page_title: Sunken Meadow State Parkway
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Sunken Meadow State Parkway / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Sunken Meadow State Parkway northbound at the ramp for Exit SM5W, NY&#160;25A west and the tollbooth for Sunken Meadow State Park in the distance.
context_page_description: The Sunken Meadow State Parkway is a 6.19-mile long parkway in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. Located entirely within the town of Smithtown, the parkway begins at a cloverleaf interchange with the Northern State Parkway and the northern terminus of the Sagtikos State Parkway. The parkway, which continues north, is a northern spur of the Sagtikos, which opened in September 1952. The northern end of the parkway is at the toll barrier in exit SM5 in the Kings Park section of Smithtown. From there, the road continues north through Sunken Meadow State Park to a roundabout at the Long Island Sound. The parkway comprises the northern half of New York State Route 908K, with the Sagtikos State Parkway forming the southern portion. Commercial vehicles are, like on most parkways, prohibited from using the Sunken Meadow, except for a portion north of NY 25A in Kings Park.
  The parkway was first proposed in 1928 when the town of Smithtown deeded over 400 acres of land to the Long Island State Park Commission via public vote.
context_section_description: Sunken Meadow State Park began as several parcels of land owned by the town of Smithtown that were combined to form the park. When the park first opened in 1928, it was 400 acres (160 ha) large. This land had been given to the state by a public vote of 493–436 (for vs. against) with promises of a new parkway and expanded facilities. By 1949, this had been expanded over to 925 acres (374 ha), with 10,000 feet (3,000 m) of beach. Due to restrictive land usage in Nassau County for a parkway, Robert Moses and the Long Island State Park Commission announced that the burden of providing a beach on the northern shore of Long Island rested on Sunken Meadow State Park. However, no funding had been received for the new parkway, which had been requested.
  The Sunken Meadow State Parkway was considered as one part of three spurs of the Sagtikos State Parkway, which bridged the eastern gap of the Long Island parkway system. Then designated the Sunken Meadow Spur, the route was to connect the Northern State and Sagtikos to Sunken Meadow State Park. The Sagtikos State Parkway opened on September 29, 1952 with provisions for the Sunken Meadow State. Originally when the park opened, an entrance was placed on a remote section of NY 25A in Fort Salonga.
  Slated with a 1956 completion date, the first 2 miles (3.2 km) from the Northern State to NY 25 (Jericho Turnpike) opened on November 29, 1954, with the landscaping at NY 25 incomplete. The LISPC believed that Sunken Meadow State Park, when the parkway was finished, was to become the second-most used park on Long Island, behind Jones Beach State Park. On April 1, 1957, the Long Island Parks Commission opened the full alignment of the Sunken Meadow State Parkway to traffic, after an $11 million (1957 USD) construction project on the 7-mile (11 km).
  With the opening of the new parkway, the Long Island Parks Commission expanded Sunken Meadow State Park to handle the additional traffic. The commission added four new parking lots, which brought capacity on the parkway from 3,000 vehicles to 7,500 vehicles. A new overlook was constructed, which also had the capacity for 1,250 more vehicles. A new cafeteria, extensions of the then-2,000-foot (610 m) boardwalk another 1,700 feet (520 m), along with other new facilities valued at $1 million (1957 USD) were also constructed. These expansions brought the size of Sunken Meadow State Park to 1,020 acres (410 ha) with 11,700 feet (3,600 m) of beachfront.
  From 1997–2001, engineers worked on a $6.5 million (2001 USD) study that would expand Long Island's transportation system by 2020. Included within the plan was 130 miles (210 km) of road widening, which included the Sunken Meadow State Parkway from the Northern State to NY 454. These proposals would give the Sunken Meadow a restricted-access lane for buses and carpooling drivers, part of a 60 miles (97 km) long system on Long Island.
caption: The Sunken Meadow State Parkway northbound at the toll barrier for Sunken Meadow State Park and exit SM5W, a ramp to NY 25A west
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