NY 24 is one of three highways in New York that are split into two segments; the others are NY 42 in the Catskills and NY 878 in Queens and Nassau County. Like NY 42, NY 24 was a continuous route when it was assigned as part of the 1930 renumbering of state highways in New York. The highway was split into two pieces in the mid-1930s. For a brief period during the late 1950s and early 1960s, NY 24 was routed on the Long Island Expressway from Manhattan to East Hills while its original surface routing was designated New York State Route 24A.