Interchange of the Week
Monday, 2 April 2001
Cross County & Saw Mill River Parkways, Yonkers
Yonkers Avenue & Rumsey Road
A full-size image (771 KB) is also available.

Orientation: The Saw Mill River Parkway runs top to bottom along the left edge of the photo. From it, the Cross County Parkway runs toward the right. Yonkers Avenue runs in an L-shape from top left to bottom right, with Midland Avenue branching off towards the bottom. Another section of Midland Avenue runs directly alongside the Cross County Parkway on its north side. Rumsey Road enters at bottom left and merges into the Saw Mill River Parkway at its interchange with Yonkers Avenue.

Exit numbers: On the Saw Mill River Parkway, Exit 4 is for the Cross County Parkway, while Exit 4A, southbound only, is for Rumsey Road. Exit 5 is for Yonkers Avenue. On the Cross County Parkway, Exit 1 is for Rumsey Road and Exit 2 is for the Saw Mill River Parkway, both westbound-only. Exit 3 is for Yonkers Avenue.

The interchange: The Cross County Parkway ends at the Saw Mill River Parkway at a "trumpet" interchange, typical for this type of junction, if somewhat geometrically unusual in this instance. The close proximity of local connections to Rumsey Road and Yonkers Avenue contribute to a fairly complicated set of approaches including some highly circuitous paths. A few of these involve the U-turn "jughandle" ramp found along the southbound side of Rumsey Road.

The interchange between the Saw Mill River Parkway and Yonkers Avenue appears at first as a diamond arrangement with one "folded" ramp. There are, however, several restricted movements. While the northbound lanes have connections to and from both directions of Yonkers Avenue, this is not the case with the southbound lanes, where the exit is for Yonkers Avenue westbound only. Eastbound access is probably best made by proceeding to Exit 3 of the Cross County Parkway, although it is possible to exit at Rumsey Road, reverse direction in the jughandle, enter the northbound Saw Mill River Parkway and exit immediately afterward to Yonkers Avenue. Similarly, eastbound traffic wishing to enter the southbound Saw Mill River Parkway must use the Rumsey Road jughandle, while westbound traffic has no access to the southbound Saw Mill River Parkway at all (southbound destinations can be reached by the nearby New York State Thruway).

Rumsey Road intersects the Saw Mill River Parkway with full connections, save for the redundant U-turn movement from the northbound parkway to Rumsey Road southbound. In addition, ramps enter Rumsey Road from both Yonkers Avenue eastbound and the Cross County Parkway, the latter diverging from the outside of the trumpet loop.

Yonkers Avenue meets the Cross County Parkway at an incomplete interchange. While the eastbound exit from the parkway serves both directions of Yonkers Avenue, as well as Midland Avenue (which the ramp actually intersects), the westbound exit leads only to the eastbound avenue. However, Yonkers Avenue westbound can easily be reached by following the Cross County Parkway to the northbound Saw Mill River Parkway. Eastbound on Yonkers Avenue, and also from Midland Avenue, a ramp leads only to the eastbound Cross County Parkway, with the unnecessary westbound connection missing. This ramp, however, is indeed available from westbound Yonkers Avenue by means of a left turn at its intersection with Midland Avenue.

Stub ramps: The Cross County Parkway bridge over Yonkers Avenue carries four roadways, the outer two of which carry entrance and exit ramps for Exit 3. However, plainly visible in this photo are stub-end roadways that at first appear been intended for a westward extension of the parkway, toward and possibly over the Hudson River. In fact, they are remnants of a former interchange serving Tibbetts Brook Park; see below for an explanation.

Feedback
David Jackino writes:
"One other oddball thing about this intersection - the Cross County Parkway narrows down to 2 lanes in each direction at the Saw Mill, partly because of the old New York Central Railroad bridge (Putnam Division). The abandoned railroad line is seen running from the bottom left to upper right. To my knowledge, there has not been any frieght traffic in years - passenger service ended over 40 years ago."

Nick Alongi writes:
"The small "stub" road you refer to...isn't something that might have been but something that was.... Back in the days of the "old" parkway, that small stub road was actually a ramp from Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers (the wooded area in the center of the photo) to the eastbound Cross County Parkway.  Believe it or not, there was a small system of ramps into and out of the park to both directions of the Cross County Parkway decades ago.  When the parkway was reconstructed, the decision to remove direct access was chosen due to people speeding into and out of the park via these ramps, making it dangerous for park patrons.  Hence, all that is left is the small stub road that is now referred to as the "Tibbetts ramp" to those who work on and around the parkways."
Links
Saw Mill River Parkway and
Cross County Parkway at Steve Anderson's www.nycroads.com.

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