Queens Boulevard

Queens Boulevard

Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare in the New York City borough of Queens connecting Midtown Manhattan, via the Queensboro Bridge, to Jamaica. It is 7.5 miles (12.1 km) long and forms part of New York State Route 25. Queens Boulevard runs northwest to southeast from Queens Plaza at the Queensboro Bridge entrance in Long Island City. It runs through the neighborhoods of Sunnyside, Woodside, Elmhurst, Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and Briarwood before terminating at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica. The boulevard is 200 feet (61 m) wide for much of its length, with shorter sections between 80 and 150 feet (24 and 46 m) wide. Its immense width, heavy automobile traffic, and thriving commercial scene has historically made it one of the most dangerous thoroughfares in New York City, with pedestrian crossings up to 300 feet (91 m) long at some places. The route of today's Queens Boulevard originally consisted of Hoffman Boulevard and Thompson Avenue, which was created by linking and expanding these already-existing streets, stubs of which still exist. In 1913, a trolley line was constructed from 59th Street in Manhattan east along the new boulevard. During the 1920s and 1930s the boulevard was widened in conjunction with the digging of the IND Queens Boulevard Line subway tunnels. In 1941, the New York City Planning Department proposed converting Queens Boulevard into a freeway, which ultimately never occurred.

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