NY 25C Lives!


New York State touring route 25C ran along Union Turnpike in Queens and Nassau Counties until a major redesignation of state touring routes in New York City. It was officially decommissioned in the early 1970's, but on account of New York's confused policy about signing reference routes and goofy road workers and engineers who post unnecessary or incorrect signs, the state-maintained section in Nassau County has managed to survive unofficially to this day. The reference route markers were never updated to show the official reference route number, 900F, but that is consistent with state DOT practice. Oddly enough, a short stretch of nearby Jericho Turnpike that is officially route 900P was incorrectly marked "25" for decades until "900P" stickers were applied to the reference route markers sometime in the 2000's. 900F never received this treatment. Then, in early April of 2013, an alert poster in the misc.traffic.roads newsgroup noticed that two reassurance shields for 25C were posted at either end of 900F. This, of course, is worth a web page with some pictures, so here we are.



This is a very important sign, and signs save lives, so there can be a $1000 fine for tampering with this sign or removing it. Please let me know about the first life that is saved by this sign.



The eastbound reassurance shield that arguably should read 900F. The speed limit sign to the left is probably ignored by most folks; I doubt that 30 is the 85th percentile here. How come when I complain about speed limits that are too high, I get handed the 85th percentile nonsense, but others somehow get things changed? Also note the very old 25C reference route marker. All of the reference markers on 900F seem to date from the 1980's-- after the route was decommissioned-- as the bottom two rows are in the larger font that was not originally used when reference markers were introduced in the 1970's.



The westbound reassurance shield for 25C. Actually, calling it a reassurance shield seems a bit strange, as I doubt that anyone needs to be reassured about being on 25C here. It does not connect to any other state touring route at either end, and the Nassau County highways that bracket it are, like all Nassau County highways, not signed with route numbers.



Finally, a tight shot.