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62-535: The Robert Moses Causeway is an 8.10-mile (13.04 km) state parkway in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island . It is named for the master builder and urban planner Robert Moses . The parkway, originally known as the Captree Causeway , connects West Islip on Long Island to the barrier beach islands, such as Captree Island, Jones Beach Island , and the western tip of Fire Island , to

124-710: A vertical-lift bridge with a design similar to that of the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge . Later, the design of the Fire Island Bridge was changed to conform with that of the Great South Bay span, a 600-foot (180 m) steel-arch span with a 60-foot (18 m) clearance. The entire route is in Suffolk County . Parkways in New York The individual parkways vary widely in composition. Some, such as

186-526: A 6.9 percent margin, becoming the first Republican to carry the county since 1992. In 2020, Trump again won Suffolk County; this time, however, it was decided by just 232 votes out of nearly 800,000 votes cast, making it the closest county in the nation in terms of percentage margin, and representing nearly a seven-point swing towards the Democratic ticket of former Vice President Joe Biden and junior California senator Kamala Harris . In percentage terms, it

248-405: A Suffolk County Sheriff's Office patrol vehicle. In 1967, a new span was built next to the original bridge, carrying three lanes of northbound traffic. The original bridge was reconfigured to carry southbound traffic. The Fire Island Inlet span was completed in 1964. By 1985 a dual span was proposed to alleviate traffic, but it was never constructed. When first proposed in 1938, the span was to be

310-634: A cloverleaf interchange with Ocean Parkway . The parkway becomes a five-lane freeway with three northbound lanes and two southbound lanes in the vicinity of the junction. The parkway then traverses the State Boat Channel Bridge by way of a 665-foot (203 m)-long bascule bridge modeled after the Mill Basin Drawbridge in Mill Basin, Brooklyn . The north foot of the bridge contains an unnumbered interchange to

372-638: A crime. The local civil courts calendar small claims, evictions, and civil actions. Most non-criminal moving violation tickets issued in the 5 west towns are handled by the Traffic Violations Bureau, which is part of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles , not the court system. School districts (all officially designated for grades K-12) include: Fire Island Lighthouse was an important landmark for many trans-Atlantic ships coming into New York Harbor in

434-566: A four-year term, operates the two Suffolk County correctional facilities (in Yaphank and Riverhead ), provides county courthouse security and detention, service and enforcement of civil papers, evictions and warrants. The Sheriff's Office is also responsible for securing all county-owned property, such as county government office buildings, as well as the campuses of the Suffolk County Community College . As of 2008,

496-738: A main span of 600 feet (200 m), with a clearance for boats of 60 feet (20 m). After crossing the State Boat Channel over its 665-foot (203 m)-long bascule bridge , the causeway meets the Ocean Parkway at a cloverleaf interchange. This interchange provides access to Captree State Park , Gilgo State Park and Jones Beach State Park . The Fire Island Inlet Bridge continues the two-lane road, one lane in each direction, across Fire Island Inlet to its terminus at Robert Moses State Park and The Fire Island Lighthouse. Robert Moses Causeway opened in 1964. Suffolk County has

558-519: A neighborhood in Upper Manhattan. Some regions of New York have parkways that are not owned or maintained by a state agency. Westchester County, for example, contains some highways that were originally part of the TSPC and WCPC, while Suffolk County has preserved a section of the former Long Island Motor Parkway (LIMP) for current driving and built their own roads on land originally reserved for

620-668: A number of villages, such as Amityville , Lloyd Harbor , Northport , and Westhampton Beach that maintain their own police forces. In 1994, the Village of Greenport voted to abolish its police department and turn responsibility for law and order over to the Southold police department. After the Long Island State Parkway Police was disbanded in 1980, all state parkways in Suffolk County became

