Cross Bay Boulevard is the main north–south road in Howard Beach, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. In the south, it originates in The Rockaways, runs over the Cross Bay Bridge into Broad Channel and then over the Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge into Howard Beach. It then continues north into Ozone Park, where the name changes to Woodhaven Boulevard north of Liberty Avenue. Residents often refer to Cross Bay Boulevard as simply "Cross Bay;" it is rare to hear anyone refer to it as simply "The Boulevard" anymore, as younger people have grown out of this elderly colloquialism. The completion of Cross Bay Boulevard in 1923, together with the construction of the associated bridges over Jamaica Bay, created the first direct roadway connection to the burgeoning Atlantic Ocean beachfront communities of The Rockaways from Brooklyn and most of Queens.
Since Cross Bay Boulevard is a direct continuation of Woodhaven Boulevard, it is a large street, although not as wide. It is a six-lane wide, median-divided boulevard throughout the majority of its stretch (although it shrinks to four lanes once it reaches Broad Channel). It is often a very busy street as well, carrying an average volume of 35,000 vehicles per day, mainly because it is the only way to get to Broad Channel and The Rockaways from Queens by car without having to go through Brooklyn or Nassau County. Like Queens Boulevard, many road safety cameras are being installed along Cross Bay Boulevard. Cross Bay Boulevard is approximately 5.5 miles long. Together with Woodhaven Boulevard, which is 4 miles long, makes it one of the longest streets in Queens as well, at 9.5 miles.
Woodhaven Boulevard continues north until finally ending just north of the Long Island Expressway at Queens Boulevard, near the Queens Center mall.
Read more about Cross Bay Boulevard: History, Public Transportation
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