& 78th Crescent - Kew Gardens Photo Gallery: Queens Blvd |
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![]() Above, traffic coming southwest from Union is only allowed to enter the boulevard going west, although vehicles are given the choice of cutting directly to the express lanes. Cars coming up from 78th Crescent, a mere few feet of median island from the Union lanes, must turn onto the boulevard's local lanes. As seen in the small building housing the Wireless store, Kew Gardens shared neighboring Forest Hills' penchant for Tudoresque architecture back in the 1920s. With several office buildings on the surrounding blocks, Kinko's Copying Service found a niche to fill. CVS, like its two main chain rivals, has become ubiquitous in the area. |
Across the boulevard on the southeast side of the intersection is the confluence of Kew Gardens and 80th Roads, the former coming from straight back, while 80th comes in stage right. The two story rounded building at the corner houses the main subway entrance for the Union Tpke stop. The bus stopped on Kew Gardens Road will come around that building to loop east down Queens Boulevard on its way back towards where it came from. It was while turning onto the boulevard one night last December 2000, that a bus struck and killed 83 year old Eugene Eisenberg, who was ironically on his way to perform a ritual guard duty for a deceased friend at a nearby funeral home. |
Looking east from 78th Crescent, it is clear that the 80th Road spot is not the only place where turning busses present a hazard. The city run and city bound Q46 turns off Union Turnpike here, as does every vehicle entering this intersection from there. |
The inherent hazards thus presented led to a closing of this side to cross-boulevard pedestrians. I've always thought that the "No Ped" sign was rather lacking. The traditional illiterate solution of the red circle/black line sign hopefully serves to clarify matters. |
©2001, Jeff Saltzman. All right reserved.