page_title: Interstate 495 (New York)
section_title: New York City
hierarchical_section_title: Interstate 495 (New York) / Route description / New York City
caption_attribution_description: I-495 and how much traffic it faces.
context_page_description: Interstate 495, commonly known as the Long Island Expressway, is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of New York. It is jointly maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation, the New York City Department of Transportation, MTA Bridges and Tunnels, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
  Spanning approximately 71 miles along a west–east axis, I-495 traverses Long Island from the western portal of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel in the New York City borough of Manhattan to CR 58 in Riverhead in the east. I-495 intersects with I-295 in Bayside, Queens, through which it connects with I-95. A roughly 5-mile gap in official Interstate designation exists within Queens, between I-278 in Long Island City and I-678 in Corona; this section of highway is officially designated as New York State Route 495, despite being signed as an Interstate Highway throughout.
  The Long Island Expressway designation, despite being commonly applied to I-495 in full, technically refers to the stretch of highway between Nassau and Suffolk counties.
context_section_description: The expressway begins at the western portal of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan. The route heads eastward, passing under FDR Drive and the East River as it proceeds through the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority-maintained tunnel to Queens. Once on Long Island, the highway passes through the tunnel's former toll plaza and becomes known as the Queens–Midtown Expressway as it travels through the western portion of the borough. A mile after entering Queens, I-495 meets I-278 (the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway) at exit 17. At this point, I-495 becomes the unsigned highway NY 495, although it is still signed as an Interstate Highway. It continues as a limited-access expressway,  on a generally easterly path, to the Rego Park neighborhood, where it connects to New York State Route 25 (NY 25, named Queens Boulevard) and becomes the Horace Harding Expressway. NY 495 heads northeast through Corona to Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, intersecting both the Grand Central Parkway and the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) within the park limits, where unsigned NY 495 ends and I-495 officially resumes. Because the interchanges in this area are close together, the highway employs two sets of collector/distributor roads through this area: one between 69th and 99th Streets, and one between the Grand Central Parkway and I-678.
  The expressway continues east, veering to the southeast to bypass Kissena Park before curving back to the northeast to meet the Clearview Expressway (I-295) at the northern edge of Cunningham Park. Past I-295, I-495 passes by the "Queens Giant", the oldest and tallest tree in the New York metropolitan area. The tree, located just north of I-495 in Alley Pond Park, is visible from the highway's westbound lanes. To the east, the freeway connects to the Cross Island Parkway at exit 31 in the park prior to exiting the New York City limits, crossing into Nassau County, and becoming the Long Island Expressway (LIE).
  Although the Long Island Expressway name officially begins outside the New York City border, almost all locals and most signage use "the Long Island Expressway" or "the LIE" to refer the entire length of I-495. The service roads of I-495 are called Borden Avenue and Queens Midtown Expressway between the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway and Queens Boulevard, and "Horace Harding Expressway" between Queens Boulevard and the Nassau County line.
  The Horace Harding Expressway section follows the path of Horace Harding Boulevard (also previously called Nassau Boulevard), which was named for J. Horace Harding (1863–1929), a finance magnate who directed the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and the New York Municipal Railways System. Harding used his influence to promote the development of Long Island's roadways, lending strong support to Robert Moses's "great parkway plan". Harding also urged construction of a highway from Queens Boulevard to the Nassau County Line, in order to provide better access to Oakland Country Club, where he was a member. After his death, the boulevard he helped build was named for him. Horace Harding was not related to the former President Warren G. Harding.
caption: I-495 in Queens with heavy traffic in both directions. The Long Island Expressway is locally known as "the world's longest parking lot"[5]
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