Hutchinson River Parkway

Ugh
The Hutchinson River Parkway (aka the Hutch) is a ~19 mile parkway which starts at the Whitestone Bridge in the Bronx and stretches up to the Connecticut border in Rye Brook, Westchester county (where it then turns into the Merritt Parkway).
I have a love-​hate relationship with the Hutch. On one hand, it’s the closest highway to where I live and I can easily access it to travel to Westchester or Queens. It truly is a convenience in some ways because a lot of my go-​to places for errands and such are right off the parkway. The roads are well maintained and it has a lot of connecting highways.
On the other hand, the Hutch is a pain to deal with. To start, the Hutch is only two lanes wide (with the exception of a few patches where it expands to three) which can lead to traffic even if there’s a slight hiccup on the road. There is almost ALWAYS traffic going northbound up to exit 13 (the exit that leads you to the Cross County, Bronx River, Sprain Brook, and Saw Mill River Parkways). I can almost put money on the fact that there will be traffic on the Hutch from exits 7 to 13 at any time of the day. Finally, because the Hutch is a parkway, it’s for passenger cars only; there are low clearance underpasses that are designed only for cars to fit under. This however won’t stop the occasional tractor-​trailer from galloping onto the Hutch and trying to fit under the underpasses. Not only does this destroy the tractor-​trailer, it creates a boatload of traffic.
Do I complain about the Hutch? Yes. Will I continue to travel on the Hutch? Yes! It’s too much of a convenience — if I’m really in a bind I’ll take side roads or 95, but even with its faults the Hutch is too convenient for me to avoid all together *sigh*.

What I really hate about the Hutchinson River Parkway, is that if there is even the tiniest thing on the road, such as road work, a small accident, or even an old man who drive slowly, it must turn into a heavy traffic that consume hours of our life. If the road is open, it is the best, when it is packed, it is the worst.

This parkway basically runs from the Bronx Whitestone Bridge thru the Bronx, up thru Westchester, New Rochelle, and then ends near CT.
It starts from the Bridge as three lanes but the narrows to two lanes. It also gets pretty curvy as you head upstate. This highway also takes you to Orchard Beach and City Island too.

Following most of the the Hutchinson River for which it is named, the Parkway winds though Westchester County from the Connecticut stateline, into the Bronx and ending at the Bronx-​Whitestone Bridge. The river, in turn, is named after a historical figure from the late 16^th, early 17^th centuries, so the full name should be the Anne M. Hutchinson River Parkway, as it says on a sign in front of one of the many picturesque stone arch bridges spanning over the highway. Interesting sidebar: Anne Hutchinson (née Marbury) is descended from Charlemagne and had 15 children (God bless her). Some of her more famous descendants include FDR, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. OK, enough of the history lesson, you can read the rest of it on Wikipedia yourself.
Along most of its length, the Hutch is 2 lanes each way, with a few short stretches that expand out to 3. In the Bronx, the road is maintained by NYC, so it is well lit, relatively pothole free, mostly clean and is patrolled by the NYPD. The on-​ramps are reasonably long as not to be dangerous. That all changes as it crosses into Westchester where it is maintained by NYS DOT since it is a parkway. No lighting through some curvy sections of New Rochelle and Scarsdale makes for some hairy driving at night with headlights from oncoming traffic in your eyes. Some of the on ramps are shorter than a summertime miniskirt and just as dangerous. Since the Hutch is toll free, some truckers wander on from local streets or the major interstate crossings. Some of the aforementioned bridges have really low clearances. 12 ft tractor trailer x 10 ft high bridge = 2 mile long traffic jam. Been there, done that, did the rubber necking. Happens every other week.
If you haven’t heard enough doom and gloom so far, here are some more tidbits. The reason they built the road to follow the river is because Mother Nature carved the route through the hills and valleys making it easy for engineers and construction workers. The flipside is that no one fools with Mother Nature’s fury. When there’s a big thunderstorm, the rivers rise up really fast and any road with the word «river» in it (Bronx River Pkwy, Saw Mill River Pkwy) soon becomes that river. The drainage on the Hutch is a little better than the other 2, so usually floods last, but the section going by Co-​op city in the Bronx runs through a swamp (where it dumps into Long Island Sound) and you can see the water barely 3 ft from the road during high tide. After it rains, a pond collects in the median there. If you’re in the left lane, cars on the other side will send over a tidal wave covering your windshield, blinding you until you get the wipers going on high. There is also a drawbridge past there and sometimes will open up causing another mile long parking lot. For the most part, the Hutch is a scenic drive on a nice sunny day, but underneath you just have to be aware of its pitfalls. Listen to traffic reports before you get on and stay off when the weather gets nasty.

‘Sailllinnggg takes me away!!!’
Some of you may know that Christopher Cross song. That’s the song I sometimes have singing in my head when driving North-​South on the Hutch when there’s little to no traffic.
Certain parts of The Hutch, nickname for the Hutchinson River Parkway, has enough curves and wide open roads, with no potholes, to give you that nice smooth ride.
Like any other highway you gotta look out for the coppers while doing your ‘sailing’.