UBS Arena Live Cameras: Islanders Belmont Park Traffic

UBS Arena is the New York Islanders' modern home, opened in November 2021 on the grounds of Belmont Park in Elmont, just over the Queens-Nassau border. A purpose-built, hockey-specific arena developed by New York Arena Partners (the Islanders, Oak View Group, and Sterling Equities), it seats around 17,250 for hockey and up to 19,000 for concerts, and also hosts St. John's basketball and major touring acts. It opened its concert life with a sold-out Harry Styles show.

The traffic story here has one standout feature: UBS Arena got its own dedicated Long Island Rail Road station, the first entirely new LIRR station built in decades. That was a deliberate answer to the site's road constraints. The arena sits on the Belmont Park grounds, reached almost entirely via the Cross Island Parkway, and Long Island's parkways carry the same truck-and-bus ban as the Bethpage and Jones Beach parkways. TrafficVision aggregates live camera feeds from NYSDOT and the 511NY network covering the Cross Island Parkway and the approaches, all free to view with no account required.

Approach Corridors to UBS Arena

Because nearly all UBS Arena traffic funnels onto the Cross Island Parkway, its cameras are the most useful check before a game. And because the parkways ban buses, the arena's dedicated train station is the intended answer for crowds, which is why it works so well.

Transit: A Purpose-Built LIRR Station

UBS Arena's defining feature for getting there is the Elmont-UBS Arena LIRR station, built specifically to serve the arena and the first completely new LIRR station since 1976. It runs full-time service, reaches the arena in about 30 minutes from Grand Central Madison and Penn Station, and was funded almost entirely by the arena developers at essentially no cost to the LIRR. The MTA credits it with taking hundreds of thousands of cars off the road since opening.

That matters here more than at most arenas: because the surrounding parkways cannot carry buses and all parking funnels onto the Cross Island, the train is the cleanest way in. MTA and NICE bus routes also serve Elmont. For anyone coming from Manhattan or along the LIRR, the direct train to the arena's doorstep is the obvious choice when the Cross Island cameras show a backup.

Parking and Event-Day Rules

UBS Arena parking (the Emerald, Belmont Park Garage, Silver, Diamond, and Ruby lots) is accessible only via the Cross Island Parkway exits, and it is cars only, since the parkways ban buses. Advance purchase is strongly encouraged (lot prices rise if bought at the arena), lots open two hours before doors, and tailgating is prohibited. Rideshare uses Exit 26D on the arena's north side. On a night when the Belmont Park racetrack also has an event, the shared access grid gets busier.

Year-Round Activity

UBS Arena hosts the Islanders' NHL schedule from fall into spring plus a heavy concert calendar (up to 19,000), St. John's basketball, and PWHL hockey, so it is active much of the year. The neighboring Belmont Park racetrack adds its own major traffic events, with the Belmont Stakes returning to the rebuilt track in 2027. On any of those, the Cross Island cameras and the dedicated LIRR station are the tools to lean on.

Coverage Across Long Island and New York

For the wider network these roads belong to, our Long Island traffic cameras guide covers the parkways and the Nassau and Suffolk network, and the New York City traffic cameras guide covers the approaches from the city. For another Long Island venue where the parkway truck-and-bus ban shapes the whole event plan, see our Bethpage Black live cameras guide.