682-775: A private road on Captree Island, where the rest of the road is surrounded by protected land. On the section that crosses over the Great South Bay , via the Great South Bay Bridge , the New York City skyline can be faintly seen on a clear day. Originally a toll bridge , the remnants of the former toll plaza for the Great South Bay Bridge can be found on the north side in West Islip. At the cloverleaf interchange with NY 27A ,

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744-416: A scenic way into, out of, and around New York City . The first section of this system opened in 1908. Most of the early roads have been replaced and redesigned to address higher speed requirements and to increase capacity. In later sections north of New York City, the roadways were typically divided by a wide landscaped median and provided service areas along the way that offered fuel and restrooms . During

806-569: A study by the non-profit group ERASE Racism, which determined Suffolk and its neighboring county, Nassau, to be the most racially segregated suburbs in the United States. In 2006, there were 469,299 households, of which 37.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.00% were married couples living together, 10.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.20% were non-families. 18.30% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.80% had someone living alone who

868-482: A victory here in 1992, the county voted for Bill Clinton in 1996 and continued the trend by giving Al Gore an 11-percent victory in the county in 2000. 2004 Democratic candidate John Kerry won by a much smaller margin of under one percent, in 2008 Democratic candidate Barack Obama won by a slightly larger 6 percent margin, 52.5%-46.5%. In 2012, he carried the county by a slightly smaller margin 51%-47%. In 2016, Republican candidate Donald Trump won Suffolk County by

930-460: A whole, is Jayne's Hill in West Hills , at 401 feet (122 m) above sea level. This low lying-geography means that much of the county is vulnerable to sea level rise . Suffolk County sits at the convergence of climate zones including the humid continental ( Dfa ) and humid subtropical ( Cfa ), bordering closely on an oceanic climate (Cfb). The majority of the county by land area is in

992-460: Is a diversity of citizenship. The District Court and the Town and Village Courts are the local courts of Suffolk County. There are more than 30 local courts, each with limited criminal and civil subject matter and geographic jurisdictions. The local criminal courts have trial jurisdiction over misdemeanors, violations and infractions; preliminary jurisdiction over felonies; and traffic tickets charging

1054-519: Is bordered to its west by Nassau County , to its east by Gardiners Bay and the open Atlantic Ocean, to its north by Long Island Sound , and to its south by the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2020 United States census , the county's population was 1,525,920, its highest decennial count ever, making Suffolk the fourth-most populous county in the State of New York, and the most populous outside of

1116-704: Is home to Stony Brook University in Stony Brook and Farmingdale State College in Farmingdale . Suffolk County was part of the Connecticut Colony before becoming an original county of the Province of New York , one of twelve created in 1683. From 1664 until 1683, it had been the East Riding of Yorkshire . Its boundaries were essentially the same as at present, with only minor changes in

1178-875: The Dfa zone. Summers are cooler at the east end than in the western part of the county. The hardiness zone is 7a, except in Copiague Harbor , Lindenhurst, and Montauk, where it is 7b. Average monthly temperatures in Hauppauge range from 31.0 °F (−0.6 °C) in January to 74.0 °F (23.3 °C) in July, and in the Riverhead town center they range from 30.1 °F (−1.1 °C) in January to 72.8 °F (22.7 °C) in July, which includes both daytime and nighttime temperatures. On February 9, 2013, Suffolk County

1240-609: The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) within New York City. Today, the state parkways are for the most part equivalent to expressways and freeways built in other parts of the country, except for a few oddities. First, because many of these roads were either designed before civil engineers had experience building roads for automobile use or widened in response to increasing traffic, many New York parkways lack shoulders . Second, because designers focused more on making routes scenic rather than efficient,

1302-505: The Sprain Brook Parkway , are functionally equivalent to a freeway ; others, like Seven Lakes Drive , are two-lane undivided roads. The majority of parkways are located in downstate New York , where the state parkway system originated in the early 20th century. The state's parkway system originally began as a series of then-high-speed (25 miles per hour or 40 kilometres per hour) four-lane roads that were created to provide

