Woodhaven Boulevard (IND Queens Boulevard Line)

Woodhaven Boulevard
New York City Subway rapid transit station

Forest Hills- and Jamaica-bound platform
Station statistics
Address Woodhaven Boulevard & Queens Boulevard
Queens, NY 11373
Borough Queens
Locale Elmhurst
Coordinates 40°44′00″N 73°52′13″W / 40.73347°N 73.870397°W / 40.73347; -73.870397Coordinates: 40°44′00″N 73°52′13″W / 40.73347°N 73.870397°W / 40.73347; -73.870397
Division B (IND)
Line IND Queens Boulevard Line
Services       E  (late nights)
      M  (weekdays until 11 p.m.)
      R  (all hours except late nights)
Transit connections NYCT Bus: Q59, Q88
MTA Bus: Q11, Q21, Q29, Q38, Q52, Q53, Q60, QM10, QM11
Structure Underground
Platforms 2 side platforms
Tracks 4
Other information
Opened December 31, 1936 (1936-12-31)
Wireless service [1][2]
Former/other names Woodhaven Boulevard – Slattery Plaza
Woodhaven Boulevard – Queens Mall
Traffic
Passengers (2015) 7,120,037[3] Decrease 0.1%
Rank 60 out of 422
Station succession
Next north 63rd Drive – Rego Park: E  M  R 
Next south Grand Avenue – Newtown: E  M  R 

Woodhaven Boulevard is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway, consisting of four tracks. Located in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, it is served by the R train at all times except nights, when the E train takes over service. The M train provides additional service here on weekdays except nights. The station serves the adjacent Queens Center Mall, as well as numerous bus lines.

Station layout

G Street Level Exit/ Entrance
M Mezzanine Fare control, station agent
P
Platform level		 Side platform, doors will open on the right
Southbound local ← toward Middle Village – Metropolitan Avenue weekdays (Grand Avenue – Newtown)
← toward Bay Ridge – 95th Street (Grand Avenue – Newtown)
← toward World Trade Center late nights (Grand Avenue – Newtown)
Southbound express ← do not stop here
Northbound express → do not stop here →
Northbound local → ( weekdays) toward Forest Hills – 71st Avenue (63rd Drive – Rego Park) →
→ toward Jamaica Center late nights (63rd Drive – Rego Park) →
Side platform, doors will open on the right

The station opened on December 31, 1936, as part of an extension of the Queens Boulevard Line from Roosevelt Avenue to Union Turnpike.[4] During the station's construction, the main road of Queens Boulevard was depressed into underpasses at the intersections with Woodhaven Boulevard and Horace Harding Boulevard (also known as Nassau Boulevard). The easternmost underpass now carries Queens Boulevard below the Long Island Expressway (LIE), which replaced Horace Harding Boulevard.[5] Built as a local station, the station was constructed with bellmouth provisions to allow conversion into an express station. A close observation of both ends of this station reveals that the tunnel wall extends outward to allow space for the two side platforms to be replaced with island platforms, with the local tracks taking the side platforms' place.[6] The station would have accommodated a major system expansion, with additional service coming from the Roosevelt Avenue Terminal station and the former LIRR Rockaway Line.[7][8] Requests to convert the station were also put forward by the local community shortly after the station opened, due to heavy bus traffic feeding into the station and overcrowding at the Roosevelt Avenue express stop.[9][10]

The station has name tablets, which read "Woodhaven Blvd – Slattery Plaza" and are now out of date. Slattery Plaza was the old name of the area where four main Queens thoroughfares (Eliot Avenue and Horace Harding, Woodhaven, and Queens Boulevards) intersected, and featured several "mom-and-pop" small businesses. The plaza and subway station were named after Colonel John R. Slattery, former Transportation Board chief engineer who died in 1932 while supervising the construction of the IND Eighth Avenue Line.[11] The construction of the LIE along the Horace Harding corridor caused Slattery Plaza to be demolished.[4][12][13][14]

One of the "orphaned" station entrances, at the southeast corner of Woodhaven Boulevard and Queens Boulevard.

Queens Center Mall first opened in 1972, but the name convention on subway maps was not in use until the late 1980s. The station was renovated in the 1990s,[15] but retained the now out of date "Woodhaven Blvd – Slattery Plaza" name tablets.

The station's full-length mezzanine allows crossover from any of the station's four staircases from each platform, with a total of eight staircases from the mezzanine to platform level. There is no direct indoor access to the Queens Center Mall's entrance at the northwest corner of Queens Boulevard and 59th Avenue from the mezzanine.[16]

The 1996 artwork here is called In Memory of The Lost Battalion by Pablo Tauler. It uses nine support beams in the station's mezzanine wrapped in different materials, including stainless steel, to honor the soldiers who served in the 77th Infantry Division during World War I.[17]

Entrances and exits

The full time side at the west end of the mezzanine has three street stairs. One leads to the northeast corner of Queens Boulevard and 59th Avenue, the closest to the mall. The other two staircases are through a long passageway to both southern corners of Queens Boulevard and Woodhaven Boulevard, acting as a pedestrian underpass outside of fare control.[16][5][18] The entrance to the southeast corner of Woodhaven and Queens Boulevards appears to be "orphaned," out of character with the rest of the area. After the construction of the Long Island Expressway in the mid-1950s, this street stair leads only to two entrance ramps to the expressway, with no continuous sidewalk leading to the entrance.[18]

The part time portion at the former Horace Harding Boulevard on the east end has a closed and removed booth and one street stair to the north side of Queens Boulevard at 92nd Street. This entrance is also "orphaned", abutting two expressway ramps, and leading to the former Horace Harding Boulevard that was replaced with the LIE.[16][18] This exit still has a directional mosaic pointing to it, listing the exit as 60th Avenue and 92nd Street on the north side of Queens Boulevard. Construction of the Long Island Expressway removed this intersection.

