Broad Channel, Queens : NYC Tourist Guide

Broad Channel

Broad Channel is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It occupies the southern portion of Broad Channel Island, which is the only inhabited island (pop. about 3,000) in Jamaica Bay. The northern (and larger) portion of the island is part of Gateway National Recreation Area and is managed as part of the only wildlife refuge in the National Park System. The waters and marsh islands of the refuge surround the rest of the community. Lying between Howard Beach and the Rockaway Peninsula, it is connected to those communities by bridges at either end of the island - The Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Joseph P. Addabbo Memorial Bridge - which carry vehicular, bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Cross Bay Boulevard is the only through road. The area consists of artificial canals separating dead end residential blocks.

The IND Rockaway Line of the New York City Subway (A S) serves the Broad Channel station. At one time, the streets of Broad Channel were numbered along the same continuum found in the rest of Queens besides the Rockaways (with the numbers of "Streets" increasing from west to east, the numbers of "Avenues" increasing from north to south, etc.). Today, however, Broad Channel streets have their own numbering format, independent of that used elsewhere in the borough. This change still causes occasional confusion.