‘Boulevard of death’ no more: City completes lengthy Queens Blvd. redesign
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Officials cut the ribbon on the last phase of the redesign of Queens Boulevard on Tuesday. Photo via Queens Borough President Donovan Richards/X
By Ryan Schwach
Nearly a decade in the making, the city finally completed its redesign of Queens Boulevard, a strip once known as the “Boulevard of Death.”
Department of Transportation officials and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards announced on Tuesday the completion of the redesign, which began in 2015 in an effort to make the major throughway safer. On Tuesday, officials said it will now be known as the “Boulevard of Life.”
“New York City DOT has put in the work to dramatically improve safety in this area,” said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “I'm proud to say that Queens Boulevard is not the ‘Boulevard of Death’ anymore, but the ‘Boulevard of Life.’”
Queens Boulevard, which runs through the borough from Long Island City to Jamaica, garnered its morbid nickname after years of deaths and injuries on its pavement.
From 1950 to 2000, nearly 400 people were killed on the street.
“These are not just numbers, these are real people,” said Rodriguez. “They could be our friends, our loved ones, they could be our neighbor who could be alive today or who didn't suffer life changing injuries, all because of how this street was designed.”
The project to redesign the corridor began almost a decade ago, when Rodriguez and Richards were both in the City Council.
“All of these improvements are going to go a long way toward preventing the kinds of tragedies that earned this busy thoroughfare its unwanted nickname,” said Richards. “There have been far too many tragedies along this boulevard.”
The work along Queens Boulevard included the installation of bike lanes, pedestrian islands to shorten crossing distances, lower car speeds and additional traffic signal timing fixes.
The bike lines now make Queens Boulevard home to the longest continuous stretch of protected bike lanes on a New York City street.
The final phase of the project, which was officially completed this week, included safety upgrades along a mile-long section of the boulevard through Sunnyside.
“We’re ecstatic that the full length of Queens Boulevard, the former ‘Boulevard of Death,’ will be a safe place to walk and bike from LIC to Jamaica,” said Laura Shepard, Queens organizer at Transportation Alternatives.
“These new protected bike lanes in Sunnyside will provide safe, direct passage for the growing population of bike commuters,” she added. “The retimed lights and pedestrian islands will finally make it safer to cross the street. We hope to see this announcement followed with a bus lane along this segment of the corridor, improved bus stops, and an expanded protected bike lane network through South Sunnyside and north/south corridors.”
The work along Queens Boulevard has been reflected in the number of accidents and injuries on the strip.
According to the DOT, total roadway fatalities decreased by 68 percent, injuries decreased by 35 percent, and pedestrian injuries decreased by 45 percent in the time that the work began to be completed.
“We're thrilled with the progress we have made so far, and look forward to continuing our work to deliver a safer, healthier Queens Boulevard,” said Rodriguez.
More to do
While checking off one box along Queens Boulevard, officials announced the next leg of work to bring additional safety improvements and fixes to the road.
“I know we have a lot more work to do,” said Richards.
DOT will use more than $23 million dollars in federal funding – plus another $1.5 million from Richards and Councilmember Julie Won – to upgrade parts of the redesign that were done first in 2015.
A rendering of the next wave of safety improvements on Queens Boulevard. Rendering via the New York City Department of Transportation
The $150 million project, which is expected to begin next year, will bring more safety improvements to Queens Boulevard from Roosevelt Avenue to 73rd Street.
The work will consist of reconstructing service road medians, reconfiguring ramps, improving bus stop accessibility, as well as adding more lighting and seating.
Even with Queens Boulevard’s issues beginning to fade off into the past, a handful of speakers on Tuesday pointed to other areas in Queens that still need fixing.
Rosamond Gianutsos, the vice chair of Queens Community Board 2, pointed out work that needs to be completed on the South Outer Roadway of the Queensboro Bridge – a DOT project which is currently delayed with no clear completion date.
Richards also mentioned work he thinks needs to be done on the North and South Conduit along the Belt Parkway in South Queens – which he called the “new Boulevard of Death.”
"The redesign of Queens Boulevard has made the roadway much safer than it ever was in the past, so much so that drivers, pedestrians and bikers can finally feel confident that they can use this important roadway without fearing for their lives,” Richards said. “But our work to improve traffic safety is never done. We got a lot more work to do.”
