After the interchange, the Southern State proceeds east as an eight-lane divided parkway through North Valley Stream, passing north of St. Johns Cemetery before entering exit 13S and exit 13N, which serves Central Avenue, which connects to the Linden Boulevard that runs through Queens.

After crossing into Malverne, the Southern State enters a cloverleaf interchange with Hempstead Avenue (exit 17).

After crossing Hempstead Lake, the parkway enters a cloverleaf interchange with Peninsula Boulevard (exit 19).

Now in North Bellmore, exit 26 connects to South Bismark Avenue on a northeastern stretch of the parkway.

After a short eastern stretch through the village of North Wantagh, the parkway enters an interchange with the Seaford–Oyster Bay Expressway (NY 135), designated as Exit 28A S–N.

After crossing into Suffolk County, the Southern State enters exit 32S–N, which serves NY 110 (Broad Hollow Road).

Bending northeast through Babylon, the Southern State Parkway enters exit 33, which serves NY 109 (Farmingdale Road).

Passing south of New Montefiore Cemetery, the Southern State Parkway crosses exit 36S–N, with CR 2 (Straight Path).

Crossing south of Guggenheim Lake, the Southern State Parkway enters exit 40, which serves the northern end of the Robert Moses Causeway.

Following the post-war housing boom on Long Island, the parkway was widened and straightened in numerous places to serve commuters traveling at speeds unanticipated when the road was first constructed.

The Cross Island Parkway's exit numbering scheme was changed to match the Belt Parkway's easterly number progression from the Belt's start at the Gowanus Expressway to the current Cross Island's terminus, now exit 36 at the Whitestone Bridge.

Stone and concrete arched overpasses were purposely constructed with low clearances for both aesthetic reasons and to ensure that commercial traffic would not be able to use the parkway system.

The divided section of Peninsula Boulevard next to Hempstead Lake Park is the old Southern State Parkway, which was abandoned for a number of years until Nassau County bought the roadway in the late 1940s.

[7] Just east of exit 32, a service area used to operate beneath the underpass of County Route 47 (CR 47, named Great Neck Road) until 1985.