Transportation
Jamaica station is a central transfer point on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR), which is headquartered in a building adjoining the station. All of the commuter railroad's passenger branches except for the Port Washington Branch run through the station.
The New York City Subway's IND Queens Boulevard Line (E, F, and
Major Thoroughfares
Major streets include Archer Avenue, Hillside Avenue, Jamaica Avenue, Liberty Avenue, Merrick Boulevard, Rockaway Boulevard, Parsons Boulevard, Guy R. Brewer Boulevard (formerly known as New York Boulevard but renamed for a local political leader in 1982), Sutphin Boulevard, and Union Turnpike, as well as the Van Wyck Expressway (I-678) and the Grand Central Parkway.
Jamaica Avenue is Jamaica's busiest thoroughfare. It begins at Broadway Junction in Brooklyn, near the boundary of the East New York neighborhood. The Avenue enters Jamaica east of the Van Wyck Expressway, and passes the Joseph Addabbo Social Security Administration Building, courthouses and the main building of the Queens Public Library, along with many discount stores. The 200-year-old King Manor Museum, once home to Rufus King, a founding father of the United States, is located at the corner of 153rd St. and Jamaica Ave. It includes a 2-story museum with over an acre of land and a public park. Directly across from the Museum is the former First Reformed Dutch Church of Jamaica, a National Register of Historic Places-listed landmark that has been adaptively reused into the Jamaica Performing arts center.
Hillside Avenue is one of the main thoroughfares of Jamaica. It is served by the E, F, and
Sutphin Boulevard is Jamaica's second busiest thoroughfare. It has two subway stations, as well as stations for the LIRR and the AirTrain JFK, and two Queens courthouses. It begins at Hillside Avenue and 147th Place in the north and works its way south and downhill connecting with Jamaica Avenue, Archer Avenue, Liberty Avenue, South Road, Linden Boulevard, and terminates at Rockaway Boulevard. At first it is a small four-lane street, but in the downtown area it provides six lanes. At 95th Avenue, it reemerges from the LIRR underpass and becomes a four-lane street to its southern endpoint.
Union Turnpike travels through, and serving as the northern border between the towns of Flushing and Jamaica. Though both towns were absorbed into New York City in 1898, the division is evident today in the addresses. Buildings on the north side generally begin with a 113- ZIP Code, indicating Flushing, and buildings to the south side begin with a 114- ZIP Code, indicating Jamaica. Union Turnpike separates the northern boundaries of Briarwood, Jamaica Hills and Jamaica Estates from the southern boundaries of Flushing and Fresh Meadows.
Rockaway Boulevard begins at 90th Avenue and Elderts Lane in Woodhaven, continuing southeast through Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, South Jamaica, Springfield Gardens, Brookville, and Meadowmere. The segment between Farmers Boulevard in Springfield Gardens and the New York City border in Meadowmere connects the two discontinuous sections of New York State Route 878, the Nassau Expressway. In addition, Rockaway Boulevard abuts the northern border of JFK Airport between Farmers and Brookville Boulevards.