 Francis Lewis Boulevard intersecting withUnion Turnpike inCunningham Park | |
 | |
| Former name(s) | Cross Island Boulevard, Rosedale Boulevard |
|---|---|
| Owner | City of New York |
| Maintained by | NYCDOT |
| Length | 10.8 mi (17.4 km)[1] |
| Location | Queens,New York City |
| South end | Hook Creek Boulevard inRosedale |
| Major junctions |  NY 27 in Rosedale NY 25 inJamaica Estates Grand Central Parkway inCunningham Park I-495 inFresh Meadows NY 25A inAuburndale |
| North end |  Cross Island Parkway inWhitestone |
Francis Lewis Boulevard is aboulevard in theNew York Cityborough ofQueens. The roadway is named forFrancis Lewis, a Queens resident who was a signer of theUnited States Declaration of Independence. The boulevard zigzags across Queens by including segments of several other roadways that were renamed to become parts of the boulevard.[2]
Francis Lewis Boulevard begins at an intersection with 148th Avenue and Hook Creek Boulevard inRosedale, Queens, continues due northwest and encounters its first major intersection (withNY 27 (South Conduit Avenue and Sunrise Highway)) approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) later, where it also crosses under theLong Island Rail Road'sMontauk Branch. Passing over theLaurelton Parkway a short distance later, Francis Lewis Boulevard then continues as a neighborhood street westbound until it reaches the intersection of 138th Avenue and 230th Place, at which point, Francis Lewis Boulevard turns right to a northeastern direction, with 138th Avenue continuing to the west and 230th Place continuing to the south.[2]
Continuing northward from where 230th Place ends at 138th Avenue, Francis Lewis Boulevard becomes wider with a grass mall and then a painted median as it snakes around theMontefiore Cemetery inLaurelton, taking the alignment of 121st Avenue as it snakes around the cemetery.[2] After 223rd Street, Francis Lewis Boulevard leaves 121st Avenue and resumes roughly the same northwestern alignment that it had before the Laurelton Parkway.[2] PassingSpringfield Boulevard inCambria Heights, Queens, Francis Lewis Boulevard becomes a 4-lane road, and maintains a status as a four- or six-lanemedian divided street for the remainder of its run through Queens, using the alignment of what would be 206th Street south ofCunningham Park and the alignment that would be 200th Street north of it to thePort Washington Branch. Neighborhoods traversed north of Springfield Boulevard are Cambria Heights,Hollis andQueens Village the western edge ofCunningham Park inFresh Meadows,Auburndale,Bayside, andWhitestone, passing under theLIRR Main Line at the boundary of Hollis and Queens Village,NY 25 (Hillside Avenue), theGrand Central Parkway and theHorace Harding Expressway at the south and north ends of Cunningham Park, respectively, andNY 25A (Northern Boulevard) in Bayside. After crossing under thePort Washington Branch, Francis Lewis Boulevard leaves the street grid and intersects with streets at oblique angles through the rest of its run in Whitestone to its northern terminus at theCross Island Parkway in Whitestone. At 10.8 miles (17.4 km) long, Francis Lewis Boulevard is one of the longest streets in Queens that only runs in Queens,[3] and is one of only two Queens street to pass uninterrupted past both Conduit Avenue and Northern Boulevard, the other being Springfield Boulevard.
One block past the south end of Francis Lewis Boulevard is Hungry Harbor Road, continuing as Rosedale Road, which proceeds east intoSouth Valley Stream inNassau County. Prior to the constructionMarine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge from Brooklyn, and the bridges ofCross Bay Boulevard fromHoward Beach, the combined Francis Lewis-Rosedale Road route provided one of the few routes betweenthe Rockaways and the rest of New York City.[2][4][3]
TheCunningham Park stretch of Francis Lewis Boulevard is notorious fordrag racing, which has resulted in several fatalities to drivers and pedestrians over the years.[5] Recently,speed cameras have been installed along this stretch. TheBrooklyn-Queens Greenway also runs parallel to Francis Lewis Boulevard through Cunningham Park.
Francis Lewis Boulevard is accessible at Exit 35 of theCross Island Parkway, Exit 24A off theBelt Parkway, Exit 20A-B off theGrand Central Parkway and Exit 26 off theLong Island Expressway.