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1364-581: The boroughs of New York City. Its county seat is Riverhead , though most county offices are in Hauppauge . The county was named after the county of Suffolk in England, the origin of its earliest European settlers. Suffolk County incorporates the easternmost extreme of both the New York City metropolitan area and New York State. The geographically largest of Long Island 's four counties and

1426-544: The 1930s, urban planner Robert Moses developed a system of parkways in the New York City area. Many of these parkways were built by regional agencies such as the Long Island State Park Commission (LISPC), New York City Parks Department , Taconic State Park Commission (TSPC), Westchester County Parks Commission (WCPC), and Palisades Interstate Park Commission (PIPC). Most are now maintained, if not owned, by NYSDOT outside New York City and

1488-516: The 2016 presidential election season, on September 26, 2016, making Hofstra the first college or university in the United States to host a presidential debate in three consecutive elections. The presence on the 2016 ticket of Westchester County resident Hillary Clinton and Manhattan resident Donald Trump resulted in greater attention by the candidates to the concerns of Long Island. Trump visited Long Island voters and donors at least four times while Clinton made one stop for voters and one additional stop in

1550-502: The 2023 general election, gaining a 12-6 supermajority. Police services in the five western towns ( Babylon , Huntington , Islip , Smithtown and Brookhaven ) are provided primarily by the Suffolk County Police Department . The five "East End" towns ( Riverhead , Southold , Shelter Island , East Hampton , and Southampton ), maintain their own police and other law enforcement agencies. Also, there are

1612-777: The Democratic Party maintained control over the Suffolk County Legislature picking up one seat that had been held by an Independence Party member. In November 2013, the Republican Party gained the 14th district seat, but remained in the minority until 2021, when the GOP flipped the county legislature, picking up three seats with incumbents Robert Calarco (the sitting Presiding Officer) and Susan Berland (the sitting Majority Leader) losing their bids for re-election. The Suffolk GOP built on these gains in

1674-585: The Federal U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York; and has various local municipal courts. The State Courts are divided into Supreme Court, which has general jurisdiction over all cases, and lower courts that either hear claims of a limited dollar amount, or of a specific nature. Similarly, the local courts hear claims of a limited dollar amount, or hear specific types of cases. The Federal Court has jurisdiction over Federal Claims, State Law claims that are joined with Federal claims, and claims where there

1736-758: The Hamptons for donors. After the 2022 midterm election results were counted, Suffolk appears to have moved further to the right. Republican gubernatorial candidate and Suffolk County native Lee Zeldin won the county by more than 17 points over the Democrat candidate Kathy Hochul. Republicans, as of 2023, hold both congressional districts covering that being New York's 1st congressional district represented by Nick LaLota and New York's 2nd congressional district represented by Andrew Garbarino . The 2023 election saw this trend continue, with Republican Edward P. Romaine defeating Democrat David Calone by 14 points to become

1798-523: The Hamptons. In his review, Howard Zinn wrote that the book "[t]akes us beyond the much-romanticized beaches of Long Island to the rich entrepreneurs and their McMansions, the Latino workers, and the stubborn indigenous residents refusing to disappear. The book is important because it is in so many ways a microcosm of the nation." The book won the Association for Humanist Sociology's 2005 Book Prize and

1860-596: The LISPC. The surviving remnant of the LIMP in western Suffolk County, named the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway , became a surface road that is no longer an expressway nor off limits to commercial vehicles. Suffolk County, New York Suffolk County ( / ˈ s ʌ f ə k / SUF -ək ) is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York, constituting the eastern two-thirds of Long Island . It

1922-713: The New York state line 3 miles (5 km) south of Fire Island in the Atlantic Ocean. Some Suffolk County towns (Islip, Brookhaven, Southampton, East Hampton, Babylon, Huntington, Smithtown) also employ various bay constables and other local marine patrol, which are sworn armed peace officers with full arrest powers, providing back up to the Suffolk Police Marine Bureau as well as the United States Coast Guard . This includes Fire Island and parts of Jones Island barrier beaches and

