Rockaway Beach Boulevard, opened in 1886, was the first major east-west thoroughfare on theRockaway Peninsula in the Borough ofQueens inNew York City. Much of its route parallels theRockaway Freeway and theIND Rockaway Line above the Freeway. The boulevard first forks off at its eastern end fromBeach Channel Drive at Beach 35th Street inEdgemere and merges once again with Beach Channel Drive byJacob Riis Park shortly before theMarine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge.
The Boulevard runs north of the Freeway from its eastern end, while Edgemere Avenue runs exactly south of the Freeway, until Beach 56th Street inArverne, where the northern flank becomes Arverne Boulevard and Edgemere Avenue abruptly turns into Rockaway Beach Boulevard for the remainder of its run.
While the Boulevard served as the heart of a bustling business and entertainment district in the heart of theRockaway Beach neighborhood, which included numerous hotels and amusement attractions, including the famousRockaways' Playland, it was found that its original width could barely cope with the expanding traffic in its heyday. Much of the area in Arverne served by Rockaway Beach Boulevard was leveled through abortiveurban renewal efforts in the 1960s.[1]
Rockaway Beach Boulevard is served by the following:
For decades, no one wanted to settle in Arverne byways like Beach 70th Street, least of all the city government, which in the 1960s tore down acre upon acre of houses to make way for an urban renewal project that never materialized.
40°35′1.25″N73°49′17.36″W / 40.5836806°N 73.8214889°W /40.5836806; -73.8214889
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