Clintonville Street is a short street in Whitestone, beginning at 163rd Street adjacent to the west of Francis Lewis Boulevard, and running parallel to the boulevard to the Cross Island Parkway. It then extends north of the parkway toWhitestone Landing at theEast River coastline.[6] Clintonville Street was part of the original Francis Lewis Boulevard, until the boulevard was reconstructed and rerouted as part of the Whitestone Bridge and Cross Island Parkway projects.[6][7][8]
Before being renamed in the 1930s, the roadway was calledCross Island Boulevard.[9][10][11][12] The street was renamed after Francis Lewis, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who owned a home in Whitestone, to avoid confusion with the Cross Island Parkway. Portions of the boulevard were built through Lewis' Whitestone estate.[9][10] Many residents that live by the street usually refer to Francis Lewis Boulevard as simply "Franny Lew".[13]
The name of Clintonville Street is a reference to the early name of the Whitestone area,Clintonville.[7] The area was named Clintonville after former New York City mayor and New York State governorDeWitt Clinton.[14]
Prior to being mapped out, what is now Francis Lewis Boulevard consisted of several separate narrow roads, including some that dated back to theAmerican Revolutionary War, and some which ran along Native American trails. These roads appeared on late 18th Century maps created by British generalSir Henry Clinton.[9][10] The Whitestone section of the route now known as Clintonville Street was initially called 11th Avenue.[15] South of Cryders Lane and the current Cross Island Parkway in northern Whitestone to what is nowNorthern Boulevard (then Broadway or Jackson Avenue), the route was known as Whitestone Road and Whitestone Boulevard, and later Beechhurst Avenue.[16][17][18] Streets along the route in Southeast Queens were called Rosedale Avenue, Squier Street, Sutro Street, and Dunton Avenue.[19][20][21] Rosedale Avenue had been laid out in the 1890s inRosedale (then Foster's Meadow), and served as the primary thoroughfare for the town.[2][3]
The entire route was first mapped in 1912 or 1913 by the Queens Topographical Bureau asRosedale Boulevard,[9][10][11][19] as part of theHollis Tentative Map for Queens which mapped roads through Southeast Queens such as the futureGrand Central Parkway.[19][21][22] The road at this time was referred to as a "cattle guard", likely due to rough terrain along the route.[23] In 1917, the city proposed a north-to-south "Cross Island Boulevard", combining the existing roads in northern Queens with the planned Rosedale Boulevard. The road was planned to be 80 feet (24 m) wide.[16][17] The name of the route was officially changed to Cross Island Boulevard in the 1920s.[11][21] This name change was opposed by residents in Rosedale, who wished to retain the Rosedale Avenue name.[24]
Prior to the 1940s, the boulevard consisted of two sections separated byCunningham Park, with only the northern spur officially called Cross Island Boulevard.[9][10][25][26] In late 1932, the city finalized plans to extend Cross Island Boulevard south toSpringfield Boulevard andLinden Boulevard in southern Queens.[26] On November 11, 1938, construction began on an upgrade to the north end of the boulevard, in order to serve as a link between theBronx–Whitestone Bridge and the1939 New York World's Fair. The overhauled boulevard was reopened between the bridge and Horace Harding Boulevard (then called World's Fair Boulevard; now theLong Island Expressway) a year later on November 16, 1939, at which point it was renamed Francis Lewis Boulevard.[27][28] At this time, the remaining original stretch of Cross Island Boulevard in Whitestone was renamed Clintonville Street, although many signs continued to identify it as Cross Island Boulevard.[6][7] The southern section of Francis Lewis Boulevard, meanwhile, consisted of narrow roads withmacadam construction.[10] Improvements to the southern leg of the boulevard were in the preliminary stages at this time.[29]
In 1940, the city planned to connect the two sections of the boulevard, by cutting through Cunningham Park.[29][30][31] Construction on the spur began in 1941.[32] The road was completed in June 1943, but did not open due to restrictions by theNew York City Police Department, which required lights to be installed along the route. Materials to install the lights were restricted by theWorld War II efforts.[32] In spite of restrictions, many motorists utilized the stretch illegally.[32] The connection was opened in June 1946.[32] The link provided a direct route from Southeast Queens to the Whitestone Bridge for trucks and other commercial traffic, which could not use the Cross Island Parkway.[30]
Francis Lewis Boulevard has two main bus lines:[33]
Other bus lines include the following:[33]
Two major Catholic high schools in New York City,St. Francis Preparatory School andHoly Cross High School, are located on Francis Lewis Boulevard. St. Francis Preparatory is located at the intersection with Horace Harding Expressway, whereas Holy Cross is located near the intersection with 26th Avenue. Every year the two schools play a football game in the beginning of the season called the "Battle of the Boulevard", in reference to the shared stretch of road.[46]
The entire route is in theNew York Cityborough ofQueens.
| Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rosedale | 0.0 | 0.0 | Hook Creek Boulevard | Southern terminus | |
| 0.9 | 1.4 |    NY 27 (South Conduit Avenue / Sunrise Highway) toBelt Parkway west | |||
| 1.0 | 1.6 |  Brookville Boulevard toCross Island Parkway north | |||
| Laurelton | 1.8 | 2.9 | Merrick Boulevard | FormerNY 27A | |
| Cambria Heights | 3.4 | 5.5 | Springfield Boulevard | ||
| 3.6 | 5.8 | Linden Boulevard | |||
| Hollis–Queens Village line | 4.9 | 7.9 | Jamaica Avenue | ||
| Jamaica Estates | 5.5 | 8.9 | NY 25 (Hillside Avenue) | ||
| Cunningham Park | 5.9– 6.2 | 9.5– 10.0 | Grand Central Parkway –Throgs Neck Bridge,Eastern Long Island,RFK Bridge | Cloverleaf interchange; exits 20A-B on Grand Central Parkway | |
| 6.3 | 10.1 | Cunningham Park | Interchange | ||
| 6.4 | 10.3 | Union Turnpike | FormerNY 25C | ||
| Fresh Meadows | 7.3 | 11.7 | I-495 (Long Island Expressway) –Eastern Long Island,Midtown Tunnel | Exits 26–28 on I-495 | |
| Auburndale | 8.3 | 13.4 | NY 25A (Northern Boulevard) | ||
| 9.3 | 15.0 | Utopia Parkway | |||
| Whitestone | 10.8 | 17.4 | Cross Island Parkway north | Northern terminus | |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi | |||||
Francis Lewis Boulevard, originally Cross Island Boulevard, was renamed in the 1930s.
In springtime, the boulevard becomes what locals call the Franny Lew Speedway, with drivers running quarter-mile sprints for money or stoplight-to-stoplight races for high-velocity kicks and bragging rights.
