Atlantic Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English language, 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 ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

. It stretches from the Brooklyn waterfront on the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

all the way to

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It has a popular large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis, St Albans, and Cambria Heights to the ea ...

. Atlantic Avenue runs parallel to Fulton Street for much of its course through Brooklyn, where it serves as a border between the neighborhoods of Prospect Heights and

Fort Greene Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the w ...

and between Bedford-Stuyvesant and

Crown Heights Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard to the so ...

, and between

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south ...

and Cobble Hill. This stretch of avenue is known for having a high rate of pedestrian fatalities and has been described as "the killing fields of the city." Atlantic Avenue is the sole east–west through truck route across Brooklyn, mostly serving the purpose of the canceled Bushwick Expressway (

Interstate 78 Interstate 78 (I-78) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Northeastern United States that runs from I-81 northeast of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, through Allentown to western and North Jersey, terminating at the Holland Tunnel entra ...

) and the Brooklyn portion of the Cross Brooklyn Expressway (

New York State Route 878 New York State Route 878 (NY 878) is an limited-access road, expressway on Long Island in New York (state), New York state. The route exists in two sections, which both form the Nassau Expressway. NY 878's western terminus is th ...

, internally known as Interstate 878). The street connects to the existing segment of NY 878 via

Conduit Boulevard Conduit Avenue (Conduit Boulevard in Brooklyn) is an arterial road in New York City, the vast majority of which is in Queens. The divided highway runs from Atlantic Avenue in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn to Hook Creek Boulevard in Rosedale, Que ...

, which splits from Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and connects to NY 878 in Queens.

Route description

In Brooklyn, the area of Atlantic nearest the South Ferry waterfront has long been known for its

antique shop An antique shop (or antiques shop) is a retail store specializing in the selling of antiques. Antiques shops generally have a physical presence in a shop where the wares are stored and displayed, but some antique shops are online, with no phy ...

s and its notable

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

community, including mosques, specialty shops and restaurants specializing in

Middle Eastern cuisine Middle Eastern cuisine includes a number of cuisines from the Middle East. Common ingredients include olives and olive oil, pitas, honey, sesame seeds, dates, sumac, chickpeas, mint, rice and parsley, and popular dishes include '' kebabs'', ...

. As it stretches east toward

Flatbush Avenue Flatbush Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City Borough (New York City), Borough of Brooklyn. It runs from the Manhattan Bridge south-southeastward to Jamaica Bay, where it joins the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, which ...

, Atlantic separates the neighborhoods of

and Cobble Hill and passes through

Boerum Hill Boerum Hill (pronounced ) is a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east. The western border is variously given as either ...

near

Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...

. This section of Atlantic Avenue is the site of the

Atlantic Antic The Atlantic Antic is a street festival held yearly on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York between 4th Avenue and Hicks Street. It is run and produced by the Atlantic Avenue Local Development Corporation (AALDC). The festival features food an ...

, an annual

street fair A street fair celebrates the character of a neighborhood. As its name suggests, it is typically held on the main street of a neighborhood. The principal component of street fairs are booths used to sell goods (particularly food) or convey informa ...

involving local and visiting merchants and artists, held in early October. Atlantic Avenue in 1923

At Flatbush Avenue and Fourth Avenue the crossing of the three major thoroughfares form a triangular intersection historically known as Times Plaza. Here the smaller shops, restaurants, churches and boutiques give way to the

Atlantic Terminal Atlantic Terminal (formerly Flatbush Avenue) is the westernmost commuter rail terminal 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 prima ...

, where subway services at the

Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station The Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station (formerly Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street station) is a major New York City Subway metro station, station complex shared by the BMT Fourth Avenue Line, the BMT Brighton Line and the IRT Eastern Parkw ...

converge with the

Long Island Rail Road The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...

(LIRR). The area is dominated by massive buildings, formerly factories, now used by storage companies, and by the Atlantic Center Mall (opened in 1996, with tenants including P.C. Richard & Son and

Modell's Modell's Sporting Goods Online, Inc. is an American online Sports equipment, sporting goods and related Clothing, apparel retailer. Modell's began with operating retail stores between the late 1880s and the late 2010s. In 2020, Modell's became ...

), Atlantic Terminal Mall (opened in 2004, with tenants including

Target Target may refer to: Warfare and shooting * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artille ...

) and

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 Liber ...

. All three are products of developer

Forest City Ratner Forest City Realty Trust, Inc., formerly Forest City Enterprises, was a real estate investment trust that invested in office buildings, shopping centers and apartments in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and the great ...

. The face of Atlantic Avenue east of Flatbush Avenue, the site designated for the Brooklyn Atlantic Yards, is defined by the LIRR tracks that run beneath (from

Bedford Avenue Bedford Avenue is the longest street in Brooklyn, New York City, stretching and 132 blocks, from Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint south to Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, and passing through the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Bedford–St ...

