been part of a private road leading to Sagtikos Manor. The parkway was designed to have connections with the Sunken Meadow Spur (the future Sunken Meadow State Parkway) and the Captree State Parkway (now known as the Robert Moses Causeway) proposed by New York City highway engineer Robert Moses. On November 13, 1949, a new interchange between the Southern State Parkway and Bay Shore Road was opened to traffic. This interchange would eventually serve as the Southern State Parkway's junction with the Sagtikos, Heckscher and Captree state parkways. Proposals conceived at this time called for grading on the new Sagtikos State Parkway to begin in early 1950. In March 1950, $3 million (1950 USD) was earmarked out of a $104.5 million budget for the start of construction on the parkway. The contract for paving of the Sagtikos Parkway was awarded by the New York State Department of Public Works on June 7, 1951, to Hudson Contracting Corporation of Kew Gardens, who entered a bid of $1,407,037 (1951 USD) for the project. The remainder of the parkway was paved as part of a contract valued around $418,000 (1951 USD) and let by the state on July 11. A stretch of the Northern State Parkway was also built as part of the project. On September 29, 1952, an extension of the Northern State Parkway, Southern State Parkway, and the entire length of the Sagtikos State Parkway were opened without celebration. Robert Moses commented that the completed parkway reflected LISPC's objective to construct well-designed recreational facilities. Roadway improvements From 1997–2001, engineers from NYSDOT worked on a $6.5 million (2001 USD) study aimed to improve Long Island's transportation system by 2020. The resulting plan included proposals to widen of roads, including the entirety of the Sagtikos State Parkway from the Southern to Northern state parkways. These proposals would give the Sagtikos a restricted-access lane for buses and carpooling drivers, which would be part of a system of similar lanes across Long Island. In 2002, the Wolkoffs, a family of real estate developers, bought land used by the Pilgrim Psychiatric Center for $20 million (2002 USD) with the intent of replacing the property with a new smart growth community named Heartland Town Square. The community, situated near the junction of the Sagtikos Parkway and the Long Island Expressway, would have 9,000 housing units and various commercial and recreational buildings. As part of the redevelopment of