The highway was built in 1934 as the Long Beach Loop Causeway, funded with money from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.

These tollbooths, once considered the murder site of Sonny Corleone in Mario Puzo's The Godfather, were closed in 1978 as part of Governor Hugh Carey's efforts to establish that year's state budget.

The Loop Parkway begins at an at-grade intersection with Lido Boulevard on the eastern end of Long Beach Barrier Island in the neighborhood of Point Lookout.

[6] The two highways would be connected by way of a trumpet interchange on Jones Island,[5] with a total of 10,100,000 cubic yards (7,700,000 m3) of hydraulic fill was used to build both parkways, and a new channel for boats heading to South Oyster Bay was constructed as part of the projects.

[8] The Long Beach Loop Causeway was opened to extreme fanfare on October 27, 1934, as was the Meadowbrook State Parkway with parades celebrating the event were held in Freeport and Rockville Centre, and they were attended by Robert Moses, at the time a candidate for Governor of New York, and Fiorello LaGuardia, the Mayor of New York City.

The change faced immediate criticism from the New York State Legislature, and the Democratic members tried to rescind the toll hike.

The power Robert Moses still had in a deal with the State of New York made sure that only his authority could choose when to raise and rollback tolls.

Governor Hugh Carey had yet to craft the $12 billion state budget for 1978, and he proposed a deal to forgo the $24 million debt that the agency had accumulated and eliminate the toll on the Loop Parkway by taking over the roads.

The removal of the tolls helped Governor Carey gain enough support to pass that year's state budget.