| State: | NY |
| Type: | CR |
| Route: | 189 |
| County: | Nassau |
| Map Custom: | yes |
| Maint: | NCDPW and ToH DPW |
| Direction A: | South |
| Direction B: | North |
| Terminus A: | Wantagh Park in Wantagh |
| Terminus B: | in Levittown |
| Length Mi: | 5.73 |
| Length Ref: | [1] |
| Alternate Name: | Nassau County Route 189 |
| Junctions: | in Wantagh Merrick Road (CR 27) in Wantagh in Wantagh in North Wantagh in North Wantagh in Levittown |
| Wantagh Avenue | |
A small, disconnected segment of Wantagh Avenue also exists south of the Wantagh Parkway as a Town of Hempstead-maintained residential street.
Wantagh Avenue is split into two segments. The main, 5.25miles segment extends from Merrick Road (CR 27) in Wantagh to Hicksville Road (NY 107) in Levittown.[2] [3] The other segment consists of the remaining 0.48miles between Wantagh Park and a dead-end just south of the Wantagh State Parkway; the two segments are separated by the Wantagh State Parkway.[4] The two sections were connected until the Wantagh State Parkway was constructed through the area.[5]
Wantagh Avenue begins as a residential street owned and maintained by the Town of Hempstead at the entrance to Wantagh Park in Wantagh. It then heads north for 0.48miles, continuing straight for three blocks, passing St. Regis Street before reaching a dead-end next to the Wantagh State Parkway.
Immediately on the other side of the Wantagh State Parkway, Wantagh Avenue resumes at a signalized intersection with Merrick Road (CR 27); this location marks the start of Nassau County's ownership and the CR 189 designation – and the southern end of the main, 5.25miles segment of the road. From there, it heads north, soon intersecting Sunrise Highway (NY 27) and passing underneath the Wantagh station on the Long Island Rail Road's Babylon Branch immediately thereafter. CR 189 then continues northwards, and it eventually passes Wantagh Senior High School before reaching Jerusalem Avenue (NY 105) at the Wantagh–North Wantagh line. It then continues north-northeast through North Wantagh and shortly thereafter reaches a cloverleaf interchange with the Southern State Parkway; Wantagh Avenue crosses over the parkway and immediately thereafter reaches an intersection with North Jerusalem Road (CR 181) adjacent to MacArthur High School, entering Levittown and veering northeast.
From its intersection with CR 181, Wantagh Avenue continues northwards through Levittown as a divided surface arterial, winding its way north-northeast as such until its intersection with Cotton Lane & Miller Place, at which point it once again becomes undivided. Wantagh Avenue then continues north, soon thereafter reaching its intersection Hempstead Turnpike (NY 24). From there, it continues north, flanked with service roads on either side as far north as Universe Drive, soon thereafter reaching its northern terminus with Hicksville Road (NY 107).
Between c. 1932 and July 1, 1972, Wantagh Avenue between Merrick Road and NY 107 was owned and maintained by the New York State Department of Public Works (which merged into the New York State Department of Transportation in 1967) and signed as New York Sate Route 115.[6] [7] [8] [9] Ownership of that segment was transferred to Nassau County on July 1, 1972, at which time the highway was decommissioned by New York State as New York State Route 115 and re-commissioned by Nassau County as Nassau County Route 189.[10] [11]
Like all other county routes in Nassau County, County Route 189 became unsigned in the 1970s, when Nassau County officials opted to remove the signs as opposed to allocating the funds for replacing them with new ones that met the latest federal design standards and requirements, as per the federal government's Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
The entire road is located within the Town of Hempstead, in Nassau County.