Gun Hill Road (road)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Gun Hill Road is a major street in the Bronx, New York City. It runs 3.5 miles (5.6 km) from Mosholu Parkway in Norwood to the Hutchinson River Parkway in Baychester. At the western end, it is near Van Cortlandt Park and the Mosholu Golf Course.

The road starts at Mosholu Parkway and becomes East Gun Hill Road after a junction with Jerome Avenue. It passes by North Central Bronx Hospital and Montefiore Medical Center near DeKalb Avenue in Norwood. Northwest of there, Gun Hill Road forms the southern border of Woodlawn Cemetery. Near Webster Avenue, it reaches the Williams Bridge station on the Metro-North Railroad. It then crosses the Bronx River Parkway at exit 9.

The next major intersection is White Plains Road in Williamsbridge Square, where Gun Hill Road meets a subway station for the 2 and 5 trains. As it continues into Williamsbridge, it intersects US 1 (Boston Road). Between DeWitt Place and Sexton Place, it serves a second Gun Hill Road subway station for the 5 train.

Entering Baychester, Gun Hill Road intersects Edson and Ely Avenues; Edson Avenue acts as the southbound service road for the New England Thruway. It then crosses I-95. The road becomes one-way for a short distance and ends at Stillwell Avenue and the Hutchinson River Parkway.

History: The hill that gave Gun Hill Road its name was used during the American Revolution; a cannon shot from the hill was aimed at the British. The hill is now inside Woodlawn Cemetery and the road itself was formerly called Kingsbridge Road. It was renamed Gun Hill Road in 1875 and extended east to the Hutchinson River by 1938.

There have been planning proposals over the years to upgrade or bypass Gun Hill Road with expressways, but none moved forward. The Williams Bridge station on the Harlem Line sits near the Bronx River Parkway. There are two NYC Subway stations along Gun Hill Road: one at White Plains Road (serving the 2 and 5 trains) and another Gun Hill Road station (serving the 5 train). Several bus routes also run along the road.