Origin
Brookhaven, NY
Late night in Brookhaven on Sunday
Local time
3:43 AM
EDT
Current temp
43°F
Unavailable
Live forecast
Trip from Brookhaven, NY to Hempstead, NY
Compiled and reviewed by the US Trip Planner planning team at COD Solutions Oy · Last reviewed Apr 19, 2026 · Editorial standards
Drive Time
57m
Distance
42.2 mi
68 km
Drive Score
8/10
Great drive
Same Day?
Yes, doable
Fuel Cost
$7
one way
EV Charging
Good
5 stations
Best Time to Leave
4 AM
0h 52m
★
6 AM
0h 57m
8 AM
1h 6m
10 AM
1h 0m
12 PM
0h 59m
3 PM
1h 1m
5 PM
1h 6m
8 PM
0h 54m
Estimated drive times based on typical traffic patterns. Actual times may vary with weather, construction, and real-time conditions.
Trip Overview
If you are planning a trip from Brookhaven to Hempstead, you are looking at a 42.2-mile journey across Long Island. Expect the drive to take approximately 57 minutes under normal conditions. This route is best suited for a single-day excursion, as it is short enough to complete in under an hour. With a modest fuel budget of $7, it is an economical way to travel between these two Northeast locations. Because this is a local drive, you won't need to worry about splitting the trip into multiple days or finding overnight accommodations.
Main Roads
| Road | Distance | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| Southern State Parkway | 17.5 mi | 21m |
| Sunrise Highway | 14.5 mi | 20m |
| Heckscher State Parkway | 6 mi | 7m |
| Montauk Highway | 0.8 mi | 1m |
| Nassau Road | 0.8 mi | 1m |
| Greenwich Street | 0.6 mi | 1m |
| Henry Street | 0.5 mi | <1m |
| South Country Road | 0.4 mi | 1m |
Longest stretch:
Southern State Parkway
— 17.5 mi, about 21m
Turn-by-Turn Driving Directions
Step-by-step road directions between Brookhaven, NY and Hempstead, NY.
1
Start on CR 36
0.4 mi
·
46 sec
·
South Country Road
2
Continue on South Country Road
354 ft
·
16 sec
·
South Country Road
3
Turn straight onto CR 80
0.8 mi
·
1 min
·
Montauk Highway
4
Turn left onto CR 16
0.3 mi
·
29 sec
·
Horseblock Road
Use the left lane.
5
Take the ramp
0.3 mi
·
33 sec
Toward NY 27 West: New York
Use the right lane.
6
Merge onto NY 27
14 mi
·
18 min
·
Sunrise Highway
Use the straight / right lanes.
7
Turn slight right onto Sunrise Highway
0.7 mi
·
1 min
·
Sunrise Highway
Exit 46
Toward SO, H: New York, Hekscher Park
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
8
Take the ramp
0.3 mi
·
39 sec
Toward SO West: New York
9
Merge onto H
6.0 mi
·
7 min
·
Heckscher State Parkway
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
10
Continue on SO
0.1 mi
·
9 sec
·
Southern State Parkway
11
Keep slight left at fork onto SO
17 mi
·
21 min
·
Southern State Parkway
Use the slight left lane.
12
Take the exit
0.1 mi
·
25 sec
Exit 21
Toward Nassau Road, Hempstead, Freeport
Use the slight right lane.
13
Keep slight right at fork
163 ft
·
5 sec
Toward Uniondale
Use the right lane.
14
Turn right onto Nassau Road
0.8 mi
·
1 min
·
Nassau Road
Use the right lane.
15
Continue on Greenwich Street
0.6 mi
·
1 min
·
Greenwich Street
16
Turn right onto Henry Street
0.5 mi
·
56 sec
·
Henry Street
Use the right lane.
17
Turn right onto Peninsula Boulevard
64 ft
·
1 sec
·
Peninsula Boulevard
18
Arrive at destination
Peninsula Boulevard
Where to Stop
Rest stops, refuel points, and overnight suggestions along this route.
Mid-route town
Meal stop
21 mi into the route
Best for: Lunch, fuel, and a longer reset
This sits close to the middle of the route, so it works well for the longest stop of the day.
Pacing Suggestions
Fuel and coffee
A short stop after about 42 miles helps settle the day before fatigue starts building.
