Worst Long Island roads by crashes
Long Island’s gridwork of roads and parkway are relied on by nearly 3 million residents daily. As part of Newsday’s Dangerous Roads series, nextLI took a look at the data to understand which of the region’s more than 24,000 roads had the most crashes when accounting for traffic.
Southern State Parkway
The Southern State Parkway has consistently had the highest number of crashes on any single road over the last decade, with more than 42,700 reported crashes, according to state data. Between 2012 and the end of 2023, 137 people have died and 846 seriously injured in crashes on the winding 25.5-mile parkway.
It has also recorded a sharp uptick in traffic volume in recent years. Not only is the traffic volume in 2023 up 7.4% since 2022, traffic levels have surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
Long Island Expressway
The busiest road in the region is the Long Island Expressway, with an average of 184,984 vehicles traveling a day between exits 33 and 34, as per state data for 2023. The 70.8-mile highway recorded 37,770 crashes since 2012. As of 2023, 82 people have been killed and 682 severely injured on the LIE.
Sunrise Highway
Since 2012, 83 people have died on Sunrise Highway in crashes and 459 seriously injured. With far fewer vehicles traveling on it compared with the Southern State and LIE, Route 27, – its other name – between Valley Stream and Shinnecock Hills, is one of the most dangerous when accounting for traffic and length of the road
Comparing the thoroughfares
For every hundred vehicles moving on Sunrise Highway on a single day in 2023, there was an average of five reported crashes. The crash rate for Southern State Parkway was two crashes per hundred vehicles, while both the LIE and Northern State Parkway recorded a crash rate of one per hundred vehicles travelled each.
Another way to look at the state traffic crash data is with our interactive map that shows all reported motor vehicle crashes on Long Island from Jan. 1, 2022, to the end of 2024. Using that, you can see the dangerous areas in your neighborhood.
