Palisades Interstate Parkway
|
|
The Palisades Interstate Parkway, officially known (but not signed) as New Jersey State Highway 445 and New York State Reference Route 987C, is a four-lane, 42 mile (68 kilometre) long, wooded highway, generally built to freeway standards, extending from Fort Lee, New Jersey (at the George Washington Bridge, which is I-95/US 1/US 9/US 46) to a traffic circle with US 9W and US 202 at Fort Montgomery, New York. Construction on the Parkway was completed in 1958. The Parkway is named after the Palisades, a line of basaltic diorite and red sandstone cliffs rising along the western side of the Hudson River.
A spur, officially (but not signed as) New Jersey State Highway 445S, splits from the main road near the south end and provides local access, ending at US 9W and NJ 67. Southbound, just beyond the split, is a local exit to NJ 505; traffic that stays on past that point must use the George Washington Bridge. NJ 445S is the original alignment of the PIP; what is now the main route was built later.
The Parkway is a major commuter route into New York City from Rockland and Orange counties in New York and Bergen County, New Jersey, though historically its primary role was to provide access to seventeen state parks and five historic sites of the Palisades Interstate Park region.
As with most New York parkways, commercial traffic is prohibited from using the PIP. An exception is the northernmost two miles of the road, which are concurrent with US 6, the Grand Army Highway.
External links
- Palisades Interstate Parkway (http://www.nycroads.com/roads/palisades/) (at nycroads.com)
- NJ Route 445 (http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000445__-.pdf) Straight Line Diagram
- NJ Route 445S (http://www.state.nj.us/transportation/refdata/sldiag/00000445s_-.pdf) Straight Line Diagram