Celtic Avenue, Sunnyside
Once known as Old Bowery Bay Road and later Celtic Drive, Celtic Avenue is a remnant of a much longer road that once stretched to northern Astoria. The neighborhood was once called Celtic Park in honor of Irish immigrants.

Linneaus Place, Flushing
This street is all that remains of Linnean Gardens, established in 1793 by William Prince, Jr., a third-generation English American, and named after Carolus Linneaus, a Swiss naturalist that devised the nomenclature used today for living species. The horseshoe-shaped street borders Prince Street, itself named for the founder of the Gardens.

Park Crescent, Jamaica
Located off 86th Road near 164th Street, Park Crescent is small enough and old enough not to be mentioned on any newer maps. It dead-ends at the gates of the nearby Captain Tilly Park, for which the street is named.

Spruce Street, Elmhurst
A short alley between 100th and 102nd Streets, Spruce Street appears to have been passed over for a number when the streets in the area were being renamed. Until the 1920s, all the streets in the area were named after trees.

Walnut Street, Forest Hills
A few miles south of Spruce Street, this is a one-block street of nicely-kept homes between 70th Drive and 71st Avenue, just north of Union Turnpike. That Walnut Street carries a name and not a number is not unusual in this neighborhood. As a matter of fact, Walnut Street appears to be the final street in an alphabetical sequence that begins in downtown Forest Hills with Austin Street and continues with Burns, Clyde, Dartmouth, and so on. What sets it apart from most other streets in Queens is that its house numbers are a vestige of the Queens that existed previous to its present, dash-using street numbering system.

Source: Kevin Walsh, Forgotten-NY.com

Most Dangerous Locations For Pedestrians

Some intersections in Queens are downright terrifying to maneuver as a pedestrian. The following are the list of the intersections with the most injuries and fatalities caused to pedestrians.

1. 63rd Drive & Queens Boulevard
(1 fatality, 50 injuries)
2. Hillside Avenue & Parsons Boulevard
(1 fatality, 47 injuries)
3. Main Street & Roosevelt Avenue (1 fatality, 42 injuries)
4. Jamaica Avenue & Parsons Boulevard
(0 fatalities, 43 injuries)
5. Archer Avenue & Sutphin Boulevard
(0 fatalities, 39 injuries)
6. 46th Street & Queens Boulevard (2 fatalities, 36 injuries)
7. Union Street & Northern Boulevard
(1 fatality, 36 injuries)
8. 71st Avenue & Queens Boulevard
(fatality, 36 injuries)
9. Archer Avenue & Parsons Boulevard
(0 fatalities, 37 injuries)
10. Jamaica Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard
(1 fatality, 33 injuries)

Source: Transportation Alternatives study of traffic data for Queens from 1995-2001

Top Ten Busiest Subway Stops

More than 50,000 people pass through the Flushing-Main Street station a day, making it one of the busiest stations in New York City.

The Flushing-Main St. subway stop is climbing the charts. On an average weekday, 53,038 people enter this station on the 7. Flushing is now the 10th busiest subway stop citywide, up from 14th in 1999, and it is the only station on the top 10 list outside of Manhattan.

1) Flushing-Main St.
2) 74 St. Broadway/Roosevelt Avenue on the 7.
3) Jamaica Center Parsons/Archer on the E, J, Z.
4) Kew Gardens/Union Turnpike on the F, E.
5) Forest Hills 71st Avenue on the G, R, V.
6) Jamaica-179th Street on the F.
7) Woodhaven Boulevard/Queens Mall on the G, R, V.
8) Junction Boulevard on the 7.
9) 82nd Street-Jackson Heights on the 7.
10) 90th Street – Elmhurst Avenue on the 7

Source: MTA Turnstile Registration Reports

The Longest Streets

Northern Boulevard is the largest street in Queens at 12 miles.

Northern Boulevard – 12 miles Within Queens borders, almost as long as the entire island of Manhattan. Also one of the widest streets, with the heaviest traffic, carrying only slightly fewer cars on a daily basis than the highways passing through the borough.

Liberty Avenue-Farmers Boulevard – 8.1 miles
Beginning at Drew Street in Ozone Park, Liberty Avenue circles south and southeastern Queens like a belt, west to east, becoming Farmers Boulevard in St. Albans and continuing south to terminate its 8.1-mile run at the Nassau Expressway, at the northern edge of the JFK Airport.

Queens Boulevard – 7 miles This street runs through some of the busiest commercial districts of the borough, including the quickly growing Forest Hills.

Jamaica Avenue – 6.8 miles From Dexter Court in Woodhaven to 243rd Street in Bellerose, it becomes Jericho Turnpike and continues into the suburbs.

Greenpoint Avenue-Roosevelt Avenue – 6.3-mile
This stretch crosses from Brooklyn over Newtown Creek, stretches through Sunnyside as Greenpoint Avenue, becomes Roosevelt Avenue around 58th Street in Woodside and continues on until merging into Northern Boulevard in Flushing.

