Northern State Parkway

Northern State Parkway
Purple Heart Way
Northern State Parkway highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by NYSDOT
Length	28.88 mi[1] (46.48 km)
Existed	July 15, 1933[2]–present
History	First section opened July 15, 1933[2] Full length opened June 9, 1965[3]
Restrictions	No commercial vehicles
Major junctions
West end	Grand Central Parkway in Little Neck
Major intersections	I-495 in Old Westbury NY 25 / Meadowbrook State Parkway in Carle Place Wantagh State Parkway in Westbury NY 135 in Woodbury I-495 in Woodbury Sagtikos State Parkway / Sunken Meadow State Parkway in Commack
East end	NY 347 / NY 454 in Commack
Location
Country	United States
State	New York
Counties	Nassau, Suffolk
Highway system
New York Highways Interstate US State Reference Parkways

The Northern State Parkway (also known as the Northern State or Northern Parkway) is a 28.88-mile (46.48 km) controlled-access parkway on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. The western terminus is at the Queens–Nassau County line in Lake Success – west of which the parkway continues westward into New York City as the Grand Central Parkway. The eastern terminus is at New York State Route 347 (NY 347) and NY 454 in Hauppauge, in Suffolk County. As its name implies, the parkway services communities along the northern half of the island. The parkway is designated New York State Route 908G (NY 908G) – an unsigned reference route – and has been ceremoniously named Purple Heart Way since 2011.

In western Nassau County the parkway features six lanes – three eastbound and three westbound, narrowing to four lanes in central Nassau at the Wantagh State Parkway (exit 33) and continuing east as such to its terminus in Hauppauge, Suffolk County. It was constructed in stages throughout the 1930s and again following World War II, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, until it reached its current terminus in Hauppauge in 1965. The Northern State Parkway is an eastern extension of the Grand Central Parkway. It was part of master planner Robert Moses' extensive road-building campaign and was built as a sister road to the Southern State Parkway. In recent years its design has quickly become dated due to an increase in commuter traffic using the roadway, and numerous improvements have been made (including the widening from four to six lanes in Central Nassau west to the Nassau–Queens line, where it becomes the Grand Central) or are still on paper.