Meal break
The midpoint is around 21.1 miles from Brookhaven, NY, which is a good place for a longer meal and fuel stop.
These stop ideas are pacing suggestions — the exact town or exit can change with traffic, hotel plans, and fuel range.
Heads-up: tricky spots
5 of 125 decision points cluster between mile 1.5 and 40.3 — GPS handles the exact turns, but know they're coming. Your lane choice matters more than the turn itself.
6
1.5 mi into trip
|
~2m in
Take the ramp toward NY 27 West: New York
Lane positioning matters here
Use the right lane.
Toward NY 27 West: New York
6
15.6 mi into trip
|
~22m in
|
Sunrise Highway
Turn slight right onto Sunrise Highway toward SO, H: New York, Hekscher Park
Lane positioning matters here. Multiple destination signs - pick the right one
Use the straight / slight right lanes.
Exit 46
Toward SO, H: New York, Hekscher Park
6
22.7 mi into trip
|
~31m in
|
SO / Southern State Parkway
Keep slight left at fork onto SO / Southern State Parkway
Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here
Use the slight left lane.
8
40.2 mi into trip
|
~53m in
Take the exit toward Nassau Road, Hempstead, Freeport
Exit ramp - move to the correct lane early. Lane positioning matters here. Multiple destination signs - pick the right one
Use the slight right lane.
Exit 21
Toward Nassau Road, Hempstead, Freeport
8
40.3 mi into trip
|
~53m in
Keep slight right at fork toward Uniondale
Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here
Use the right lane.
Toward Uniondale
Fuel & Cost
Regular Gas
$6.95 one way
$13.89 round trip
$4.18/gal
25.4 MPG avg
15 kg CO2
| Fuel Type | $/gal | One Way | Round Trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| midgrade | $4.52 | $7.51 | $15.02 |
| premium | $4.92 | $8.18 | $16.36 |
| diesel | $5.61 | $9.32 | $18.63 |
No toll roads detected on this route.
Drive Cost (one way)
Fuel
$7
Estimated CO2 emission: 14.8 kg one way. Prices: EIA weekly data, 2026-04-13.
Driving Electric?
About $4 in charging · 0 stops · 67% less CO2
| Vehicle Type | kWh | Stops | DC Fast | Home Charge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average EV | 12.7 | 0 | $4.43 | $2.03 |
| Efficient EV | 10.6 | 0 | $3.69 | $1.69 |
| EV Truck/SUV | 16.9 | 0 | $5.91 | $2.70 |
Gas CO2
15 kg
EV CO2
5 kg (67% less)
This trip is well within single-charge range for most EVs. No charging stops needed if you start fully charged.
DC fast charging avg $0.35/kWh. Home charging avg $0.16/kWh. US grid CO2: 0.39 kg/kWh.
Travel Intel
Current conditions at both ends of the drive.
Destination
Hempstead, NY
Late night in Hempstead on Sunday
Local time
3:43 AM
EDT
Current temp
56°F
Unavailable
Live forecast
Time zone
Same local time
Origin and destination are on the same clock, so arrival timing is easier to judge at a glance.
Temperature spread
13 degrees warmer at arrival
A meaningful temperature swing is a good cue to rethink layers, water, and how soon you want to arrive.
Road read
57m on the road
Use the two city cards together: check the sky where you start, then compare it with the local time and temperature at arrival.
Weather data from the National Weather Service. Conditions may change; check closer to your travel date.
What kind of drive is this?
Prepare for a turn-heavy local drive that avoids major interstates entirely. You will spend 0% of your time on highways, relying instead on local arteries like South Country Road, Montauk Highway, and Horseblock Road to navigate the region. Since there are no long, uninterrupted stretches—the longest being 0 miles on South Country Road—you should expect a constant flow of turns and local intersections. This route requires your full attention as you transition between these smaller roads rather than settling into a high-speed cruise.
56% highway, the rest on surface roads — varied driving throughout.
18 navigation steps total — most of the decisions cluster near the start and finish.
Longest single stretch: 17.5 mi on Southern State Parkway.
How Hard Is This Drive?
9/10
This route mixes highway mileage with some local-road sections near the start or finish. This route has several spots where lane changes, forks, or exits need your full attention. The trickiest moment comes around 1.5 miles in.
