Flatbush Avenue is a major avenue in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

. It runs from the

Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is long, with the suspension cable ...

south-southeastward to

Jamaica Bay Jamaica Bay is an estuary on the southern portion of the western tip of Long Island, in the U.S. state of New York. The estuary is partially man-made, and partially natural. The bay connects with Lower New York Bay to the west, through Rockaw ...

, where it joins the

Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge The Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge (originally and often referred to as the Marine Parkway Bridge) is a vertical-lift bridge in New York City, New York, that crosses Rockaway Inlet. The bridge, which opened on July 3, 1937, con ...

, which connects Brooklyn to the

Rockaway Peninsula The Rockaway Peninsula, commonly referred to as The Rockaways or Rockaway, is a peninsula at the southern edge of the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, New York. Relatively isolated from Manhattan and other more urban parts of the ...

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

. The north end was extended from Fulton Street to the Manhattan Bridge as "Flatbush Avenue Extension". Flatbush Avenue, including the extension, is long. The avenue is a four-lane street throughout the majority of its run. North of Atlantic Avenue and south of

Utica Avenue Utica Avenue is a major avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States. It is one of several named for the city of Utica in Upstate New York. It runs north–south and occupies the position of East 50th Street in the Brooklyn street ...

, it is a six-lane-wide median-divided street.

Effect on street grid

The diagonal path of Flatbush Avenue creates a unique street pattern in every neighborhood it touches. It is the central artery of the borough, carrying traffic to and from

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

past landmarks such as

MetroTech Center Brooklyn Commons, formerly MetroTech Center, is a business and educational center in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. Location Brooklyn Commons lies between Flatbush Avenue Extension and Jay Street, north of the Fulton Street Mall and south ...

, City Point, the Fulton Mall, Junior's,

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

, the

Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...

, the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , often abbreviated as the LIRR, is a commuter rail system in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County on Long Island. With an average week ...

Atlantic Terminal Atlantic Terminal (formerly Flatbush Avenue) is the westernmost stop on the Long Island Rail Road's (LIRR) Atlantic Branch, located at Flatbush Avenue and Atlantic Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It is the primary terminal for th ...

, the

Barclays Center Barclays Center is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liberty o ...

Grand Army Plaza Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It consists of concentric oval rings arranged as s ...

, the

Brooklyn Public Library The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two othe ...

, the

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is a botanical garden in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City. It was founded in 1910 using land from Mount Prospect Park in central Brooklyn, adjacent to Prospect Park and the Brooklyn Museum. The garden holds ...

, Prospect Park,

Erasmus Hall High School Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Ac ...

, Kings Theatre,

Brooklyn College , mottoeng = Nothing without great effort , established = , parent = CUNY , type = Public university , endowment = $98.0 million (2019) , budget = $123.96 m ...

, and

Floyd Bennett Field Floyd Bennett Field is an airfield in the Marine Park neighborhood of southeast Brooklyn in New York City, along the shore of Jamaica Bay. The airport originally hosted commercial and general aviation traffic before being used as a naval air ...

. Flatbush Avenue is the border of Prospect Heights/

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park and Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush A ...

and many other neighborhoods. Other main Brooklyn thoroughfares start at Flatbush Avenue, including

Ocean Avenue Ocean Avenue may refer to: Roads in the United States * Ocean Avenue (San Francisco), California, see Ocean Avenue/CCSF Pedestrian Bridge station * Ocean Avenue (Santa Monica), California * Ocean Avenue (Palm Beach), Florida; see * Ocean Avenue ( ...

and Empire Boulevard (both at Willink Plaza),

Linden Boulevard Linden Boulevard is a boulevard in New York City. It starts off at Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn as a one-way street to Caton Avenue, where it becomes a two-way boulevard, and stretches through both Brooklyn and Queens. This boulevard, esp ...

Eastern Parkway Eastern Parkway is a major road that runs through a portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was the world's first parkway, having been built between 1870 and 1874. At the time o ...

, and Utica Avenue. It was originally a Native American trail, running roughly along what is now the eastern edge of Prospect Park and taking advantage of a low point in the Heights of Guan that form the spine of

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

. A monument beside the former Flatbush Road, now inside the park, commemorates an attempt to block the road at

Battle Pass In the video game industry, a battle pass is a type of monetization approach that provides additional content for a game usually through a tiered system, rewarding the player with in-game items for playing the game and completing specific chal ...

during the

Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn, New Yo ...

. For much of the 19th century, it had a

plank road A plank road is a road composed of wooden planks or puncheon logs. Plank roads were commonly found in the Canadian province of Ontario as well as the Northeast and Midwest of the United States in the first half of the 19th century. They were oft ...

run by a

turnpike Turnpike often refers to: * A type of gate, another word for a turnstile * In the United States, a toll road Turnpike may also refer to: Roads United Kingdom * A turnpike road, a principal road maintained by a turnpike trust, a body with powers ...

company. Historic homes line the neighborhoods around the avenue, which in the late 1920s was straightened to its current form. Streets such as Amersfort Place that are remnants of old parts of the avenue remain in the city grid as an echo of the past.

Transportation

The majority of Flatbush Avenue is served by the route of

MTA Regional Bus Operations MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the surface transit division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). It was created in 2008 to consolidate all bus operations in New York City operated by the MTA. , MTA Regional Bus Operations ru ...

, though the route also serves Flatbush Avenue south of Nostrand Avenue. Several bus routes also use the avenue for shorter stretches. The

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October 2 ...

IRT Nostrand Avenue Line The IRT Nostrand Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the A Division of the New York City Subway running under Nostrand Avenue in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is served by the train at all times and is also served by the trai ...

() has a southern terminus at the Flatbush Avenue–Brooklyn College station, while the

BMT Brighton Line The BMT Brighton Line, also known as the Brighton Beach Line, is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. Local service is provided at all times by the Q train, but is joined ...

() and

IRT Eastern Parkway Line The Eastern Parkway Line is one of the lines of the A Division of the New York City Subway, stretching from Downtown Brooklyn south along Flatbush Avenue and east along Eastern Parkway to Crown Heights. After passing Utica Avenue, the line ...

() run under the avenue between Prospect Park and

DeKalb Avenue At Fort Greene Park DeKalb Avenue is a thoroughfare in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, with the majority of its length in Brooklyn. It runs from Woodward Avenue (Linden Hill Cemetery) in Ridgewood, Queens to Downtown Brookly ...

, and

Grand Army Plaza Grand Army Plaza, originally known as Prospect Park Plaza, is a public plaza that comprises the northern corner and the main entrance of Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park in the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. ...

and Nevins Street, respectively.

References

{{Authority control Streets in Brooklyn