Rockaway Freeway

[Declan127]

In Rockaway, NYC, there is a freeway that's just a boulevard under a train. Can anyone give me a reason why it's a "freeway" when all of our freeways are "expressways"?

[1995hoo]

Supposedly the name came about because when it opened, it was largely free of cross streets and you could go a good distance without hitting a traffic light, so they called it Rockaway Freeway.

[Declan127]

lol, they blocked off most of the cross traffic, but nearly every street flows into it. It's a nightmare trying to get from bay to beach. And they closed off a part between 78th and 62nd streets and made it so Beach Channel Drive is discontinuous, and the two swapped alignments at 84th Street, with the "freeway" taking over Java Place as well.

[1995hoo]

lol, they blocked off most of the cross traffic, but nearly every street flows into it. It's a nightmare trying to get from bay to beach. And they closed off a part between 78th and 62nd streets and made it so Beach Channel Drive is discontinuous, and the two swapped alignments at 84th Street, with the "freeway" taking over Java Place as well.

I haven't been on that road in a very long time. No reason to use it. My father's mother lived in an apartment on Seagirt Boulevard, but she died in 1995 and I haven't had reason to go to Far Rockaway since then. My father hated Rockaway Freeway anyway and after the first couple of visits to Far Rockaway he always took Beach Channel Drive instead. He felt Rockaway Freeway was just too unsafe, especially with the whole family in the car. If I'm in the Rockaways now, I'm going the other way to Breezy Point or Roxbury.

[mrsman]

lol, they blocked off most of the cross traffic, but nearly every street flows into it. It's a nightmare trying to get from bay to beach. And they closed off a part between 78th and 62nd streets and made it so Beach Channel Drive is discontinuous, and the two swapped alignments at 84th Street, with the "freeway" taking over Java Place as well.

I haven't been on that road in a very long time. No reason to use it. My father's mother lived in an apartment on Seagirt Boulevard, but she died in 1995 and I haven't had reason to go to Far Rockaway since then. My father hated Rockaway Freeway anyway and after the first couple of visits to Far Rockaway he always took Beach Channel Drive instead. He felt Rockaway Freeway was just too unsafe, especially with the whole family in the car. If I'm in the Rockaways now, I'm going the other way to Breezy Point or Roxbury.

I was last in the Rockaways in December and for the first time I drove from Far Rockaway to Belle Harbor.  (My previous trips to the area I usually take 878 to FR, and haven't really been on any part of the western side of the Rockaways.)  One thing that struck me as I drove around and looked at the map is that most of the peninsula, west of Bch 35 St, could get by with just two arterials, namely Beach Channel and Rockaway Beach.  The problem is that there is no current way to allow Rockaway Beach traffic to seamlessly continue eastward (along parts of R Fwy) without a whole bunch of turns (and vice-versa westbound).  If that were some how addressed, then the traffic there would be a lot more smoothly.

Much of the R Fwy route could be downgraded to support a bikeway.  It will be shaded thanks to the el. 

[BrynM65]

All those support pillars for the rail tracks make me feel a bit uneasy - no crash barriers in sight. Is there a ban on commercial traffic around here because even a low speed collision could potentially do severe structural damage there?

I assume the NYC speed limit of 25 applies.

[RobbieL2415]

All those support pillars for the rail tracks make me feel a bit uneasy - no crash barriers in sight. Is there a ban on commercial traffic around here because even a low speed collision could potentially do severe structural damage there?

I assume the NYC speed limit of 25 applies.

That area is well-served by the A train, so most folks probably use it to go inbound or the LIRR to head east.

I'd bet truck traffic for that area is directed down the Van Wyck to JFK and then onto Rockaway Blvd. and then the Nassau Expressway. Otherwise you'd be stuck going south on Flatbush Ave., which is no fun even for cars. And you have to pay a toll to use the Marine Parkway Bridge.

[Roadrunner75]

All those support pillars for the rail tracks make me feel a bit uneasy - no crash barriers in sight. Is there a ban on commercial traffic around here because even a low speed collision could potentially do severe structural damage there?

I assume the NYC speed limit of 25 applies.

This video, filmed on a similar roadway in Chicago, shows how well this type of road functions at high speeds:

[nexus73]

All those support pillars for the rail tracks make me feel a bit uneasy - no crash barriers in sight. Is there a ban on commercial traffic around here because even a low speed collision could potentially do severe structural damage there?

I assume the NYC speed limit of 25 applies.

This video, filmed on a similar roadway in Chicago, shows how well this type of road functions at high speeds:

Looks like a scene from a "Fast and Furious" movie...

Rick

[BrynM65]

It's the 1980 classic Blues Brothers!

And now you know why Revive Wacker Drive was so expensive, the cumulative effects of many Chicago PD vehicles and gunshots...

All jokes aside, we just don't generally have elevated railways above roads like that here in the UK so it rarely causes us to ask the question.

[roadman65]

New Smyrna Beach, Florida has a Dixie Freeway that is an arterial and part of US 1. Do not ask me why they did not use the "Highway" name like most other places on US 1 or parallel roads in the state, but Rockaway Freeway is not the only non freeway freeway in existence.

[1995hoo]

New Smyrna Beach, Florida has a Dixie Freeway that is an arterial and part of US 1. Do not ask me why they did not use the "Highway" name like most other places on US 1 or parallel roads in the state, but Rockaway Freeway is not the only non freeway freeway in existence.

West Virginia uses the word "freeway" for some roads with at-grade intersections, such as US-340 approaching Harpers Ferry–if you pan the camera around in the opposite direction and click a short distance back, you'll come to a traffic light on the portion they consider a "freeway."