START: The Unisphere, Flushing Meadows - Corona Park, Queens
FINISH: Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn
DISTANCE: 10.7 miles (17.3 kilometers)
DIFFICULTY: Easy - moderate. A long but gentle uphill on Vanderbilt Avenue, and several places requiring caution, all noted in the text.
Turn sheet is at https://goo.gl/maps/qYa7CBMVFKv2fkBB7.
Map courtesy Google Maps.
Profile of this ride, courtesy Google Maps.
This is a shorter return route than the route via 34 Avenue but it is not without interest. Leave Flushing Meadows - Corona Park south of the Queens Museum, crossing over the Grand Central Parkway and winding through the park to Corona Avenue. Turn right on Corona Avenue and stick with it. At National Street bear left to stay on Corona Avenue, and do the same at 91 Street. Just past Broadway, bear right onto 51 Avenue. Just past there you’ll cross Queens Boulevard at a sharp angle, making for a long crossing. The middle part of the ride (Queens Boulevard to the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge) is industrial.
Watch for speed humps on Maurice Avenue as you pass the cemetery, and again on 58 Street. Coast over the 6-track railroad crossing; it’s a bit rough. Shortly afterward you’ll go over two bridges:
The Grand Street Bridge is narrow and has a steel grid deck, but it’s short.
The Metropolitan Avenue Bridge is also short but it has more traffic, traveling at higher speeds, than the Grand Street Bridge. Stay to the right and take care getting back onto Grand Street. If you’re not familiar with this crossing, continue to the first traffic signal (Vandervoort Avenue, by the filling station), turn left, then right onto Grand Street.
Stay on Grand Street to Union Avenue, turn left, then just before the elevated subway turn right onto Heyward Street. At Wallabout Street, turn right then make a quick left onto Franklin Avenue. From there, right onto De Kalb Avenue and left onto Vanderbilt Avenue to Grand Army Plaza.
This route has on-street bike lanes only on Grand Street west of the Metropolitan Avenue Bridge, and starting on Franklin Avenue to Grand Army Plaza. Stay alert; it’s a good and easy ride if you do.
Some points of interest along the way:
The Lemon Ice King of Corona, corner Corona Avenue and 52 Avenue. Old-school Italian ices. A longtime must-stop for me on the way back from Flushing Meadows.
Corona Avenue. This street traverses a nice cross-section of the many nationalities living in this area: Mexican, Italian, Colombia, Ecuadorean, Argentine, Indian, Chinese. Have a good look at the storefronts and other buildings along the way.
Dutch Reformed Church of Newtown, corner Corona Avenue and Broadway. The congregation dates to 1731 and the current church building opened in 1835. The churchyard likely dates to the founding of the congregation. From the Website Urban Archive: “Today the community, reflecting the multiculturalism that is present throughout Queens, the church now offers services in English and East Asian languages.”
Grand Street Bridge. This “Tinkertoy Bridge” was built primarily for streetcars and opened in 1903. It is a center swing bridge over Newtown Creek. Take care riding on its steel grid deck.
Metropolitan Avenue Bridge. This lift bridge over English Kills opened in 1933. Watch for traffic merging and diverging at speed.
47th Regiment Armory. This great pile dating from 1884, with battlements and a huge drill hall, occupies the entire block bounded by Heyward Street, Harrison Avenue, Marcy Avenue, and Lynch Street, was occupied by the U.S. Army and then the National Guard until 2011. It is in the Hasidic Jewish community in South Williamsburg.
88th Police Precinct, corner De Kalb and Classon Avenues. A small fortress for the local police precinct, built in 1889 and expanded in 1929.