{"nrhp_refnum":"02000301","name":"Long Island Motor Parkway","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly Alley Pond and Cunningham Parks, bet. Winchester Blvd. and Clearview Expressway, bet. 73rd Ave. and Peck Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Queens","county":"Queens","state":"NY","lat":40.736441998500055,"lon":-73.76219923508395,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-04-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district made up of two separate surviving sections of the Long Island Motor Parkway in Queens, New York, running through Alley Pond Park and Cunningham Park. It includes roadbed, five reinforced concrete bridges, ramps and markers, built between 1908 and 1926.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the earliest limited-access, paved automobile parkway in America and probably the world, significant for transportation and recreation history (Criterion A). It also embodies the design characteristics of an automobile parkway, such as no grade crossings and a road built for pleasure driving (Criterion C).","narrative":"Two surviving stretches of the Long Island Motor Parkway cross parts of Queens, running through Alley Pond Park and Cunningham Park. The parkway was conceived by William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. as a private toll road for automobiles after a deadly 1906 Vanderbilt Cup race. Construction began in 1908, and the road stayed in use until 1938, when newer parkways planned by Robert Moses had superseded it. The district contains seven contributing structures, two roadway sections and five reinforced concrete bridges, along with entrance and exit ramps, concrete bollards and right-of-way markers. One later bridge does not contribute. The Queens portion was built in stages: the eastern part by 1911, and the western extension in 1924-26. Later asphalt covers the original surface in many places, and the road became a bicycle path in 1938. It is considered the earliest paved, limited-access automobile parkway in America, with no grade crossings and a design aimed at pleasure driving.","period_of_significance":"1906-1938","architect_builder":"Williams, E.G., chief engineer; Brown, E. H., assistant","architectural_style":"Other: Parkway","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"No longer used for automobile traffic; the roadway was converted to a bicycle path in 1938 and is now used as a bicycle path and park pathway.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:54.037385-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/02000301.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000301/ba8c6078a4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000301/ba8c6078a4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 3.0","author":"Nowa at English Wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lookingeast_2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Nowa at English Wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lookingeast_2.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75321116","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Island_Motor_Parkway","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1869352"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/queens/long-island-motor-parkway-02000301/"}