Francis Lewis Boulevard begins at an intersection with 148th Avenue and Hook Creek Boulevard in Rosedale, Queens, continues due northwest and encounters its first major intersection (with NY 27 (South Conduit Avenue and Sunrise Highway)) approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) later, where it also crosses under the Long Island Rail Road's Montauk Branch. Passing over the Laurelton 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 the Montefiore Cemetery in Laurelton, 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] Passing Springfield Boulevard in Cambria Heights, Queens, Francis Lewis Boulevard becomes a 4-lane road, and maintains a status as a four- or six-lane median divided street for the remainder of its run through Queens, using the alignment of what would be 206th Street south of Cunningham Park and the alignment that would be 200th Street north of it to the Port Washington Branch. Neighborhoods traversed north of Springfield Boulevard are Cambria Heights, Hollis and Queens Village the western edge of Cunningham Park in Fresh Meadows, Auburndale, Bayside, and Whitestone, passing under the LIRR Main Line at the boundary of Hollis and Queens Village, NY 25 (Hillside Avenue), the Grand Central Parkway and the Horace Harding Expressway at the south and north ends of Cunningham Park, respectively, and NY 25A (Northern Boulevard) in Bayside. After crossing under the Port 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 the Cross 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.
The Cunningham Park stretch of Francis Lewis Boulevard is notorious for drag racing, which has resulted in several fatalities to drivers and pedestrians over the years.[5] Recently, speed cameras have been installed along this stretch. The Brooklyn-Queens Greenway also runs parallel to Francis Lewis Boulevard through Cunningham Park.
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 to Whitestone Landing at the East 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]
Etymology
Before being renamed in the 1930s, the roadway was called Cross 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 governor DeWitt Clinton.[14]
History
Prior to being mapped out, what is now Francis Lewis Boulevard consisted of several separate narrow roads, including some that dated back to the American Revolutionary War, and some which ran along Native American trails. These roads appeared on late 18th Century maps created by British general Sir 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 now Northern 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 in Rosedale (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 as Rosedale Boulevard,[9][10][11][19] as part of the Hollis Tentative Map for Queens which mapped roads through Southeast Queens such as the future Grand 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 by Cunningham 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 to Springfield Boulevard and Linden 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 the Bronx–Whitestone Bridge and the 1939 New York World's Fair. The overhauled boulevard was reopened between the bridge and Horace Harding Boulevard (then called World's Fair Boulevard; now the Long 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 with macadam 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 the New York City Police Department, which required lights to be installed along the route. Materials to install the lights were restricted by the World 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]
The Q76 runs on Francis Lewis between Hillside Avenue in Hollis and the Cross Island Parkway in Whitestone. It runs through the Holliswood, Cunningham Park, Bayside, and Whitestone sections of the street.
The Q77 runs on the stretch between Hillside Avenue and Springfield Boulevard, and goes through the Hollis, St. Albans, and Springfield Gardens stretches of Francis Lewis.[33] Service is shared with the n6/n6X, n24, and select n1 buses until Jamaica Avenue, where they head east.
Other bus lines include the following:
All Q16 buses run between 29th and 26th Avenues, with alternate service extended to Willets Point Boulevard. Under the Queens Bus Redesign, all buses will turn onto 26th Avenue.
From 32nd Avenue east of Francis Lewis, the Q28 heads south to Crocheron Avenue, and the Q31 north to 27th Avenue, where it terminates.[33]
The Cambria Heights-bound Q27 runs from Springfield Boulevard to 120th Avenue, where it terminates.
From two different Rosedale terminals heading to Jamaica, the Q85 runs from 246th Street to Sunrise Highway, then the Q5 takes over until Brookville Boulevard.
The Q111 runs on the boulevard south of 147th Avenue. Most buses terminate at Hook Creek Boulevard, but 2 trips continue towards Cedarhurst in Nassau County during rush hours: one to Cedarhurst in the morning and one to Jamaica in the afternoon.
In Rosedale, the boulevard is served by the X63 express bus south of either Sunrise Highway (to Rosedale), or 245th Street (to Manhattan), and heads west on 148th Avenue, which operates during rush hours only.[33] This route was previously served by the Q5S shuttle bus, a spur of the current Q5 route, which has since been discontinued.[34][35]
The Q26 uses the corridor from 58th Avenue to Hollis Court Boulevard to change its direction from Fresh Meadows to Flushing.
Education
Two major Catholic high schools in New York City, St. Francis Preparatory School and Holy 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.[36]
^"Never to Be Forgotten". Newsday. Archived from the original on October 1, 2007. Retrieved July 24, 2007. Francis Lewis Boulevard, originally Cross Island Boulevard, was renamed in the 1930s.
^Kilgannon, Corey (April 10, 2004). "Accident Fuels Anger on Strip Infamous for Drag Racing". The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2007. 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.