), above (from Bedford Avenue to Dewey Place), and beneath again in

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough line to the north; ...

until Lefferts Boulevard in Queens. The

Atlantic Avenue Railroad The Atlantic Avenue Railroad was a company in the U.S. state of New York, with a main line connecting downtown Brooklyn with Jamaica along Atlantic Avenue. It was largely a streetcar company that operated its own trains, but the Long Island Ra ...

(now LIRR) originally ran along Atlantic Avenue as streetcars pulled by horses. With

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

, other traffic was eliminated from the roadway and Atlantic Avenue became discontinuous. When railway sections west of Jamaica station were put underground in the early 1940s, that portion of Atlantic Avenue became continuous again. Northeast of

, the railway is still at (or above) ground level. Just east of the

Van Wyck Expressway A van is a type of road vehicle used for transporting goods or people. There is some variation in the scope of the word across the different English-speaking countries. The smallest vans, microvans, are used for transporting either goods or p ...

, the roadway narrows to one lane and carries eastbound traffic only to 95th Avenue (westbound traffic diverges to 94th Avenue past this point). The one-block section between the Van Wyck Expressway and 95th Avenue opened in July 2020 as part of the $17 million Gateway Park project. Atlantic Avenue from the Brooklyn Docks to Gateway Park at Van Wyck Expressway is 10.3 miles long, with 7.4 miles in Brooklyn, making it one of Brooklyn's longest streets. Pre-electrification maps from 1909 and 1910 show Atlantic Avenue, at that time, continued to the city line.

Other iterations of this road

Short roadways still named Atlantic Avenue exist further east adjacent to the LIRR Main Line within Nassau County. A stretch of road still named Atlantic Avenue, just under one mile long, runs just south of the Main Line from the Bellerose station to the

Floral Park Floral Park is an incorporated village in Nassau County, Long Island, New York, United States. The population was 16,172 at the 2020 census. Floral Park is at the western border of Nassau County, mainly in the Town of Hempstead, while the ...

station. Just north of the Merillon Avenue train station in Garden City is another short roadway called Atlantic Avenue. Other short segments of roadway called Atlantic Avenue exist adjacent to the Main Line at Carle Place in Nassau County, and even as far east as the approach to the Nassau-Suffolk County line, just beyond the Farmingdale LIRR station.

Similarly named roads in New York

There is a four-block-long Atlantic Avenue in

Sea Gate, Brooklyn Sea Gate is a private gated community at the far western end of Coney Island at the southwestern tip of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Located on the portion of the Coney Island peninsula west of West 37th Street, it contains most ...

Transportation

Atlantic Avenue is served by the following: * The

New York City Bus MTA Regional Bus Operations (RBO) is the bus operations division of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City. The MTA operates local, limited-stop, express, and Select Bus Service ( bus rapid transit) services across the city ...

route runs on Atlantic Avenue between Van Wyck Expressway and Pennsylvania Avenue. * The runs on the corridor west of Flatbush Avenue. * The runs between Columbia Street and either Boerum Place (Park Slope), or Smith Street (Downtown Brooklyn). * The runs between Flatbush and Washington Avenues. * Crown Heights-bound buses run on Atlantic Avenue from Boerum Place to Third Avenue. * The Barclays Center-bound runs from Third to Fourth Avenues. * The runs between 127th Street and Van Wyck Expressway, with Jamaica trips continuing on the one-way section to the avenue’s eastern end. * The deadheads on Atlantic Avenue from Mary Warren Place to Alabama Avenue to change direction. * The

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

BMT Canarsie Line The BMT Canarsie Line (sometimes referred to as the 14th Street–Eastern Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division (New York City Subway), B Division of the New York City Subway system, named after its terminus in the Canarsie, Brooklyn, ...

() has a

station Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle statio ...

on this street at

East New York Avenue Jamaica Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, in the United States. Jamaica Avenue's western end is at Fulton Street and Broadway, as a continuation of East New York Avenue, in Brooklyn's ...

, with another entrance at Van Sinderen Avenue. * The Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station () is located at 4th and Flatbush Avenues. * The

stations on the

Atlantic Branch The Atlantic Branch is an electrified rail line owned and operated by the Long Island Rail Road in the U.S. state of New York. It is the only LIRR line with revenue passenger service in the borough of Brooklyn. The line consists of two secti ...

are located at

Nostrand Avenue Nostrand Avenue () is a major street in Brooklyn, New York, that runs for north from Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay to Flushing Avenue in Williamsburg, where it continues as Lee Avenue. It occupies the position of East 30th Street in the Br ...

, and Van Sinderen Avenue.

References

{{Queens Streets Streets in Brooklyn Streets in Queens, New York

Route description

Other iterations of this road

Similarly named roads in New York

Transportation

See also

References