A super-secondary highway over 10 lanes wide, with three divider medians for much of its stretch, Queens Boulevard has earned an unwelcome and infamous reputation as a human bowling alley. Along with the bad rap came infamous nicknames such as The Boulevard of Death and The Boulevard of Broken Bones. The bad publicity kicked up considerably since the 1990's, but in truth, pedestrians have been at war with the traffic here going all the way back to its widening in the 1930's.
Queens Boulevard cuts its swath through the hearts of numerous central Queens neighborhoods, including Sunnyside, Woodside, Elmhurst, Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Briarwood and finally, Jamaica.
Sounds like a real safe place for an 11 year old to be on a Friday night.
I walked away from my mother when I was little and crossed Jamaica Avenue. She fainted when the guy in the liquor store called her. I'm sure she fainted because I made it across alive. Crossing Queens Blvd. is like crossing Sunrise Hwy or crossing the 405 in California.
I was born in St. John's Hospital on Queens Blvd., as was my grandson. My father grew up there and was an altar boy at OLQM. Forest Hills was home for a number of years and still a favorite stomping ground for the restaurants and music. We always try to park on the south side, which is where most of the dining/dancing/music is. Crossing QB at night is an adventure. Crossing back later at night after a few hours entertainment is more than an adventure....too wide and too many drunks behind the wheels at two a.m.
Forest Hills and Rego Park are home to large elderly populations, primarily second generation Jewish who moved out of the Lower East Side fifty years ago. These folks cannot cross the boulevard in the time allotted by the lights, and for some reason will not wait patiently in the median. I wish I had a fin for every time I saw one of these geriatrics tempt fate there.
Although QB runs for miles it is really only as dangerous as described in the Elmhurst to Forest Hills stretch. From Kew Gardens down to the edge of Jamaica the road runs through the Court Houe system on one side and a huge cemetery on the other. Closer in to the city it's not so wide nor so crazy.