Interstate 495 (New York)

The Long Island Expressway (often abbreviated as LIE), also signed as Interstate 495, runs 66.38 miles (106.8 km) entirely within New York state, from the Queens-Midtown Tunnel in New York City to Riverhead, New York, through the counties of Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk, ending just before the "fish-tail" separation of the North and South Forks of eastern Long Island.

Related Topics:
Interstate - New York - Queens-Midtown Tunnel - New York City - Riverhead, New York - Queens - Nassau - Suffolk - Long Island

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The LIE was constructed in stages starting in 1939, when the Queens Midtown Tunnel was built, until 1972, when its Riverhead terminus was finished. Plans have existed to extend the LIE across the Long Island Sound to either Guilford, Connecticut or Rhode Island via a series of man-made islands, but lack of funding and public opposition have killed these proposals.

Related Topics:
Queens Midtown Tunnel - Long Island Sound - Guilford, Connecticut - Rhode Island

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In 1999, an HOV lane was added in each direction from Deer Park to (near) Hicksville. Construction to extend the lane to the border of Queens and Nassau Counties was finished on June 30, 2005.

Related Topics:
1999 - HOV - Deer Park - Hicksville - June 30 - 2005

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Smaller highways continue on from the end of the LIE to Greenport on the North Fork and past the Hamptons to Montauk on the South Fork. Cynics have suggested that the acronym "LIE" is appropriate since, due to the high volume of traffic on the LIE, the term "expressway" is a lie.

Related Topics:
Greenport - The Hamptons - Montauk

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