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1984-463: The Southern State. The first sprawling trestle crossing from West Islip to Captree Island was completed in 1951. The structure is 3,206.2 metres (2.0 mi) in length with a middle clearance for boats of 18.2 metres (59.7 ft). Originally, one lane was for southbound traffic and the other for northbound traffic. In a bridge opening ceremony, the first car to drive over the bridge was

2046-603: The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office employed 275 Deputy Sheriffs, 850 corrections officers, and about 200 civilian staff. Suffolk County has a long maritime history with several outer barrier beaches and hundreds of square miles of waterways . The Suffolk Police Marine Bureau patrols the 500 square miles (1,000 km ) of navigable waterways within the police district, from the Connecticut and Rhode Island state line which bisects Long Island Sound to

2108-514: The Suffolk County website, the county is the leading agricultural county in the state of New York, saying that: "The weather is temperate, clean water is abundant, and the soil is so good that Suffolk is the leading agricultural county in New York State. That Suffolk is still number one in farming, even with the development that has taken place, is a tribute to thoughtful planning, along with the excellent soil, favorable weather conditions, and

2170-620: The bill. Also in February 2019, a court ruled against the Suffolk County jail in the case of a former inmate who was denied hormone replacement therapy by the jail's doctors. Documents introduced in the trial indicate 11 other inmates were also denied treatment. Suffolk County is part of the 10th Judicial District of the New York State Unified Court System ; is home to the Alfonse M. D'Amato Courthouse of

2232-629: The boundary with its western neighbor, which was originally Queens County but has been Nassau County since the separation of Nassau from Queens in 1899. During the American Revolutionary War , Great Britain occupied Suffolk County after the retreat of George Washington's forces in the Battle of Long Island , and the county remained under occupation until the British evacuation of New York on November 25, 1783. According to

2294-453: The census-estimated New York State population of 19,745,289 and 19.0% of the census-estimated Long Island population of 7,869,820. The population density in 2010 was 1,637 people per square mile (632 people/km ), with 569,985 households at an average density of 625 per square mile (241/km ). However, by 2012, with an estimated total population increasing moderately to 1,499,273 there were 569,359 housing units. As of 2006, Suffolk County

2356-430: The county had paid the victim $ 1.5 million in a settlement; it had also paid Burke more than $ 500,000 in benefits and salary while Burke was concealing his conduct. Trotta said that the faithless servant doctrine in New York common law gave him the power to claw back the compensation. The Suffolk County Legislature supported the suit unanimously. The following month Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone signed

2418-539: The county legislature until a landmark election in November 2005 where three Republican seats switched to the Democrats, giving them control. In November 2007, the Democratic Party once again retained control over the Suffolk County Legislature, picking up one seat in the process. In November 2009, the Republican Party regained the seat lost in 2007 but remained in the minority for the 2010-2011 session. In November 2011,

2480-492: The county was $ 26,577. Using a weighted average from 2009 to 2014 about 6.40% of the population were below the poverty line In earlier censuses, the population below the poverty line included 2.70% of those under age 18 and 2.30% of those age 65 or over. In 2003, Democrat Steve Levy was elected county executive, ending longtime Republican control. In 2001, Democrat Thomas Spota was elected District Attorney, and ran unopposed in 2005. Although Suffolk voters gave George H. W. Bush

2542-523: The county. Since the New York state legislature created the New York State University Police in 1999, they are in charge of all law enforcement services for State University of New York property and campuses. The State University Police have jurisdiction in Suffolk County at Stony Brook University and Farmingdale State College. The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office is a separate agency. The sheriff, an elected official who serves

