Jamaica Avenue

Jamaica Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, in the United States. Jamaica Avenue's western end is at Fulton Street and Broadway, as a continuation of East New York Avenue, in Brooklyn's East New York neighborhood. Physically, East New York Avenue connects westbound to New York Avenue, where East New York Avenue changes names another time to Lincoln Road; Lincoln Road continues to Ocean Avenue in the west, where it ends. Its eastern end is at the city line in Bellerose, Queens, where it merges into NY 25 (Jericho Turnpike) to serve the rest of Long Island.

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Jamaica Avenue

Jamaica Avenue at Guy R. Brewer Boulevard
Maintained by	NYCDOT
Length	10.1 mi (16.3 km)
West end	Fulton Street / Broadway / East New York Avenue in East New York
Major junctions	Jackie Robinson Parkway / Pennsylvania Avenue / Bushwick Avenue in Cypress Hills I-678 in Jamaica
East end	NY 25 / Cross Island Parkway at the Bellerose–Bellerose Terrace line

East New York bus depot on Jamaica Avenue

Chase Bank at 161st St and Jamaica Avenue

History

Jamaica Avenue was part of a pre-Columbian trail for tribes from as far away as the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, coming to trade skins and furs for wampum. It was in 1655 that the first settlers paid the Native Americans with two guns, a coat, and some powder and lead, for the land lying between the old trail and "Beaver Pond", later Baisley Pond. Dutch Director-General Peter Stuyvesant dubbed the area "Rustdorp" in granting the 1656 land patent. The English, who took control of the colony in 1664, renamed the little settlement "Jameco", for the Jameco (or Yamecah) Native Americans.

During the early 19th century, the old road through Jamaica Pass was the Brooklyn Ferry Road; at mid-century this became the Brooklyn and Jamaica Plank Road, with toll booths.^[1] Late in the century the portion west of Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street, and the eastern portion Jamaica Avenue.

Commerce

The part of Jamaica Avenue that runs through Jamaica, Queens is an important shopping street, and is on par with Brooklyn's Fulton Street. Prices are said to be low, in an exciting market place atmosphere. It is also the historic center of the former village with several city landmarks including the King Manor.

Jamaica Avenue is also the main shopping street for many other neighborhoods it runs through as well, including Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, and Queens Village.

Transportation

Jamaica Avenue is the starting point of many newer streets in Queens, such as Hempstead Avenue, Guy R. Brewer Boulevard, Farmers Boulevard, and Queens Boulevard.

Jamaica Avenue is served by the following:

• The Q56 is designated “Jamaica Avenue (West)”, and serves the corridor west of 170th Street (Jamaica), where it terminates, or 171st Street (Broadway Junction).^[2]
• The Q110 is designated “Jamaica Avenue (East)”, and serves the corridor east of 153rd Street (Parsons Boulevard station) or Parsons Boulevard (Floral Park). The Q36 joins in east of Springfield Boulevard.^[3][4]
• The New York City Subway's BMT Jamaica Line (J and ​Z trains) runs above Jamaica Avenue through the Cypress Hills section of Brooklyn along with Woodhaven and Richmond Hill.
• The Q54 runs on the avenue between the Q56’s Jamaica terminus, and either 132nd Street (Jamaica), or 131st Street (Williamsburg).
• Bushwick-bound Q24 buses run west from Merrick Boulevard to Van Wyck Expressway, and in both directions west of Pennsylvania Avenue, sharing Bushwick service with the northbound B20 and B83 buses.
• From Sutphin Boulevard, the Q60 and Sutphin-JFK station-bound Q43 run west, respectively to Queens Boulevard and 146th Street, and the Q6, Q8, Q9, and Q41 run east, either to 168th Street (Jamaica Bus Terminal), or from Merrick Boulevard (opposite terminals).
• Jamaica-bound Q30, Q31 and Q75 buses run west from Merrick Boulevard to 146th Street.
• Jamaica-bound Q25 and Q65 buses run west from Parsons Boulevard to Sutphin Boulevard.
• Jamaica-bound Q20 and Q44 SBS buses run west from 168th Street to Merrick Boulevard.
• East New York-bound Q112 buses run east from Parsons Boulevard to Guy R. Brewer Boulevard.
• The B13 runs between Cypress Hills Street and either Crescent Street (Wyckoff Hts Hosp) or Hemlock Street (Gateway Mall).
• From Francis Lewis Boulevard, the N1’s Jamaica trips and the N6/N6X serve the corridor east until Hempstead Avenue, with N24 service extended to the avenue’s eastern end.
• The Q55 uses the avenue from 117th Street to Myrtle Avenue to change its direction from Richmond Hill to Ridgewood.
• The Jamaica Bus Depot and East New York Bus Depot are located near the avenue.

In June 2020, mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would test out busways on Jamaica Avenue from Sutphin Boulevard to 168th Street, a distance of about 0.9 miles (1.4 km), in downtown Jamaica.^[5][6] Despite a deadline of October 2020, the Jamaica Avenue busway was not in place at that time.^[7][8] Furthermore, transportation advocates did support a bus lane in downtown Jamaica, but they preferred a bus lane on the busier Archer Avenue corridor, which parallels Jamaica Avenue to the south.^[9]

Jamaica Avenue intersects with other former country roads in Queens which have become important urban streets, including Woodhaven Boulevard, Myrtle Avenue, Lefferts Boulevard, Metropolitan Avenue, Sutphin Boulevard, Parsons Boulevard, Francis Lewis Boulevard, and Springfield Boulevard. Jamaica Avenue, from Alabama Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn to the Nassau County line, is 10.9 miles (17.5 km) long.^[10]

The Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer station (E​, ​J, and ​Z trains) with its associated bus station is a major transport hub, a rival to the nearby Jamaica–179th Street station (F and <F>​ trains) on Hillside Avenue.

Major intersections

County	Location	mi[10]	km	Destinations	Notes
Brooklyn	East New York	0.0	0.0	Fulton Street / Broadway / East New York Avenue	Western terminus
		0.2	0.32	Jackie Robinson Parkway east / Pennsylvania Avenue / Bushwick Avenue – Eastern Long Island	Western terminus of Jackie Robinson Parkway
Queens	Woodhaven	2.8	4.5	Woodhaven Boulevard
	Richmond Hill	4.0	6.4	Hillside Avenue / Myrtle Avenue / Lefferts Boulevard
		4.7	7.6	Metropolitan Avenue
		4.8	7.7	I-678 (Van Wyck Expressway)	Exit 6 on I-678
	Jamaica	4.9	7.9	Queens Boulevard	To NY 25
		6.1	9.8	Merrick Boulevard
	Hollis–Queens Village line	8.3	13.4	Francis Lewis Boulevard
Queens–Nassau county line	Bellerose–Bellerose Terrace line	10.0	16.1	Cross Island Parkway – Verrazzano Bridge, Whitestone Bridge	Exit 27W on Cross Island Parkway
		10.1	16.3	NY 25 (Braddock Avenue / Jericho Turnpike)	Eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi