WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MARCH 22, 2018 33
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
A colonial road in Queens grows into a traffi c machine
BY THE OLD TIMER
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
In recent issues, we’ve touched on
how our neighborhood developed
from colonial farmlands to the
modern community it is today. This
week, we’re going to focus on two
major roadways that link our homes
to our schools, businesses, shops and
other attractions.
Many drivers and commuters complain
about the traffi c on Woodhaven
and Cross Bay boulevards, the 10-mile
artery running between Elmhurst and
the Rockaways. While we can’t make
the traffi c go away, we can tell you that
the roadways have quite an interesting
background.
We start with Woodhaven Boulevard,
which was fi rst laid out in April
1668 as the “South Meadow Road,”
from the village of Newtown which
was centered at the present-day intersection
of Grand Avenue and Queens
Boulevard. It was used by the villagers
to go to and from the meadows at
Jamaica Bay, where they grazed their
livestock during the spring, summer
and fall.
At about 1850, the road became
known as Trotting Course Lane,
taking its name from the Centerville
Race Track (also known for a time as
the Eclipse Course), located on the east
side of the road, south of what is today
Rockaway Boulevard.
In 1889, Trotting Course Lane was
renamed Flushing Avenue— yes, as in
the Flushing Avenue that, at that time,
ran through Bushwick and Newtown
and continues to be a critical connection
between present-day Brooklyn
and Queens.
Naturally, confusion resulted from
having two roads with the same name
only a few miles apart, and by 1898—
the same year Queens became part of
New York City—the former Trotting
Course Lane and South Meadow Road
took on the title Woodhaven Avenue,
adopting the name of the community
through which it runs.
The city later realigned a portion of
Woodhaven Boulevard through Glendale,
straightening it to make it safer. A
portion of the old road remained, and
was given the old Trotting Course
Lane title.
Segments of Trotting Course Lane
remain today in Glendale and Rego
Park, and at the entrance to the Forest
Park Crescents co-op building off
Union Turnpike.
CROSSING THE BAY
Meanwhile, in 1918, the city decided
to build a road across Jamaica Bay to
Rockaway Beach, then connect this
new road to Woodhaven Boulevard
and Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park.
The work started on the road, which
was to be 100 feet wide, in October 1921.
Because of the nature of the terrain,
it was necessary to drive numerous
steel and reinforced concrete piles
on each side of the proposed road as a
bulkhead. Then, using suction dredges,
sand was scooped up from the bay
and poured in between the bulkheads
to form the road.
The project also included new water
mains laid from the Ridgewood Reservoir—
then used as part of the city’s
water supply—to the peninsula.
It was also necessary to build two
large bridges across sections of the
bay—the North Channel Bridge, a fi xed
span linking Howard Beach and Broad
Channel; and the Cross Bay Bridge, a
four-lane drawbridge between Broad
Channel and the Rockaway Peninsula.
The total cost of this project, when
it was completed in 1925, was just
under $7 million. It opened on Oct. 26
of that year and was named Cross Bay
Boulevard.
As Queens developed in the early
20th century and more residents
moved in, the city also worked to improve
the entire stretch of Woodhaven
Avenue— and subsequently changed
the name to Woodhaven Boulevard.
As a separate project, but part of
an overall construction plan, the city
widened Woodhaven Boulevard from
100 to 150 feet from Queens Boulevard
south to the new road at a cost of $1.5
million.
The project led to a bit of a rebellion
among Glendale and Woodhaven residents,
who believed that it benefi tted
people who lived in Manhattan and
not local residents.
In all, the combined Cross Bay and
Woodhaven boulevards shortened
the distance between Brooklyn and
Manhattan and Rockaway Beach by
about 10 miles.
THE EXPRESSWAY
THAT WASN’T
The boulevards quickly became
the main north-south artery through
western and southern Queens, and
in 1941, the New York City Planning
Department proposed developing an
express highway—a forerunner to the
modern expressway—along the length
of the route from Queens Boulevard
to the Rockaway Peninsula. Aft er the
U.S. entered World War II, those plans
were scrapped.
Following the war, Queens did get
a north-to-south expressway: the Van
Wyck and Whitestone expressways,
running from the Bronx-Whitestone
Bridge to what would later become
Kennedy Airport.
Woodhaven and Cross Bay boulevards
were spared a project that
would have displaced thousands of
residents and changed the very face
of the communities through which the
boulevards run.
Drivers through the years have
relied on the roads to reach not just
the beaches of Rockaway but also a
host of other historic spots, including
Forest Park; the long-defunct St.
Anthony’s Hospital in Woodhaven,
once a pioneer in cardiovascular and
pulmonary medicine; and Aqueduct
Racetrack, located about a half-mile
east of the boulevards off Rockaway
Boulevard.
FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS
As time when on, the roads were renovated
periodically. A Works Progress
Administration project during the
Great Depression resulted in the reconfi
guration and straightening of the
boulevard between Park Lane South
and Atlantic Avenue. Overpasses were
also constructed above the Long Island
Rail Road’s Montauk branch in Glendale
and Atlantic Avenue, below which
the LIRR’s Atlantic Terminal line runs.
In 1970, the drawbridge connecting
Broad Channel and the Rockaway Peninsula
was replaced with the Cross Bay
Veterans Memorial Bridge, a six-lane,
fi xed bridge operated by the Triborough
Bridge and Tunnel Authority
(later the MTA Bridges and Tunnels
Division). While the new bridge an
upgrade, it came with toll booths that
prove controversial to this day.
The Cross Bay Bridge remains the
only intra-borough toll crossing in
the city, meaning that drivers coming
from one Queens neighborhood have
to pay to travel to another Queens
neighborhood. For years, Rockaway
and Broad Channel residents were
exempt from the toll, but in 2010, the
MTA— facing a fi nancial crisis—began
charging those drivers, though the
rate was discounted.
Meanwhile, on the north side of the
Broad Channel, the North Channel
Bridge fell into disrepair during the
1980s to such an extent that a standard
renovation wouldn’t be enough to save
it. The city replaced the span in 1988
with the Joseph P. Addabbo Bridge,
named for the late congressman who
represented the area and also the
father of current State Sen. Joseph P.
Addabbo Jr.
Most recently, both Woodhaven
and Cross Bay Boulevards underwent
a diff erent kind of change with the
introduction of Select Bus Service
that offi cially launched in November
2017. The SBS system, which took over
the Q52 and Q53 bus lines, includes
dedicated bus lanes in each direction
and reconstructed, longer bus stops
where customers pay their fare before
boarding.
The SBS system came with much
consternation from drivers and business
owners alike over congestion, lost
parking spots and other inconveniences.
Time will tell, of course, whether
the SBS on Woodhaven and Cross
Bay Boulevards helps make it easier
for southern Queens residents to get
around more quickly.
Source: Ridgewood Times, Nov.
20, 2014
* * *
Share your history with us by
emailing editorial@ridgewoodtimes.
com (subject: Our Neighborhood: The
Way it Was) or write to The Old Timer,
℅ Ridgewood Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd.,
Bayside, NY 11361. Any mailed pictures
will be carefully returned to you upon
request.
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