Source: MapQuest

Most Improved Intersections

These intersections, although once boasting high accident rates, are making strides in the safety category. Surveys from 2001 compared to the same surveys from 1995 show that the following intersections have taken the necessary measures to make them more safe.

1. 59th Avenue & Queens Boulevard
2. Jamaica Avenue & Parsons Boulevard
3. Mott Avenue & Beach Channel Drive
4. Myrtle Avenue & Seneca Avenue
5. 63rd Drive & Queens Boulevard
6. Broadway & Queens Boulevard
7. 187th Street & Hillside Avenue
8. 51st Avenue & Queens Boulevard
9. Queens Boulevard and Yellowstone Boulevard
10. Rockaway Boulevard and Woodhaven Boulevard

Source: Transportation Alternatives 1995 and 2001

Least Common Traffic Violations

There may be some bad drivers out there, but don’t say Queens drivers don’t know right from wrong. No one could even remember the last time someone fled the scene after running over a child’s pet ferret. That’s something to be proud of.

1. Leaving scene of accident involving domestic animal
2. Inadequate brakes while driving an employer’s vehicle
3. Operating a moped without headlight
4. Safety restraint person under 16
5. Improper lane change for bicycles
6. Parking on railroad tracks
7. Failure to stop for a school bus
8. Driving wrong direction
9. Driving more than 40 mph over speed limit
10. Following too closely

Source: New York Police Department and New York State Department of Motor Vehicles

The Shortest Streets

From driveways to back lanes, the borough sports some streets that are much longer on history than footage.

Valentine Place, Glendale
183 feet
A quite residential street intersecting Cooper Avenue, Valentine Place’s serene surroundings make for quite a contrast compared to the busy intersection of Cooper Avenue and 80th Street.

Blackwells Lane, Long Island City
252 feet
Intersecting 27th Avenue is a relatively long driveway terminating in a dirt road – all that remains of the Blackwells Lane.

Dorothy Place, Astoria
278 feet
This street might as well be a driveway. Gated off from traffic, it dead-ends on 29th Street, northeast of Astoria Boulevard.

Old Ridge Road, Long Island City
314 feet
Located between 29th and 30th Streets and 37th and 38th Avenues, Old Ridge Road is the last piece of the original road of LIC. It is a humble driveway now, but it carries with it more than 200 years of history.

Claremont Terrace, Elmhurst
491 feet
A nearly forgotten dirt road, Claremont Terrace is a dead end on Dongan Avenue, just off Broadway. Although historical data is shaky on this, it may have led to the old Long Island Railroad station (not the present-day LIRR) that was located on Broadway.

Source: Kevin Walsh, Forgotten-NY.com.

Busiest Bus stops in Queens

When the founding fathers of this nation mentioned the right of citizens to assemble peacefully for the purpose of voicing their grievances, they certainly could not imagine that some of the Queens bus stops will become such places.

LaGuardia Airport, Delta Terminal
(Q48 line)
Serving the busy Flushing community and even busier LaGuardia Airport. It also passes through Corona and stops to pick up passengers at Shea Stadium. Enough said.

JFK Airport
(Q10 and Q3 lines)
Even with the introduction of the AirTrain service last year, JFK’s bus lines are still among the busiest starting-off points in the borough.

Queens Blvd & 40th Street
(Q32 & Q60 lines)
Located right where the industrial districts of Long Island City, West Maspeth, Hunters Point and Newtown Creek overlap, this area sees tremendous levels of foot traffic. The presence of the No. 7 subway line creates a situation where dozens of commuters spill from the train and onto the sidewalk to wait for the bus every seven minutes or so.

Shea Stadium
(Q48 line)
Considering the state of the Mets, the overcrowding problem eased up somewhat lately, but thousands of often-disgruntled fans still take the bus home after each game.

Union Turnpike and Parsons Boulevard
(Q46 line)
On weekdays, especially during rush hour, the Q46 bus often reaches its passenger capacity around Utopia Pkwy, at which point many drivers decide to skip the subsequent stops until someone asks to be let off.
Source: Transportation Alternatives study of traffic data for Queens from 1995-2001

Safest Areas For Pedestrians

And then there are the areas where people can recklessly stumble into the street at the height of rush hour and have almost no fear of the oncoming traffic. The following neighborhoods had very few pedestrian injuries in 2001.

1. East Elmhurst
(0 fatalities, 3 injuries)
2. Little Neck
(0 fatalities, 32 injuries)
3. Bay Terrace
(2 fatalities, 41 injuries)
4. Rockaway Beach
(0 fatalities, 61 injuries)
5. Northern Little Neck
(1 fatality, 81 injuries)
6. Fresh Meadows-Utopia
(3 fatalities, 79 injuries)
7. Averne
(2 fatalities, 81 injuries)
8. Howard Beach
(4 fatalities, 92 injuries)

Source: Transportation Alternatives study of traffic data for Queens from 1995-2001