Queens Boulevard

Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Queens, forming part of New York State Route 25.

Location

It runs northwest to southeast across more than half the length of the borough, starting at the Queensboro Bridge in Long Island City and running through the neighborhoods of Sunnyside, Woodside, Elmhurst, Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and Briarwood before terminating at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica. At 7.2 miles, it is the one of the longest roads in Queens, and it runs through some of Queens' busiest areas. Much of the road is 12 lanes wide, and at its intersection with Yellowstone Boulevard in Forest Hills, it reaches a high point of 16 lanes. Along much of its length, the road includes both six express lanes (three in each direction) and a service road on each side. Drivers must first exit to the service road in order to make right turns or pull over; left turns must be made from the express lanes, but only at select cross-streets.

This street hosts one of the highest numbers of New York City Subway services in the city. At any one time, six services—the NYCS|E, NYCS|F, NYCS|G, NYCS|R, NYCS|V, and the NYCS|7—all use significant stretches of the right of way; only Broadway (nine services), Sixth Avenue (seven), and Seventh Avenue (seven) in Manhattan and Fulton Street (eight) and Flatbush Avenue (six) in Brooklyn carry more at any one time. In addition, the Q60 bus travels its entire length.

History

Queens Boulevard was built in the early 20th century to connect the new Queensboro Bridge to central Queens, thereby offering an easy outlet from Manhattan. It was created by linking and expanding already-existing streets, such as Thomson Avenue and Hoffman Boulevard, stubs of which still exist. It was widened along with the digging of the IND Queens Boulevard Line subway tunnels in the 1920s and 1930s, and some speculated the plan was to transform it into a freeway, as was done with the Van Wyck Expressway. The city actually did propose converting it in 1941, but with the onset of World War II, the plan was never completed.

The combination of Queens Boulevard's immense width, heavy automobile traffic, and thriving commercial scene made it the most dangerous thoroughfare in New York City and earned it citywide notoriety and morbid nicknames such as "The Boulevard of Death" and "The Boulevard of Broken Bones." From 1993 to 2000, 72 pedestrians were killed trying to cross the street, an average of 10.2 per year, with countless more injuries. Since 2001, at least partially in response to major news coverage of the danger, the city government has taken measures to cut down on such incidents, including posting large signs proclaiming that "A Pedestrian Was Killed Crossing Here" at intersections where fatal accidents have occurred and installing more road-rule enforcement cameras. These efforts appeared to be successful; during all of 2004, only one pedestrian was killed while trying to cross Queens Boulevard. [http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/267400p-229046c.html]

Because of its name, density, accessibility, and diverse, multicultural character, the road has come to be somewhat emblematic of Queens in general.

Trivia

*"Queens Boulevard" is the name of a fictional movie starring Vincent Chase within the world of the television show "Entourage".
*"Queens Boulevard" is the name of a local band out of Annapolis, Maryland. [http://www.myspace.com/queensboulevardband]
*"Queens Boulevard (the musical)" is the name of a musical by playwright Charles Mee. [http://www.charlesmee.com/html/queens.html]
*In the movie "Coming to America", the address of McDowell's restaurant is 8507 Queens Boulevard.

External links

* [http://www.nycroads.com/roads/queens-blvd/ Queens Boulevard Expressway proposals from NYCROADS.com]