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2604-492: The current Suffolk County would comprise a new county to be called Peconic County . Peconic County would consist of the five easternmost towns of Suffolk County: East Hampton , Riverhead , Shelter Island , Southampton and Southold , plus the Shinnecock Indian Reservation . The proposed Peconic County flag showed the two forks at the east end of Long Island separated by Peconic Bay. The star on

2666-739: The early 20th century. For many European immigrants, the Fire Island Light was their first sight of land upon arrival in America. The Fire Island Inlet span of the Robert Moses Causeway connects to Robert Moses State Park on the western tip of Fire Island. The Great South Bay Bridge , the first causeway bridge, had only one northbound and one southbound lane, was opened to traffic in April 1954. The span of 2 miles (3 km) across Great South Bay to Captree Island features

2728-515: The extreme east of the State of New York. The eastern end of the county splits into two peninsulas , known as the North Fork and the South Fork . The county is surrounded by water on three sides, including the Atlantic Ocean and Long Island Sound , with 980 miles (1,580 km) of coastline. The eastern end contains large bays . The highest elevation in the county, and on Long Island as

2790-472: The islands of the Great South Bay . Marine units also respond to water and ice rescues on the inland lakes, ponds, and streams of the District. In February 2019, legislator Robert Trotta (R- Fort Salonga ) put forward a resolution to recover salary and benefits from James Burke, the county's former police chief. Burke had pled guilty to beating a man while in police custody and attempting to conceal it, and

2852-411: The most lighthouses of any United States county, with 15 of its original 26 lighthouses still standing. Of these 15, eight are in Southold township alone, giving it more lighthouses than any other township in the United States. At various times, there have been proposals for a division of Suffolk County into two counties. The western portion would be called Suffolk County, while the eastern portion of

2914-471: The nation to vote for Trump. As a whole, both Suffolk and Nassau counties are considered swing counties. However, until 2016, they tended not to receive significant attention from presidential candidates, as the state of New York has turned reliably Democratic at the national level. In 2008 and 2012, Hofstra University in Nassau County hosted a presidential debate. Hofstra hosted the first debate of

2976-507: The next County Executive. Republicans also gained a 12-6 supermajority in the County Legislature, seeing a net gain of one seat. * Appointed to complete Cohalan's term. ** Levy was originally elected as a Democrat, but became a Republican in 2010. The county has 18 legislative districts, each represented by a legislator. As of 2024, there are 11 Republicans , 6 Democrats , and 1 Conservative . Republicans controlled

3038-613: The north represents Southold. The stars on the South Fork represent Southampton and East Hampton. Riverhead is at the fork mouth and Shelter Island is between the forks. The secessionist movement has not been active since 1998. The End of the Hamptons: Scenes from the Class Struggle in America's Paradise , by Corey Dolgon (New York University Press, 2005 ) examined the class roots of the secessionist movement in

3100-528: The parkways are meandering, often built to follow a river, and so contain many turns. Finally, because most use low, decorative stone-arch overpasses that would trap trucks, commercial vehicles, trucks and tractor trailers are banned from parkways. In Manhattan , this has led to nearly all trucks being forced onto local streets as the island has only one short Interstate (the Trans-Manhattan Expressway ) passing through Washington Heights ,

3162-420: The population. In 2006, the county's racial or ethnic makeup was 83.6% White (75.4% White Non-Hispanic). African Americans were 7.4% of the population. Asians stood at 3.4% of the population. 5.4% were of other or mixed race. Latinos were 13.0% of the population. In 2007, Suffolk County's most common ethnicities were Italian (29.5%), Irish (24.0%), and German (17.6%). In 2002, The New York Times cited

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3224-767: The responsibility of Troop L of the New York State Police , headquartered at Republic Airport . State parks, such as Robert Moses State Park , are the responsibility of the New York State Park Police , based at Belmont Lake State Park . In 1996, the Long Island Rail Road Police Department was consolidated into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police , which has jurisdiction over all rail lines in

