What Happened
The New York State Department of Transportation will close the eastbound Heckscher State Parkway between Exit 41A (Sagtikos State Parkway) and Exit 44 (State Route 27/Sunrise Highway) for repaving beginning this Sunday night, August 17, according to Newsday. The closure runs Sunday through Thursday, 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and is expected to last about four weeks, the DOT said in a news release.
Drivers coming off the closed eastbound segment will be directed to Sunrise Highway. Reentry to Heckscher State Parkway is at Exit 46, per the DOT release reported by Newsday.
On the Long Island Expressway, the westbound lanes between Exit 40 (State Route 25/Jericho Turnpike) in Oyster Bay and Exit 36 (Searingtown Road) in North Hills village will close weeknights starting Monday, August 18, also for pavement work. Those closures run 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. and are expected to continue for about three weeks, the DOT said. The westbound HOV lane on the same stretch closes an hour earlier, at 9 p.m. each weeknight. Displaced LIE drivers will be redirected to the North Service Road.
Three municipalities see impacts: the Town of Islip in Suffolk County for the Heckscher work, and the Town of Oyster Bay and North Hills village in Nassau County for the LIE work, according to the Newsday report updated August 15 at 3:27 p.m.
Location & Road Context
The Heckscher State Parkway closure runs through the Town of Islip, a corridor that funnels traffic between the Sagtikos State Parkway interchange at Exit 41A and the Sunrise Highway junction at Exit 44. The LIE segment affected — westbound from Exit 40 to Exit 36 — cuts through the Oyster Bay–North Hills stretch of Nassau County’s most heavily traveled interstate.
According to Long Island Traffic’s incident registry, the LIE has recorded 117 incidents in the past 30 days and 380 so far in 2026. The most recent prior fatal crash on the corridor occurred August 11, 2026. A moderate crash on I-495 was also recorded as recently as August 16.
Broader Impact
Drivers who use the LIE westbound HOV lane for the Monday-through-Friday commute lose that lane at 9 p.m., a full hour before general traffic is redirected to the North Service Road. Commuters heading home on late shifts through Oyster Bay and North Hills should build in extra time on the North Service Road for roughly three weeks starting Monday night.