000 |
| Babylon-Northport Expressway | 3 km | 1970 | 1970 | 29,000 |
Hudson Valley
| Road name | length | first opening | last opening | max AADT 2008 |
| New York State Thruway | 58 km | 1954 | 1956 | 138,000 |
| New England Thruway | 24 km | 1958 | 1958 | 140,000 |
| Interstate 287 | 50 km | 1955 | 1960 | 147,000 |
| Interstate 684 | 46 km | 1968 | 1974 | 85,000 |
New Jersey
| Road name | length | first opening | last opening | max AADT 2008 |
| Interstate 78 | 109 km | 1927 | 1977 | 147,000 |
| Interstate 80 | 110 km | 1961 | 1971 | 145,000 |
| New Jersey Turnpike | 125 km | 1951 | 1952 | 297,000 |
| Interstate 280 | 28 km | 1949 | 1980 | 118,000 |
| Interstate 287 | 109 km | 1960 | 1993 | 176,000 |
| Garden State Parkway | 277 km | 1950 | 1957 | 240,000 |
| State Route 3 | 17 km | 1949 | 1949 | 151,000 |
| State Route 4 | 17 km | 1930 | 1933 | 135,000 |
| State Route 19 | 5 km | 1969 | 1971 | 43,000 |
| State Route 21 | 23 km | 1958 | 2000 | 60,000 |
| State Route 81 | 2 km | 1979 | 1982 | 33,000 |
| State Route 208 | 16 km | 1969 | 1980 | 85,000 |
| State Route 495 | 6 km | 1937 | 1957 | 121,000 |
Parkways overview
New York City
| Road name | length | first opening | last opening | max AADT 2008 |
| Belt Parkway | 41 km | 1940 | 1941 | 188,000 |
| Bronx River Parkway | 31 km | 1922 | 1951 | 136,000 |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive | 15 km | 1934 | 1966 | 180,000 |
| Grand Central Parkway | 24 km | 1933 | 1936 | 263,000 |
| Harlem River Drive | 7 km | 1947 | 1964 | 98,000 |
| Henry Hudson Parkway | 18 km | 1936 | 1937 | 138,000 |
| Hutchinson River Parkway | 30 km | 1928 | 1941 | 116,000 |
| Jackie Robinson Parkway | 8 km | 1935 | 1935 | 94,000 |
| Korean War Veterans Parkway | 7 km | 1972 | 1972 | 81,000 |
| Mosholu Parkway | 5 km | 1937 | 1937 | 49,000 |
Long Island
| Road name | length | first opening | last opening | max AADT 2008 |
| Heckscher State Parkway | 13 km | 1961 | 1962 | 136,000 |
| Walk Parkway | 4 km | 27,000 | ||
| Meadowbrook State Parkway | 20 km | 1934 | 1956 | 144,000 |
| Northern State Parkway | 46 km | 1933 | 1965 | 190,000 |
| Robert Moses Causeway | 13 km | 1953 | 1964 | 43,000 |
| Sagtikos State Parkway | 8 km | 1952 | 1952 | 85,000 |
| Southern State Parkway | 41 km | 1927 | 1949 | 223,000 |
| Sunken Meadow State Parkway | 10 km | 1957 | 1957 | 66,000 |
| Wantagh State Parkway | 21 km | 1929 | 1938 | 73,000 |
Hudson Valley
| Road name | length | first opening | last opening | max AADT 2008 |
| Briarcliff-Peekskill Parkway | 29 km | 1933 | 1933 | 56,000 |
| Cross County Parkway | 7 km | 1932 | 1932 | 147,000 |
| Merritt Parkway | 60 km | 1938 | 1940 | 70,000 |
| Palisades Interstate Parkway | 62 km | 1947 | 1957 | 83,000 |
| Saw Mill River Parkway | 48 km | 1926 | 1954 | 89,000 |
| Sprain Brook Parkway | 20 km | 1961 | 1980 | 105,000 |
| Taconic State Parkway | 168 km | 1932 | 1963 | 113,000 |
Toll roads
A motorist in the New York metropolitan area cannot escape (hefty) tolls. Virtually all bridges and tunnels have tolls, and it’s impossible to get off Long Island without paying tolls. Many bridges are seriously outdated, and the tunnels even more so.
Toll bridges and tunnels, toll rates and exchange rate August 2013:
| Name | Connects | Toll costs (car) |
| Henry Hudson Bridge (Henry Hudson Parkway) | Manhattan – The Bronx | $5 / €3.75 |
| George Washington Bridge (Interstate 95) | Manhattan – Fort Lee | $13/€9.80 |
| Lincoln Tunnel (SR-495) | Manhattan – Union City | $13/€9.80 |
| Holland Tunnel (Interstate 78) | Manhattan – Jersey City | $13/€9.80 |
| Bayonne Bridge (SR-440) | Staten Island – Bayonne | $13/€9.80 |
| Goethals Bridge (Interstate 278) | Staten Island – Elizabeth | $13/€9.80 |
| Outerbridge Crossing (SR-440) | Staten Island – Perth Amboy | $13/€9.80 |
| Verrazano Narrows Bridge (Interstate 278) | Staten Island – Brooklyn | $15/€11.30 |
| Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel (Interstate 478) | Manhattan – Brooklyn | $7.50 / €5.65 |
| Queens–Midtown Tunnel (Interstate 495) | Manhattan – Queens | $7.50 / €5.65 |
| Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (Interstate 278) | Manhattan – The Bronx – Queens | $7.50 / €5.65 |
| Bronx–Whitestone Bridge (Interstate 678) | Queens – The Bronx | $7.50 / €5.65 |
| Throgs Neck Bridge (Interstate 295) | Queens – The Bronx | $7.50 / €5.65 |
| Tappan Zee Bridge (Interstate 87) | Tarrytown – Nyack | $5 / €3.75 |
The toll is usually levied in one direction. A typical working day costs a commuter between 7.50 and 13 dollars in toll costs. This is $3,000 a year.
There are also two toll roads:
- Garden State Parkway
- New Jersey Turnpike (I-95)
Other river crossings
The Brooklyn Bridge.
The Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
The George Washington Bridge.
| Name | From | Unpleasant |
| Broadway Bridge | Manhattan | Bronx |
| 207th Street Bridge | Manhattan | Bronx |
| Washington Bridge | Manhattan | Bronx |
| Alexander Hamilton Bridge (I-95) | Manhattan | Bronx |
| Macombs Dam Bridge | Manhattan | Bronx |
| 145th Street Bridge | Manhattan | Bronx |
| Madison Avenue Bridge | Manhattan | Bronx |
| 3rd Avenue Bridge | Manhattan | Bronx |
| Willis Avenue Bridge | Manhattan | Bronx |
| Queensboro Bridge | Manhattan | Queens |
| Williamsburg Bridge | Manhattan | Brooklyn |
| Manhattan Bridge | Manhattan | Brooklyn |
| Brooklyn Bridge | Manhattan | Brooklyn |
| Kosciuszko Bridge (I-278) | Brooklyn | Queens |
| JJ Bryne Memorial Bridge | Brooklyn | Queens |
| Pulaski Bridge | Brooklyn | Queens |
| Newark Bay Bridge (I-78) | Newark | Jersey City |
