Marcus Avenue is a major roadway in Nassau County, on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. It runs from the

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–Nassau border in Lake Success at its western end, to Garden City Park at its eastern end. It is maintained by the

Nassau County Department of Public Works Nassau County ( ) is a suburban County (United States), county located on Long Island, immediately to the east of New York City, bordering the Long Island Sound on the north and the open Atlantic Ocean to the south. As of the 2020 United St ...

and is designated as the unsigned Nassau County Route D46. On the Queens side of the New York City line, Marcus Avenue becomes known as the Grand Central Parkway Service Road, and continues west to

Little Neck Parkway Little Neck Parkway (formerly Little Neck Road) is the easternmost, major north–south route in the northern portion of the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens, traveling between the neighborhoods of Little Neck and Bell ...

and Commonwealth Boulevard in

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; the Grand Central Parkway Service Road is owned and maintained by the

New York City Department of Transportation The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is the agency of the government of New York City responsible for the management of much of New York City's transportation infrastructure. Ydanis Rodriguez is the Commissioner of the Departm ...

. The road is best known for being the former address for the temporary headquarters of the

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between 1947 and 1952.

Route description

Marcus Avenue begins adjacent to the

North Shore Towers The North Shore Towers and Country Club is a three-building residential cooperative located in the Little Neck, Queens, Little Neck neighborhood in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Queens, near the city's border with Nassau ...

and Grand Central/

Northern State Parkway The Northern State Parkway (also known as the Northern State or Northern Parkway) is a 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 � ...

s at the Queens–Nassau border, in Lake Success, as the eastern continuation of the Grand Central Parkway Service Road. From there, it parallels the south side of the Northern State Parkway to an intersection with Lakeville Road (CR 11) and eastbound Exit 25 on the parkway, before curving southeast, eventually reaching the Lake Success– North New Hyde Park border, where the road's mileage scheme resets. It then reaches North New Hyde Park Road (CR 5B) a short distance later, thence merging into Union Turnpike immediately thereafter, next to Clinton G. Martin Park. East of the junction with Union Turnpike, Marcus Avenue forms the Manhasset Hills–North New Hyde Park border and continues east before curving southeast, thence veering south and eventually intersecting Hillside Avenue (NY 25) at the Garden City Park–Manhasset Hills–North New Hyde Park tripoint. Marcus Avenue then reaches a junction with Denton Avenue (CR C58) immediately thereafter and veers back to the southeast. From there, Marcus Avenue continues southeast, eventually intersecting Nassau Boulevard (CR D66), and then reaching its eastern terminus at the intersection of Jericho Turnpike (NY 25) and County Courthouse Road soon thereafter in Garden City Park.

History

Marcus Avenue was originally constructed around 1910. The road is named for the Hon. Marcus Christ – the son of then-North Hempstead Town Supervisor Philip Christ; Marcus Christ would eventually serve as the Presiding Justice of the

New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York is the intermediate appellate court in New York State. The state is geographically divided into four judicial departments of the Appellate Division. The full title of each is, u ...

's Second Judicial Department. The name was suggested to Christ by the highway superintendent while Christ was doing a site inspection. Between 1947 and 1952, the

used the

Sperry Gyroscope Company Sperry Corporation was a major American equipment and electronics company whose existence spanned more than seven decades of the 20th century. Sperry ceased to exist in 1986 following a prolonged hostile takeover bid engineered by Burroughs ...

's building on Marcus Avenue, in Lake Success, as its temporary headquarters while the permanent one in Manhattan was being built. In the 1970s, a controversy arose regarding the road when the North Shore Towers were being built. New York City's planners proposed making the Queens continuation of Marcus Avenue one-way from

to the city line one-way eastbound, and for that pattern to continue into Nassau County, along Marcus Avenue, to Lakeville Road; Marcus Avenue would be the only road with access to the development, which planners estimated would lead to daily traffic on the road increasing by roughly 3,000 vehicles. This plan received heavy condemnation from Lake Success and Nassau County officials, who argued such an alteration of the road – especially on the Nassau County section – would be detrimental. Queens Borough President

Donald Manes Donald R. Manes (, ; January 18, 1934 – March 13, 1986) was a Democratic Party politician from New York City. He served as borough president of the New York City borough of Queens from 1971 until just before his suicide while under suspicion ...

and Nassau County Executive Ralph G. Caso reached an agreement in May 1974: New York City would keep their portion a two-way street, while Nassau County would allow the Q44A bus to enter Nassau County to serve

Long Island Jewish Medical Center Long Island Jewish Medical Center (also known as LIJ or LIJ Medical Center) is a clinical and academic hospital and medical campus within the Northwell Health system. It is a 1,004-bed, non-profit tertiary care teaching hospital and medical camp ...

, via Marcus Avenue and Lakeville Road in Lake Success; Caso had previously met with New York City Mayor

Abraham Beame Abraham David Beame (''né'' Birnbaum; March 20, 1906February 10, 2001) was an American accountant, investor, and Democratic Party politician who served from 1974 to 1977 as the 104th mayor of New York City. Beame presided over the city during ...

regarding the inter-municipal fight. Shortly after New York City agreed to keep their section of the road two-lane thoroughfare, city officials reversed course on October 21 of that year, and announced their renewed intention to make their section one-way eastbound. This decision led to Nassau County and North Hempstead officials – including Caso and then-North Hempstead Town Supervisor Michael J. Tully, Jr. – retaliating by threatening to erect a road barricade at the Queens–Nassau border and make the Nassau County side of Marcus Avenue one-way westbound west of Lakeville Road. The dispute was eventually resolved, and the road remains a two-way thoroughfare. In 1981, Nassau County installed a concrete median along Marcus Avenue in Garden City Park, in the vicinity of Laurel Drive. Nassau County 25C NY

Like all of the other county routes in Nassau County, CR D46 became unsigned in the 1970s, when Nassau County officials opted to remove the signs as opposed to allocating the funds for replacing them with new ones that met the latest federal design standards and requirements, as per the federal government's

Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices The ''Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways'' (usually referred to as the ''Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices'', abbreviated MUTCD) is a document issued by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of the Unit ...

. Furthermore, CR D46 was formerly designated as part of CR 25C, prior to the route numbers in Nassau County being altered.

Major intersections

References

{{County routes in Nassau County, New York Streets in Nassau County, New York Streets in Queens, New York Transportation in Nassau County, New York County routes in Nassau County, New York Town of North Hempstead, New York Lake Success, New York North New Hyde Park, New York 1910 establishments in New York (state)

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References