Beach Channel Drive is the main thoroughfare of 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 ...

in the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

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 A ...

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 ...

. It extends from the Nassau County border at Inwood westward, to 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 ...

at the end of

Jacob Riis Park Jacob Riis Park, also called Jacob A. Riis Park and Riis Park, is a seaside park on the southwestern portion of the Rockaway, Queens, Rockaway Peninsula in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Queens. It lies at the foot of ...

. From Hammels westward, it follows Jamaica Bay on the northern side of the peninsula. Beach Channel Drive was opened on November 27, 1927, as a relatively short road west of the current site of the

Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge The Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge (originally Cross Bay Bridge or Cross Bay Parkway Bridge) is a toll bridge that carries Cross Bay Boulevard across Jamaica Bay in Queens, New York City, between Broad Channel and the Rockaway Peninsula. ...

. It was later expanded by consolidating a number of existing thoroughfares and constructing some linking roadways. One of the roads that would become Beach Channel Drive was the launching point for the first transatlantic flight. On May 8, 1919, four

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Navy-Curtis seaplanes took off in Neponsit and headed off to the British colony of Newfoundland, the

Azores Islands ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, and Lisbon, Portugal. On May 31, one of the aircraft, piloted by Lieutenant Commander Albert C. Read, arrived in Plymouth,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Transportation

The Q22 serves Beach Channel Drive between Beach 73rd Street and Seagirt Boulevard. The northbound Q52+ Select Bus Service serves Beach Channel Drive between Beach 54th Street and Beach 59th Street. The QM17 express bus between Far Rockaway and Midtown runs along Beach Channel Drive for the same segment as the Q22. The

IND Rockaway Line The IND Rockaway Line is a rapid transit line of the IND Division of the New York City Subway, operating in Queens. It branches from the IND Fulton Street Line at Rockaway Boulevard, extending over the Jamaica Bay, into the Rockaways. The ...

parallels Beach Channel Drive between both of its termini, Beach 116th Street and Mott Avenue.

References

Transportation in Rockaway, Queens Streets in Queens, New York {{NYC-road-stub