The NYSDOT designated the eastbound lanes of the freeway as I-878 in January 1970, but the entire Nassau Expressway was publicly re-designated as NY 878 by 1991.

The short freeway portion in Queens was originally built as part of Interstate 78 (I-78) in the late 1960s, but the segment of I-78 through New York City was canceled in March 1971 due to community opposition.

The 3.73-mile (6.00 km) northwest section in Queens is mostly built to freeway standards, except for a traffic light at the eastern end of the highway.

It lies along the north edge of JFK Airport, just south of the Belt Parkway and Conduit Avenue (NY 27).

The separate NY 878 begins at that split, but the route only carries eastbound one-way traffic until it reaches the junction with I-678 (Van Wyck Expressway).

[7] The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) designates I-878 as the stretch of NY 878 from the Van Wyck Expressway east to the 150th Street underpass.

From the end of NY 878 to near Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, the road is maintained by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT).

[11][12][13] From Guy R. Brewer Boulevard to just before the city line, the road is designated as the unsigned state reference route NY 909G.

[14][15][16] The 2.40-mile (3.86 km) southeast section of NY 878 is an at-grade expressway, with only two bridges grade-separating the highway from intersecting routes – over the Far Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, and under Seagirt Boulevard at a trumpet interchange.

[17] Signage for NY 878 can be seen from the split with Rockaway Turnpike south to the toll plaza of the Atlantic Beach Bridge in Lawrence.

[14][4] The portion of Rockaway Boulevard and Turnpike between NY 27 and the Atlantic Beach Bridge was originally designated as New York State Route 104 by 1931.

[19] The expressway was first proposed in late 1945,[20] to connect Brooklyn with southeastern Queens and the South Shore of Long Island, as well as to provide a link to Idlewild (now JFK) Airport.

It was envisioned by Moses and Nassau County executive J. Russell Sprague as a vital link between Atlantic Beach, the Belt Parkway system, and the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge.

[22][23] As originally proposed, the highway would have only extended from the interchange with Van Wyck Expressway and Belt Parkway to the Atlantic Beach Bridge.

[29] At that point, the New York State Department of Public Works began purchasing land for both the Nassau and Long Beach Expressways.

[3] Over 65 acres (26 ha) of land were ceded from Idlewild Park near JFK Airport for the construction of the expressway.

[30] The small community of Meyers Harbor, located in the Hook Creek wetlands east of the modern Five Towns Shopping Center, was condemned and destroyed to provide a path for the expressway.

[3] The first section of the Nassau Expressway to be built was a 2.8-mile-long (4.5 km) eastbound-only segment between Cross Bay Boulevard and 150th Street.

[36]: I-2 to I-3 Construction along Rockaway Boulevard and in Nassau County was hindered due to the presence of muck, which was located in the wetlands near the Queens-Nassau border.

The plan denied funding to several proposed New York City Interstate Highways, including the Nassau Expressway segment east of 150th Street to Rockaway Boulevard.

The only section open at the time, the eastbound freeway west of JFK Airport, had been built at a cost of $18 million.

At that time, plans called for the completion of the highway's westbound lanes west of 150th Street, as well as the sections of the freeway along Rockaway Boulevard and in Nassau County.

[38]: 1 [32] However, the federal government refused to approve the funding, and the money was instead distributed among projects in Arkansas, Indiana, and Fort Worth, Texas.

[43] In 1998, Nassau County legislator Bruce A. Blakeman proposed renaming the southern portion of NY 878 after President Ronald Reagan.

[48] At the time, the portion of the Nassau Expressway from Meadow Causeway to the Seagirt Boulevard interchange was maintained by Nassau County[4] while the section between the Seagirt Boulevard interchange and the Atlantic Beach Bridge toll barrier was maintained by the NYSDOT as NY 900V, a 0.25-mile (400 m) long reference route.