Kissena Boulevard

Kissena Boulevard

Northbound on Kissena Blvd
Maintained by	NYCDOT
North end	Main Street in Flushing, Queens
South end	Parsons Boulevard in Kew Gardens Hills
East	Parsons Boulevard
West	Main Street

Kissena Boulevard is a thoroughfare stretching across central Queens in New York City. It runs from Main Street in Flushing to Parsons Boulevard in Kew Gardens Hills. The road's name is derived from Kissena Lake, a name given by 19th century horticulturist Samuel Bowne Parsons for the Chippewa word "it is cold."

The road is one of the oldest in Queens, a 4-mile path connecting the colonial settlements of Flushing and Jamaica, originally known as the Road to Jamaica. After Queens was consolidated into the City of New York in 1898, the undeveloped sections of the borough were subdivided into a street grid. The section of the Road to Jamaica below 75th Avenue was absorbed into Parsons Boulevard and much of the north-south traffic between Flushing and Jamaica was taken by newly created Main Street. Kissena Boulevard serves as a diagonal route connecting Main Street with Parsons Boulevard.

Landmarks along the route include Kissena Park, Queens College and Pomonok Houses. The road intersects with the Long Island Expressway. Kissena Boulevard is covered by the Buses Q25, and Q34 buses for its entire length.^[1] The Q17 runs along Kissena Boulevard between Main Street and Long Island Expressway.^[2]

The boulevard is only 2 lanes wide for the majority of its run, but becomes 4 lanes wide with a median divider between the Long Island Expressway (LIE) and 71st Avenue. Additionally, Queens College borders the boulevard to the west, south of the LIE.

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