Police say one man is dead and another is in critical condition after a wrong-way crash on the Southern State Parkway Tuesday night.

The incident happened just after 10 p.m. on the Southern State Parkway exit for Sunrise Highway in Islip Terrace.

Investigators say Edward Ogden, 63, of Bay Shore, was driving westbound in the eastbound lanes.

According to police, Ogden struck a vehicle operated by Travis Sloboda, 24, of East Islip, head on.

Sloboda was pronounced dead at the scene. Ogden had to be cut out of his wrecked vehicle and was transported to Southside Hospital. He remains in critical condition.

Investigation into the cause of the accident is ongoing. It's not clear if the overnight fog played a role in the collision.

Traffic safety experts say that the Southern State Parkway has been confounding motorists for years. For instance, the entrance and exit ramps are often close together. In Islip Terrace, the entrance and exits ramps are just six feet apart at one point.

Robert Sinclair, of AAA New York, says as many as 130,000 cars use the Southern State daily. Sinclair warns the winding parkway was built in the 1920s for much slower speeds. He says the roadway was built along the right-of-way of a water pipeline or conduit that fed water from Long Island to Brooklyn.

The incident was the second fatal crash in less than 24 hours on the Southern State Parkway.

State police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the crash to call them at 631-756-3300.