Bus service

A Glendale-bound Q29 bus stopping at Hoffman Drive.
Q53 Limited Bus via Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards.

The station and the nearby Queens Center Mall are served by nine local MTA Regional Bus Operations routes and two express bus routes. Three of the four Woodhaven Boulevard bus lines (Q11, Q21, Q52 Limited) terminate at the station, with the Q53 Limited bus continuing westward towards the Woodside - 61st Street Station. Except for the Q88, Rego Park-bound Q59, Jamaica-bound Q60, and Corona-bound Q38, all northbound buses stop at the mall entrance, while all southbound buses as well as the QM10 and QM11 express buses stop at Hoffman Drive adjacent to Hoffman Park. The Q88 terminates at 92nd Street, in between the two halves of the mall.[16][19]

Route Operator Stop location North/West Terminal South/East Terminal via notes
Local Bus Routes
MTA Bus Queens Boulevard (northbound); Hoffman Drive (southbound) Woodhaven Boulevard Old Howard Beach or Hamilton Beach Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards
Howard Beach Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards, 155th Avenue, 157th Avenue
Jackson Heights (82nd Street Station) Glendale 80th Street, Dry Harbor Road, 90th/92nd Streets
59th Avenue; Hoffman Drive Corona (60th Avenue and Otis Avenue) Rego Park (62nd Drive and 108th Street) Eliot Avenue (Corona to Middle Village), Penelope Avenue and 63rd Drive (Middle Village to Rego Park) Via Middle Village – Metropolitan Avenue Station
Queens Boulevard; Hoffman Drive Woodhaven Boulevard Arverne By The Sea (Beach 67th Street Station) Broadway and Queens Boulevard (Q53)
Woodhaven and Cross Bay Boulevards
Rockaway Beach Boulevard		 Limited Stop Service
Woodside (61st Street Station) Rockaway Park (Beach 116th Street Station)
NYCT Queens Boulevard Williamsburg, Brooklyn Rego Park (63rd Drive Station) Grand Street and Grand Avenue
MTA Bus East Midtown, Manhattan South Jamaica Queensboro Bridge, Queens Boulevard, Sutphin Boulevard
NYCT 92nd Street Queens Village (Queens Village LIRR Station) Horace Harding Expressway, 188th Street, 73rd Avenue, Springfield Boulevard
Express Bus Routes
MTA Bus Woodhaven Boulevard (near Hoffman Drive) Midtown Manhattan Rego Park / Elmhurst Loop (Drop-off Only) 3rd or 6th Avenue
Downtown Manhattan Downtown Loop

References

  1. ↑ NYC Subway Wireless
  2. ↑ More Subway Stations in Manhattan, Bronx in Line to Get Online, mta.info (March 25, 2015). "The first two phases included stations in Midtown Manhattan and all underground stations in Queens with the exception of the 7 Main St terminal."
  3. ↑ "Facts and Figures: Annual Subway Ridership". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Retrieved 2016-04-19.
  4. 1 2 "PWA Party Views New Subway Link: Queens Section to Be Opened Tomorrow Is Inspected by Tuttle and Others". nytimes.com. The New York Times. December 30, 1936. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  5. 1 2 "PLANS ARE CHANGED FOR QUEENS SUBWAY: Traffic Crossings at Nassau and Woodhaven Boulevards Altered to Avoid Congestion. VIADUCT PROJECT DROPPED Main Driveway to Be Depressed, Side Routes to Be at Grade-- New Bids Due Soon. How Plans Were Changed. Elimination Plans Received.". The New York Times. June 22, 1930. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  6. ↑ "The Express Stop That Never Was". ltvsquad.com. LTV Squad. June 2, 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  7. ↑ Kihss, Peter (April 13, 1967). "3 Routes Proposed to Aid Growing Queens Areas". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  8. ↑ "Adding City Transit Line to Rockaways Is Chamber '47 Goal". Newspapers.com. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 2, 1947. p. 4. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Queens Bus Riders Join in Campaign For Station Shelters: Protection Is Sought At Slattery Place, Plus an Express Stop". Newspapers.com. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. December 15, 1940. p. 10. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  10. ↑ "Express Station Plea Is Weighed". Newspapers.com. Brooklyn Daily Eagle. October 20, 1940. p. 8. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  11. ↑ Wilkinson, Christina; Walsh, Kevin (5 March 2006). "REGO PARK, Queens". Forgotten NY. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
  12. ↑ Schneider, Daniel B. (October 15, 2000). "F.Y.I.". nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  13. ↑ Karni, Annie (October 7, 2012). "Subway stations retain signs listing places and streets that no longer exist". nypost.com. New York Post. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  14. ↑ Walsh, Kevin (July 29, 2014). "Ely Around in Queens". queens.brownstoner.com. Blank Slate Factory, Inc. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
  15. ↑ The New Woodhaven Blvd Station Woodhaven Blvd station Built in the 30s Renewed for the 90s
  16. 1 2 3 4 "MTA Neighborhood Maps: Forest Hills" (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transit Authority (New York). 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "MTA Arts & Design: Woodhaven Boulevard". Metropolitan Transit Authority (New York). Archived from the original on 2016-09-23. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  18. 1 2 3 "SUBWAY-SIDEWALK INTERFACE PROJECT TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM IV ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES" (PDF). transalt.org. New York City Department of City Planning,. November 2000. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  19. ↑ Queens bus map

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