3286-673: The second-largest of New York's 62 counties, Suffolk County is 86 miles (138 km) in length and 26 miles (42 km) in width at its widest (including water). Most of the island is near sea level, with over 1,000 miles of coastline. Like other parts of Long Island , the county's high population density and proximity to New York City has resulted in a diverse economy, including industry, science, agriculture, fishery, and tourism. Major scientific research facilities in Suffolk County include Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton and Plum Island Animal Disease Center on Plum Island . The county

3348-589: The south. It is designated New York State Route 908J ( NY 908J ), an unsigned reference route . The Robert Moses Causeway begins inside Robert Moses State Park , located on the western tip of Fire Island. From here, the parkway heads north across the Fire Island Inlet on the Fire Island Inlet Bridge as a two-lane undivided road. On the north side of the inlet, the parkway becomes enters Captree State Park and approaches

3410-639: The third northbound lane becomes the deceleration ramp, and from there the rest of the parkway is four lanes wide. The parkway soon takes a slight northeastern turn and later rises to move over Union Boulevard ( County Route 50 or CR 50), the Montauk Branch of the Long Island Rail Road , and Orinoco Drive with no access to either roads. Instead, another cloverleaf interchange is available at NY 27 . The road remains elevated as it crosses over Muncey Road and then runs along

3472-453: The top 25 richest counties in America. In 2016, according to Business Insider , the 11962 zip code encompassing Sagaponack , within Southampton , was listed as the most expensive in the U.S., with a median home sale price of $ 8.5 million. The median income for a household in the county was $ 84,767, and the median income for a family was $ 72,112. Males had a median income of $ 50,046 versus $ 33,281 for females. The per capita income for

3534-422: The west side of Casamento Park, before approaching its northern terminus at the interchange with the Southern State Parkway . The north-to-eastbound ramp to the Southern State Parkway contains an interchange of its own with CR 57 (Bay Shore Road), because that ramp's traffic misses the Southern State's exit to CR 57. The other ramps exist on a partial cloverleaf just west of Bay Shore Road's interchange with

3596-445: The work of the dedicated farmers in this region." According to the U.S. Census Bureau , the county has an area of 2,373 square miles (6,150 km ), of which 912 square miles (2,360 km ) is land and 1,461 square miles (3,780 km ) (62%) is water. It is the second-largest county in New York by total area and occupies 66% of the land area of Long Island. Suffolk County occupies the central and eastern part of Long Island, in

3658-553: Was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.96 and the average family size was 3.36. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.10% under the age of 18, 7.60% from 18 to 24, 31.20% from 25 to 44, 23.30% from 45 to 64, and 11.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.80 males. In 2008, Forbes magazine released its American Community Survey and named Suffolk County number 4 in its list of

3720-443: Was besieged with 30 inches of snow, making it the largest day of snowfall on record in Suffolk. Suffolk County has maritime boundaries with five other U.S. counties and is connected by land only to Nassau County. According to the 2010 U.S. census there were 1,493,350 people and 569,985 households residing in the county. The census estimated Suffolk County's population decreased slightly to 1,481,093 in 2018, representing 7.5% of

3782-439: Was the 21st-most populous county in the United States . By 2014, the county's racial makeup was estimated at 85.2% White , 8.3% African American , 0.6% Native American , 4.0% Asian , 0.1% Pacific Islander , and 1.8% from two or more races . Those identifying as Hispanic or Latino , of any race, were 18.2% of the population. Those who identified as "white alone", not being of Hispanic or Latino origin, represented 69.3% of

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3844-403: Was the closest county in the state, although Ontario County and Warren County had narrower raw vote margins of just 33 and 57 votes, respectively. Suffolk was one of five counties in the state that Trump won by less than 500 votes. With Tarrant County, Texas and Maricopa County, Arizona flipping Democratic in 2020, Suffolk, along with Collin County, Texas were the most populous counties in

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