Nassau County has not had a posted system of county routes since the mid-1970s, when blue-on-orange markers, such as the one shown above, were removed from the county's highways because they did not conform to new federal standards for road signs. Prior to that time, the county maintained a comprehensive system of posted routes numbered from 1 to 193, with the lowest numbers generally assigned to the longest and most important thoroughfares. Several of these routes were extensions of, or otherwise related to, state touring routes having the same number. Please see Steve Anderson's pages for a history and listing of these routes.

The system today comprises two different numbering schemes. The first of these are the numbered routes, remnants of the former system now greatly reduced in density (and still unposted). However, the vast majority of the former posted routes are now given alpha-numeric designations, consisting of a two-digit number (01 through 99) preceded by a letter, starting with C (presumably for "county") and progressing through D and E. These are assigned alphabetically by road name, although many of these routes consist of a string of roads with different names. In some cases the routes are alphabetized by an alternate or former name, and may or may not reflect a directional prefix (which in turn may or may not be abbreviated). Where it is not evident, the name supplying the alphabetic position is given in the table below.

In addition, a single designation is often given to several distinct roads around the county, having either the same or different names. On the other hand, the transfer of many roads to town or village maintenance has left numerous gaps in the list; many of these can be accounted for in the listing of former county roads at the end of the table. Not included in that section are roads that were part of the original numbering system but probably predate the alpha-numeric scheme; see the links above for information on those routes.

With some 480 centerline-miles of roads within its compact area, Nassau County's highway system is among the densest in the state, and certainly the most mysterious. The Nassau County Department of Public Works does not publish a map of the system, and its web site provides only perfunctory information on highways. As a result, existing sources disagree considerably on certain details, and the listing below represents all best efforts to reconcile conflicting information.

In addition to this route table, a series of NYSDOT quadrangle maps annotated to show county roads is available.

In the "Towns" column, Villages and CITIES are also listed. (Note that towns are not included where the route exists entirely within one or more villages.)

SOURCES: NYSDOT Nassau County quadrangle maps (1975, 1990, 1991), NYSDOT New York State Atlas (1998/2000), NYSDOT Highway Inventory File (2011).

Edition 12/5/11

Official site: Nassau County Department of Public Works

<< Back