In Queens, We Have a Love-Hate Relationship with Our Reliably Confusing Grid System
In some areas, there are large gaps in the numbers. For example, 69th Avenue in Oakland Gardens is immediately followed by 73rd Avenue and more dramatically, in South Ozone Park 133rd Avenue is followed by 149th Avenue- a jump of 16 numbers in one block.
As if skipping numbers isn’t confusing enough, how about repeating numbers? The complaint most often heard about the borough’s street system is the repeated use of the same number on successive blocks. In many neighborhoods, one number street isn’t immediately followed by the next. Instead, streets are followed by places and lanes, while avenues are followed by roads and drives- and on rare occasions-terraces. For example, 69th Street in Maspeth isn’t immediately followed by 70th Street, instead it is followed by 69th Place, then 69th Lane, and then 70th Street. In Springfield Gardens, 144th Avenue is followed by 144th Road, then 144th Drive and finally 144th Terrace, one of only a handful of places in the borough where a terrace is added to the mix. In some cases, the streets or avenues are missing, while the drives and roads or places and lanes exist. Middle Village has a 66th Road and 66th Drive, but not a 66th Avenue. Bayside has a 31st Road, but there is no 31st Avenue east of College Point. Whitestone has a 151st Place, but there’s no 151st Street north of Kissena Park.
Currently quite thankful to live in a part of Queens where the grid is sane.
(Source: queenslibrary)
