Kew Gardens Interchange | |
---|---|
The Maze; The Pretzel | |
Location | |
Kew Gardens, Queens, New York | |
Coordinates | 40°42′59″N73°49′34″W / 40.71639°N 73.82611°W |
Roads at junction | NY 25 (Queens Boulevard) I-678 (Van Wyck Expressway) Grand Central Parkway Jackie Robinson Parkway Union Turnpike |
Construction | |
Type | Interchange |
Opened | 1930s |
Maintained by | NYCDOT and NYSDOT |
The Kew Gardens Interchange (also known as The Pretzel and The Maze) is a complex interchange in Kew Gardens, in the center of the New York City borough of Queens serving nearly 600,000 vehicles daily. [1]
The Kew Gardens Interchange is located roughly midway between LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport. Highways feeding into the Kew Gardens Interchange include the Grand Central Parkway, Interstate 678 (the Van Wyck Expressway), the Jackie Robinson Parkway, Queens Boulevard (New York State Route 25), and Union Turnpike. [2] Its complex design has led to it gaining the nicknames of "The Pretzel" and "The Maze". [3]
The Kew Gardens Interchange is an incomplete junction. The Grand Central Parkway connects to and from the Jackie Robinson Parkway in both directions, but access to I-678 south is only served by eastbound exit and westbound entrance ramps. The Jackie Robinson Parkway, which terminates at this interchange, connects to both directions of the Grand Central Parkway, but only serves I-678 north. The northbound lanes of the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) only serve the westbound Grand Central Parkway, while the southbound lanes only serve the Jackie Robinson Parkway.
All directions of the limited access highways provide access to Union Turnpike, which also intersects to Queens Boulevard (NY 25) to the west and Main Street to the east. Missing movements in the highway interchange can be made via these local roads, as well as the Long Island Expressway (I-495), located approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the interchange.
Missing connection | Connected by |
---|---|
Grand Central Parkway east to I-678 north | NY 25A / Northern Boulevard, located 4 miles (6.4 km) north (G.C. Parkway exit 9E, I-678 exit 13) |
I-678 south to Grand Central Parkway | |
Jackie Robinson Parkway east to I-678 south | Metropolitan Avenue, Union Turnpike, and Queens Boulevard (J.R. Parkway exit 6, I-678 exit 9) |
I-678 north to Jackie Robinson Parkway west | |
Grand Central Parkway west to I-678 south | G.C. Parkway frontage roads, Main Street (G.C. Parkway exit 17, I-678 exit 8) |
I-678 north to Grand Central Parkway east |
A distorted trumpet between Grand Central Parkway and Jackie Robinson Parkway (Interboro Parkway), with Union Turnpike appearing somewhat as a service road, was constructed in the 1930s. [4] Connections to the Van Wyck Expressway were added later.
On August 18, 2010, the New York State Department of Transportation broke ground on the first phase of reconstruction of the Kew Gardens interchange. The renovation project includes the renovations of the nearby Queens Boulevard viaduct over I-678 and the New York City Subway's nearby Briarwood station ( E , F , and <F> trains). [5] Renovations to the Queens Boulevard viaduct and Briarwood station were completed in 2016 at a cost of $159 million. The project included a reconstructed exit ramp, widened lanes on I-678, and four new bridges. [6] The second phase included constructing a new viaduct and a new flyover ramp for the northbound I-678, as well as new decks and steel girders for some of the other viaducts. [7] The third and fourth phases included the reconstruction of additional ramps and the widening of the roadways. All work was completed in 2022 at a cost of $739 million. [8] [9]
Interstate 278 (I-278) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York in the United States. The road runs 35.62 miles (57.32 km) from US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) in Linden, New Jersey, northeast to the Bruckner Interchange in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The majority of I-278 is in New York City, where it serves as a partial beltway and passes through all five of the city's boroughs. I-278 follows several freeways, including the Union Freeway in Union County, New Jersey; the Staten Island Expressway (SIE) across Staten Island; the Gowanus Expressway in southern Brooklyn; the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (BQE) across Northern Brooklyn and Queens; a small part of the Grand Central Parkway in Queens; and a part of the Bruckner Expressway in the Bronx. I-278 also crosses multiple bridges, including the Goethals, Verrazzano-Narrows, Kosciuszko, and Robert F. Kennedy bridges.
The Belt Parkway is the name given to a series of controlled-access parkways that form a belt-like circle around the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The Belt Parkway comprises three of the four parkways in what is known as the Belt System: the Shore Parkway, the Southern Parkway, and the Laurelton Parkway. The three parkways in the Belt Parkway are a combined 25.29 miles (40.70 km) in length. The Cross Island Parkway makes up the fourth parkway in the system, but is signed separately.
Briarwood is a middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by the Van Wyck Expressway to the west, Parsons Boulevard to the east, Union Turnpike to the north, and Hillside Avenue to the south.
Kew Gardens is a neighborhood in the central area of the New York City borough of Queens. Kew Gardens is bounded to the north by the Union Turnpike and the Jackie Robinson Parkway, to the east by the Van Wyck Expressway and 131st Street, to the south by Hillside Avenue, and to the west by Park Lane, Abingdon Road, and 118th Street. Forest Park is to the west and the neighborhood of Forest Hills to the north-west, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park north, Richmond Hill south, Briarwood southeast, and Kew Gardens Hills east.
Interstate 495 (I-495) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in southeastern New York state. It is jointly maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), MTA Bridges and Tunnels (TBTA), and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). East of the Queens–Midtown Tunnel, I-495 is known as the Long Island Expressway (LIE).
The Cross Island Parkway is a controlled-access parkway in New York City and Nassau County, part of the Belt System of parkways running along the perimeter of the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. The Cross Island Parkway runs 10.6 miles (17.1 km) from the Whitestone Expressway in Whitestone past the Throgs Neck Bridge, along and across the border of Queens and Nassau County to meet up with the Southern State Parkway, acting as a sort of separation point which designates the limits of New York City. The road is designated as New York State Route 907A (NY 907A), an unsigned reference route, and bears the honorary name 100th Infantry Division Parkway.
Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare connecting Midtown Manhattan, via the Queensboro Bridge, to Jamaica in Queens, New York City, United States. It is 7.5 miles (12.1 km) long and forms part of New York State Route 25.
Interstate 678 (I-678) is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway that extends for 14 miles (23 km) through two boroughs of New York City. The route begins at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Jamaica Bay and travels north through Queens and across the East River to the Bruckner Interchange in the Bronx, where I-678 ends and the Hutchinson River Parkway begins.
New York State Route 878 (NY 878) is an expressway on Long Island in New York state. The route exists in two sections, which both form the Nassau Expressway. NY 878's western terminus is the Belt Parkway and Conduit Avenue (NY 27) in Ozone Park, within southern Queens in New York City. Its southern terminus is at the Atlantic Beach Bridge in Lawrence, within southwestern Nassau County. NY 878 is discontinuous between Farmers Boulevard in Queens and the town of Inwood in Nassau County. The two sections are connected to each other by Rockaway Boulevard and Rockaway Turnpike.
The Briarwood station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 84th Drive, Main Street, Queens Boulevard, and the Van Wyck Expressway, in Briarwood, Queens, bordering Kew Gardens, it is served by the F train at all times, the E train at all times except rush hours and middays, and the <F> train during rush hours in the reverse peak direction.
The Grand Central Parkway (GCP) is a 14.61-mile (23.51 km) controlled-access parkway that stretches from the Triborough Bridge in New York City to Nassau County on Long Island. At the Queens–Nassau border, it becomes the Northern State Parkway, which runs across the northern part of Long Island through Nassau County and into Suffolk County, where it ends in Hauppauge. The westernmost stretch also carries a short stretch of Interstate 278 (I-278). The parkway runs through Queens and passes the Cross Island Parkway, Long Island Expressway, LaGuardia Airport and Citi Field, home of the New York Mets. The parkway is designated New York State Route 907M (NY 907M), an unsigned reference route. Despite its name, the Grand Central Parkway was not named after Grand Central Terminal.
The Jackie Robinson Parkway is a 4.95-mile (7.97 km) controlled-access parkway in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. The western terminus of the parkway is at Jamaica Avenue in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York. It runs through Highland Park, along the north side of Ridgewood Reservoir, and through Forest Park. The eastern terminus is at the Kew Gardens Interchange in Kew Gardens, Queens, where the Jackie Robinson Parkway meets the Grand Central Parkway and Interstate 678. It is designated New York State Route 908B (NY 908B), an unsigned reference route.
The Jamaica–Van Wyck station is a station on the IND Archer Avenue Line of the New York City Subway, located on the west side of the Van Wyck Expressway between Metropolitan Avenue and 89th Avenue on the border of Kew Gardens and Richmond Hill, Queens. It is served by the E train at all times.
Kew Gardens Hills is a neighborhood in the middle of the New York City borough of Queens. The borders are Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to the west, the Long Island Expressway to the north, Union Turnpike to the south, and Parsons Boulevard to the east.
The Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike station is an express station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at Union Turnpike and Queens Boulevard on the border of Kew Gardens and Forest Hills, Queens, it is served by the E and F trains at all times, and the <F> train during rush hours in the reverse peak direction. Despite the station's name, Union Turnpike forms the border between Kew Gardens and Forest Hills, and the station straddles that border, with multiple entrances located in each neighborhood.
Union Turnpike is a thoroughfare stretching across part of Long Island in southern New York state, mostly within central and eastern Queens in New York City. It runs from Myrtle Avenue in Glendale, Queens, to Marcus Avenue in North New Hyde Park, Nassau County, about 1 mile (1.6 km) outside the New York City border.
The JFK Expressway is a freeway connecting the Belt Parkway with John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York City. It interchanges with the Nassau Expressway near the originally proposed southern terminus of the Clearview Expressway. The highway is the newest expressway in New York City, with the final section having been completed in December 1991.
Main Street is a major north–south street in the borough of Queens in New York City, extending from Queens Boulevard in Briarwood to Northern Boulevard in Flushing. Created in the 17th century as one of Flushing's main roads, Main Street has been lengthened at various points in its existence.
Rockaway Boulevard is a major road in the New York City borough of Queens. Unlike the similarly named Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Rockaway Freeway, it serves mainland Queens and does not enter the Rockaways.
The Kennedy Airport Interchange is a large, complex highway interchange located along the northern boundary of John F. Kennedy International Airport in the New York City borough of Queens, in New York, United States.
Major growth first came to Kew Gardens Hills in the mid-1930s when the Grand Central Parkway first linked the Kew Gardens interchange to the Triborough Bridge and Queens Boulevard was paved.
Media related to Kew Gardens Interchange at Wikimedia Commons