Queens Car Rental and Queens Boulevard

Every major city has a main drag - from the Champs Elysees in Paris to Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. So it shouldn't come as much of a surprise to All Car Queens Car Rental travelers that the Royal borough also has one major thoroughfare. Fittingly called Queens Boulevard, this street runs northwest to southeast across more than half of the borough, starting at the Queensboro Bride in Long Island City and terminating at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica. Customers of All Car Queens Car Rental will find plenty of great amenities and attractions located along this busy roadway, including some fantastic ethnic restaurants. It's practically impossible to visit Queens without traveling this roadway for at least once, so why resist? Take a spin down Queens Boulevard today to learn a little more about this vibrant community.

A street that's emblematic of Queens itself

Queens Boulevard has become somewhat emblematic of the borough as a whole over the years, thanks to its density, diversity and multicultural character. It doesn't matter where you look on this boulevard you're sure to find people, whether they're out shopping in Sunnyside, or simply hanging out in Rego Park. Stretching for nearly 8 miles, Queens Boulevard boasts some of the bests establishments in Queens, including Briarwood's circus-themed car wash (customers of All Car Queens Car Rental might remember this from the movie Coming to America), the Russian grocery store Berezka, and the world famous Knish Nosh Potato Bakery.

Overcoming a morbid past

When Queens Boulevard was built in the early 20th century, it was for one reason only - to connect central Queens with Manhattan via the Queensboro Bridge. Created by linking and expanding pre-existing streets, such as Thomson Avenue and Hoffman Boulevard, Queens Boulevard quickly grew to become one of the busiest streets in all of NYC. Customers of All Car Queens Car Rental will find that much of the road is 12 lanes wide; however it reaches a staggering 16 lanes at the intersection of Yellowstone Boulevard in Forest Hills. This combination of immense width and heavy traffic can make for quite the morning commute, not to mention an environment conducive to accidents. From 1993 to 2000 more than 70 pedestrians were killed while trying to cross this street, earning it the moniker "The Boulevard of Death" throughout New York City. Luckily, this trend is lessening thanks to attention from the New York government. Evidence for this can be found along the boulevard's busiest intersections - bright yellow signs are now located in these areas proclaiming "A pedestrian was killed crossing here, be alert".

Seeing Queens in a nutshell

Customers of All Car Queens Car Rentals will see a little bit of everything when they drive down Queens Boulevard, including nine of the borough's most popular cities. As you travel from Manhattan through to Jamaica, you will cross through Sunnyside, Woodside, Elmhurst, Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens and Briarwood. One journalist put the journey along Queens Boulevard this way, "this is not the Zen Walk or the Romantic Walk... [rather, it is] ethnic, historical, lovely, ugly, scenic and bizarre" all at the same time. You never know what you might run into on Queens Boulevard, but then again, that's half the fun.

Traveling under Queens Boulevard

There are two ways to travel Queens Boulevard on your upcoming Queens car rental vacation. You can drive down it, or you can catch a subway underneath it. Queens Boulevard hosts one of the highest number of New York City Subway services in the Big Apple, providing visitors with five separated options. There are only three stretches in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn that can carry more than that at any one time.

While this street may be ethnic, historical, lovely, ugly, scenic and bizarre, it is also a legendary landmark in the borough. So remember to take a drive down Queens Boulevard during your upcoming Queens car rental vacation. But please, remember to watch out for pedestrians when traveling through some of the larger intersection... this is one boulevard that doesn't need any more nicknames.

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