The Long Island Expressway (known as the LIE) is the road everyone loves to hate. Traffic. Potholes. Not to mention the speeding tickets. Below we present some crazy and historical facts about the LIE.
- In 1940, the LIE was just a one-mile-long, six-lane road from the Midtown Tunnel to the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
- It was known then only as the Midtown Highway
- In 1953, Newsday reported on plans for a 70-mile-long, six-lane highway between Manhattan and the east end of Long Island
- The cost to build in 1954 was estimated at $500 million
- The project was originally called the "Central Motor Expressway"
- The speed limit on the LIE was planned to be 35mph - no more than 40mph
- According to Newsday, the LIE was originally projected to be completed by 1957. That moved to 1958 and then 1961
- A website outlines the timeline for opening each section:
- In October 1958, the first section of the LIE built on Long Island was opened between Exit 32 and Exit 39 (Glen Cove Road)
- In 1960 the portion between Exit 39 and Exit 41 (NY 106 and NY 107) in Jericho was opened
- In 1962, the LIE crossed the Nassau-Suffolk border, ending at Exit 49 (NY 110) in Melville
- In 1963 the LIE extended to Exit 52 (Commack Road) in Dix Hills
- In 1964, a section opened to Exit 57 (NY 454 / Veterans Memorial Highway) in Islandia
- By 1966, the expressway was opened to Exit 61 (Suffolk CR 19 / Patchogue-Holbrook Road) in Holbrook
- The LIE originally was planned to carry 80,000 vehicles per day by 1970
- By 1962 the LIE carried between 125,000 and 150,000 vehicles per day
- In 1964, The New York TImes reported that “There is talk now of building an upper deck over the Expressway in Queens”
- Even back in 1968 officials proposed to widen the LIE from six to 10 lanes
- The original construction took 500 billion pounds of cement and 5 billion pounds of gravel, according to Newsday
- In 1972, the Riverhead terminus was finished
- From 1994 to 2005, HOV lanes were added
- The HOV began with a small section in Western Suffolk County, the lanes were added in subsequent sections until their completion on June 30, 2005
- There is one HOV lane in each direction, in the median of the highway.
- They now run from Exit 31 Cross Island Parkway to Exit 64 at Medford in central Suffolk County
- The LIE is 66.38 miles in length
- Believe it or not, the LIE only started getting street lights in 1981
- The lighting project was estimated to cost $6.1 million in 1981
- The Federal Government provided 75% of the cost of the installation; the state provided 25%
- Nassau and Suffolk County paid the electric bill
- Nassau’s bill was estimated at $58,000 a year in 1978
- Suffolk's bill in 1978 was estimated to be $90,000 a year
- By 1981, energy costs doubled
- The lights were “40-foot-high aluminum light poles are designed to withstand wind gusts of up to 117 miles an hour,” according to a report in the New York Times
- The highway is technically only referred to as the Long Island Expressway in Nassau and Suffolk counties, while in Queens, it called the Horace Harding Expressway and Queens-Midtown Expressway east of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway
- These names, however, are rarely used by locals, and it is colloquially referred to as the Long Island Expressway throughout its entire run
- The oldest tree in the New York metropolitan area, called the "Queens Giant," is very close to the Long Island Expressway in northeastern Queens (near the Douglaston Plaza Mall), and is visible while driving westbound. The Queens Giant is also the tallest tree in the New York metro area
- In 1962, a traffic commissioner called for study to construct a second deck above the LIE to help alleviate traffic
- He also suggested a bridge to Connecticut from Orient Point
- The New York Times said motorists were calling the LIE “the longest parking lot in the world” back in 1964
- 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
- The New York Times was already reporting in 1967 that “LI Expressway to Be Snarled for Many Years”
- Sadly, many people have died driving on the LIE including some very famous celebrities
- Singer-songwriter Harry Chapin died on the LIE after his car was hit by a tractor trailer on his way to perform at a free concert
- Director Alan Pakula - who directed Sophie's Choice and All the President's Men died when a metal pipe smashed through the windshield of his car