Queens Transportation
Roadway construction on the Whitestone Bridge just ended Labor Day Weekend. |
Before “superhighway” was an Internet term, there was the nation’s first superhighway in Queens: the Long Island Motor Parkway or the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway. Originally built as a race track where early automobiles could crank it up to a speedy 60 mph, the 45-mile road was better-suited as a link between Queens and Long Island for New York’s elite families. It became a toll road in 1908 and charged a hefty $2 toll from Hollis Hills to Ronkonkoma. Remnants of the road can be spotted in Cunningham Park in Fresh Meadows.
The Long Island Motor Parkway was the beginning of Queens’ complex network of transportation that today includes eight major highways, 81 subway stations and 100 bus routes. When people aren’t traveling by land, they are taking off from it, with 67 million people passing through LaGuardia and Kennedy Airport last year. The borough is also home to the city’s busiest bridge: 180,369 vehicles ride across the Queensborough Bridge every day.
www.nycroads.com, www.wikipedia.com,
NYC Department of Transportation
The 74 th Street - Jackson Heights Station is one of the busiest in the city. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen |
ON THE ROADS AGAIN
Most Queensites know the frustration of riding the brake during rush-hour traffic. These high volume hot spots keep motorists at a slither.
The highest volume in NYC can be found at the Queens-Nassau border: “In 2004, some 965,600 daily vehicles were counted at the fifteen Queens-Nassau monitoring locations, 41.9% of the total traffic recorded at the City boundaries.”
Source: New York City Screenline Traffic Report 2004
The largest spike in volume in the last decade is on Laurelton Parkway in southeastern Queens. It jumped from 145,900 daily cars to 175, 400 since 1994.
Source: New York City Screenline Traffic Report 2004
Driving through Queens can be the pits—literally. Last year, Mayor Bloomberg helped fill a pothole on 65th Street and 70th Avenue in Glendale, but it wasn’t a typical city crater. The famous pothole marked the 600,000th pothole filled since Bloomberg took office in 2002. In 2005, the city filled 262,245 potholes city-wide.
Source: City Department of Transportation
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
A subway car littered with splattered coffee, torn newspapers and a half-eaten doughnut makes many train-riders cringe. The “E” line, which runs from Jamaica to Manhattan, is one of the city’s skuzziest subways. Only 2 percent of subway cars were classified as clean in the latest report from the Straphangers’ Campaign. This was a sharp plummet from 35 percent of E cars last year that were listed as well-kept.
Source: NYPIRG Straphangers’ Campaign Report 2005-2006
Find one of the most unique subway stations in Queens and the city at Court Square in Long Island City. This stop is special because it requires an out-of-station transfer to the G, V, E and 7 lines. MetroCards are programmed to recognize the transfer at 45th Road and Courthouse Square and not charge a fare. Court Square is also home to the only horizontal escalator in the subway system.
Source: www.forgotten-ny.com
Leave a little extra time for your appointment if you plan to hop on the Q58, the slowest bus route in Queens. It averages 6.9 miles per hour.
Source: NYPIRG Straphangers’ Campaign Report 2005-2006
WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE
The most ambitious infrastructure project in Queens is happening underground. The NYC Water Tunnel No. 3, a task that began in 1970 and should be completed in 2021, is the largest capital construction project in NYC history. The current portion of the tunnel is a 13-mile-stretch running from Yonkers into Astoria. The second stage of the colossal project will include a 20-foot-diameter tunnel snaking through Astoria and Woodside, while the final 14-mile portion will begin in the Bronx and end in Flushing. The project links the five boroughs to upstate water supplies.
Source: www.nyc.gov., www.water-technology.net.
Seven bridges connect the borough with the rest of the city and make crossing water a part of daily life for many Queens residents. One of the most cherished passageways, the Hell Gate Bridge, is believed to one of the strongest steel structures in the world. It connects Queens in Astoria with Randalls and Wards Islands and stretches 1,017 feet.
A February 2005 issue of Discover magazine reported that without human wear-and-tear it would be the last NYC bridge to collapse and take 1,000 years to fall. Another beloved bridge, the Queensborough Bridge, was built in 1909 and crosses the East River to link Queens and Manhattan. Perhaps the biggest pop culture bridge, it’s been the topic of a Simon and Garfunkel song and mentioned in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. It’s been referenced in the television shows “King of Queens” and “The Simpsons” and appears in the films “Home Alone 2” and “Spider-Man.”
Source: www.wikipedia.com
Bus riders transfer to the subway at Parsons Boulevard. |
Queens Transportation
Alternative Modes Of Transit
Some 66 percent of Queens residents own a car – we are only outdone by Staten Island in that regard, where 80 percent of residents own one. But for 34 percent of Queens residents, mass transportation, cabs, biking or walking is the main way to get to get around.
Source: Transportation Alternatives
The AirTrain linking JFK airport to the MTA has been a success. |
With plenty of open space and residential streets in Queens, kids use their bikes for neighborhood excursions. But with big intersections and uneven roads, kids face dangers, too, which is why Queens has the most child bike fatalities in the city. Among kids 5 to 14, there are 3.2 fatalities per million compared to 2.1 deaths city-wide.
Source: New York City’s Bike and Fatality Report 1996-2006
Cyclists shouldn’t zoom through these Queens intersections because according to Transportation Alternatives, it is where the most cyclists have been injured.
1. Roosevelt Avenue and 72nd Street
2. Jamaica Avenue and Woodhaven Blvd.
3. 111th Street at Roosevelt Avenue
4. Grand Avenue at Queens Blvd.
5. Astoria Blvd. at Roosevelt Avenue
