The Merritt Parkway is a controlled-access parkway in Fairfield County, Connecticut, with a small section at the northern end in New Haven County. Designed for Connecticut's Gold Coast, the parkway is known for its scenic layout, its uniquely styled signage, and the architecturally elaborate overpasses along the route. As one of the first, oldest parkways in the United States, it is designated as a National Scenic Byway and is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Signed as part of Route 15, it runs from the New York state line in Greenwich, where it serves to continue the Hutchinson River Parkway, to Exit 54 in Milford, where the Wilbur Cross Parkway begins. Facing bitter opposition, the project took six years to build in three different sections, with the Connecticut Department of Transportation constantly requiring additional funding due to the area's high property value. The parkway was named for U.S. Congressman Schuyler Merritt. In 2010, the National Trust for Historic Preservation called the Merritt Parkway one of "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places".
Route 59 Easton Turnpike bridge over the Merritt Parkway at Exit 46 in Fairfield.
Tree canopy over the Merritt Parkway, and grassy median
An entrance sign to the Merrit Parkway with the white-on-green and sawtooth border
Toll booth in 1955
A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare. The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or connecting to a park from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded.
Harden Parkway in Salinas, California
Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway, the world's first parkway, according to the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.
The Clara Barton Parkway in Maryland
Heavy traffic on the Garden State Parkway in Monmouth County, New Jersey, in the New York Metropolitan Area, United States. This is one of the world's busiest roadways.