Driving Effort
9/10
Focused - lots of decisions in a short distance, but it is over quickly
Balances navigation complexity with total wheel time.
This is a short but busy drive. With 12 decision points packed into just 42.2 miles, you will need to pay attention to lane changes and exits — but the whole thing is over in 57m.
Where does it get tricky?
The main spots that need attention: at 1.5 miles: Lane positioning matters here; at 15.6 miles (Sunrise Highway): Lane positioning matters here. Multiple destination signs - pick the right one; at 22.7 miles (SO / Southern State Parkway): Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here.
Towns Mentioned on Route Signs
Based on OSRM destination-sign hints, not a full list of every settlement the road passes.
Towns Mentioned on Route Signs
Based on OSRM destination-sign hints, not a full list of every settlement the road passes.
Between Brookhaven, NY and Hempstead, NY, road signs point toward H: New York, Hekscher Park and So West: New York.
H: New York
15.6 mi in
|
~22m
|
via Sunrise Highway
Hekscher Park
15.6 mi in
|
~22m
|
via Sunrise Highway
So West: New York
16.3 mi in
|
~23m
About the Cities
Starting in Brookhaven, NY
Full guide →Founded 1655
Brookhaven is the largest town in Suffolk County, part of Long Island, New York. With 485,000 residents (2020). It includes a patchwork of villages and other communities, and is the only town on the island to touch both the Long Island Sound and Atlantic Ocean. The villages of Belle Terre, Bellport, Lake Grove, Mastic Beach, Old Field, Patchogue, Poquott, Port Jefferson, and Shoreham are semi-autonomous, and provide their own services in addition to those provided by the town. Other prominent communities include Mount Sinai, Stony Brook, and Fire Island, a long and car-free resort island off the south coast of the town.
Top landmarks
- • Wardenclyffe Tower — early experimental wireless transmission station designed and built by Nikola Te...
- • West Meadow Beach Historic District — historic district in the United States
- • Stony Brook Grist Mill — watermill
Arriving in Hempstead, NY
Full guide →Hempstead is the most populous town in America, with a whopping 700,000 residents, located on the South Shore of Nassau County, New York. The town is highly urbanized and fragmented, containing 22 semi-autonomous villages within its boundaries, and forty other neighborhoods. Garden City, encompassing the "Nassau Hub" region, has its own article. The other prominent communities in Hempstead include Floral Park, Hempstead Village, Valley Stream, Rockville Centre, Freeport, Merrick, and the Five Towns area.
Top landmarks
- • Mitchel Air Force Base — US Air Force base in Long Island, New York
City content from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0).
Who Is This Route For?
Weekend Trip
Doable as a same-day drive at 57m. Total distance: 42.2 miles.
Family Friendly
Moderate complexity with 0 natural rest stops along the way.
Solo Traveler
57m drive, comfortable solo distance.
EV Driver
0 DC fast chargers along the route. Coverage: unknown.
First-Time Driver
Mostly highway driving (56%). Some complex stretches to watch for.
Scenic Drive
Mixed highway & surface route profile with national parks nearby.
Frequently Asked Questions
The longest stretch is about 17.5 miles on Southern State Parkway. The full list of main roads is in the Roads section above.
It helps. This route has a higher-than-average number of complex decision points, which get harder in the dark. If the last hour of the trip is on surface roads or mountain grades, aim to arrive at Hempstead, NY before sunset when you can. Check the Trip Plan for departure windows that land you in daylight.
Yes. At under 2 hours behind the wheel, this works well for families — plan one quick stop if you have younger kids.
The main spots that need attention: at 1.5 miles: Lane positioning matters here; at 15.6 miles (Sunrise Highway): Lane positioning matters here. Multiple destination signs - pick the right one; at 22.7 miles (SO / Southern State Parkway): Highway fork - watch signs carefully. Lane positioning matters here.
Yes — Fire Island National Seashore, Gateway National Recreation Area and General Grant National Memorial (6 total within detour distance). See the National Parks section for detour distances and tips on detours.
Yes. A round trip is manageable in a single day if you plan a break at Hempstead, NY before heading back.
How this page is built
Compiled by the US Trip Planner planning team at COD Solutions Oy from open government datasets — OSRM over OpenStreetMap for geometry, EIA for fuel prices, and NPS for national parks. See our methodology for refresh cadence and limitations.
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