What Happened
Two overnight repaving projects will force westbound lane closures on the Long Island Expressway and Sunrise Highway beginning next week, the New York State Department of Transportation announced, as Newsday reported Saturday, July 18, 2026.
The more extensive of the two projects affects the LIE westbound through the Oyster Bay area. Starting Monday, July 21, 2026, the highway will be shut between Exit 43A (Robbins Lane) and Exit 40 (State Route 25/Jericho Turnpike) every weeknight from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. for a period of four weeks. The HOV lane on that stretch may also be closed, with restrictions beginning as early as 9 p.m. — a full hour before the main closure window opens.
According to the state DOT, as cited by Newsday, travelers will be rerouted to the North Service Road for approximately 3 miles before being able to re-enter the expressway. Passenger cars have an additional option: the Northern State Parkway, which runs roughly parallel to the LIE through that corridor and offers a longer but uninterrupted westbound alternative.
The second project targets a shorter segment of Sunrise Highway westbound, between Exit 53 (State Route 112) in the Town of Brookhaven and Exit 51 (County Route 97/Nicolls Road) in the Town of Islip. Unlike the multi-week LIE project, the Sunrise Highway repairs are slated for a single night — also Monday, July 21, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. — and are expected to be fully completed before dawn. The DOT said drivers on that stretch can take the North Service Road for approximately 3.5 miles before returning to Sunrise Highway westbound.
Both closures are scheduled on weeknights to minimize disruption to commuter and commercial traffic, and the DOT’s detour routing relies heavily on local service roads running parallel to each highway.
Location & Road Context
The LIE closure falls on one of the busiest segments of I-495 on Long Island, threading through the Oyster Bay area of Nassau County between Jericho Turnpike and Robbins Lane. Our database shows 1,746 recorded incidents on I-495, including multiple crashes in the days immediately surrounding this announcement — a reminder of how heavily trafficked the corridor is even outside peak commuting hours. Overnight lane closures in this zone, even when confined to the 10 p.m.–5 a.m. window, can back up access ramps and adjacent roads as diverted traffic competes with late-night commercial trucks.
The Sunrise Highway closure affects the boundary between Brookhaven and Islip, a stretch that carries significant east-west volume from the South Shore. The 3.5-mile North Service Road detour is manageable in off-peak overnight hours, but drivers unfamiliar with the local road grid should plan their routes in advance using the DOT’s recommended alternatives.
Broader Impact
Four consecutive weeks of nightly LIE westbound closures through Oyster Bay will compress overnight truck traffic — much of it making westbound deliveries toward Nassau County and New York City — onto the North Service Road, a local route not designed for heavy commercial loads at volume. Commuters and commercial operators with regular late-night westbound routes on the LIE between Exit 43A and Exit 40 should adjust departure times or pre-plan Northern State Parkway routing now, before the first closure takes effect Monday night, according to the state DOT’s guidance reported by Newsday.