Overview
The Long Island Expressway — officially Interstate 495 and universally known as the LIE — is the spine of Long Island’s highway network and the most heavily traveled road in New York State outside of New York City. Stretching 71 miles from the Queens Midtown Tunnel approach in western Queens to County Road 51 near Riverhead in eastern Suffolk County, the LIE carries more than 200,000 vehicles on a typical weekday. Its legendary congestion has made it a cultural touchstone: New York magazine coined the phrase “world’s largest parking lot” in the 1960s, and the label has endured through every subsequent decade of failed fixes.
Construction on the LIE began in 1940 under New York power broker Robert Moses, who envisioned a modern superhighway linking the bedroom communities of Long Island to the economic engine of Manhattan. The first segments opened in 1940 between Kissena Boulevard in Queens and Springfield Boulevard in Jamaica. Subsequent phases pushed the expressway eastward through Nassau County in the late 1940s and into Suffolk County throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The eastern terminus at Riverhead was completed in 1972, giving the highway its current 71-mile span. From the start, planners underestimated growth: Long Island’s post-war population exploded from roughly 600,000 in 1940 to more than 2.8 million by 1970, and the LIE’s lanes were overwhelmed almost immediately after each widening.
The highway runs roughly east-west, beginning at the portal of the Queens Midtown Tunnel in Long Island City, Queens, and crossing into Nassau County near Exit 25 (New Hyde Park Road). It traverses the North Shore communities of Great Neck, Manhasset, and Westbury before passing through the central Nassau spine at Plainview and Hicksville. Entering Suffolk County at Exit 40, the expressway cuts through the developed suburbs of Melville, Commack, and Hauppauge before reaching the more rural stretches east of Holbrook, Medford, and ultimately Riverhead. Along the way it intersects virtually every other Long Island artery: the Northern State Parkway, Southern State Parkway, Meadowbrook Parkway, Wantagh Parkway, Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway (Route 135), Sagtikos Parkway, Sunken Meadow Parkway, and Route 110, among others.
Dangerous Sections
Exit 49 — Route 110 (Amityville/Babylon interchange): The Exit 49 interchange in western Suffolk County is a perpetual accident hot spot. The on-ramp geometry requires drivers merging from Route 110 northbound to cross two travel lanes within a compressed distance. Rear-end and sideswipe crashes are frequent, especially during AM peak when westbound traffic stacks well past this interchange.
Exit 53 — Sagtikos State Parkway (Bay Shore): The Exit 53 interchange handles significant traffic between the LIE and the Sagtikos-Robert Moses Parkway corridor leading to Jones Beach. The connector ramps involve high-speed merges, and the nearby overpass columns restrict sight lines. NYSDOT crash data consistently identifies this segment as one of the top-five highest-incident locations on the entire expressway.
Exit 57 — Nichols Road (Hauppauge/Islandia): Exit 57 marks a transition zone where the LIE shifts from suburban density to lighter suburban sprawl. Despite lower surrounding density, the exit sees heavy commercial truck traffic from the Hauppauge Industrial Park, the largest industrial park in the northeastern United States. Truck-related crashes, debris, and sudden braking events are recurring issues.
Exits 31–36 (Searingtown Road to Searingtown/Nassau Expressway): In Nassau County, the managed lanes (Express and Local) diverge and merge repeatedly between Exits 31 and 40, creating frequent weaving conflicts. Drivers unfamiliar with the Local/Express split often make late lane changes at speed.
Towns Along This Route
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Accident Statistics
The LIE has historically ranked among New York State’s highest-crash corridors by total volume. NYSDOT Motor Vehicle Crash data show approximately 3,000–4,000 reported crashes annually on this corridor, with rear-end collisions comprising roughly 45% of all injury crashes. The Nassau County segments (Exits 25–39) generally see higher crash frequency due to greater traffic density, while Suffolk County segments (Exits 49–60) see higher crash severity due to higher operating speeds and heavier truck mix.