Briarwood (IND Queens Boulevard Line)
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The Briarwood station (formerly the Briarwood–Van Wyck Boulevard station or Van Wyck Boulevard station) is a local
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 the
IND Queens Boulevard Line The IND Queens Boulevard Line, sometimes abbreviated as QBL, is a line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Manhattan and Queens, New York City. The line, which is underground throughout its entire route, contains 23 stations. The ...
of 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 ...
. Located at the intersection of 84th Drive, Main Street,
Queens Boulevard Queens Boulevard is a major thoroughfare connecting Midtown Manhattan, via the Queensboro Bridge, to Jamaica in Queens, New York City, United States. It is long and forms part of New York State Route 25. Queens Boulevard runs northwest to ...
, and 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 ...
, in
Briarwood, Queens Briarwood is a middle-class neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is roughly bounded by the Van Wyck Expressway to the west, Parsons Boulevard to the east, Union Turnpike to the north, and Hillside Avenue to the ...
, bordering
Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...
, it is served by the F train at all times, the E train at all times except rush hours and middays, and the <F> train during rush hours in the reverse peak direction. This station opened on April 24, 1937, as part of an extension of the
Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND; formerly the ISS) was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of the New York City Subway. It was first constructed as the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan in 1932. ...
's Queens Boulevard Line. It has been renovated multiple times to accommodate the construction of and modifications to the Van Wyck Expressway.


History


Construction

The Queens Boulevard Line was one of the first built by the city-owned
Independent Subway System The Independent Subway System (IND; formerly the ISS) was a rapid transit rail system in New York City that is now part of the New York City Subway. It was first constructed as the IND Eighth Avenue Line, Eighth Avenue Line in Manhattan in 1932. ...
(IND), and was planned to stretch between the
IND Eighth Avenue Line The IND Eighth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway. Opened in 1932, it was the first line of the Independent Subway System (IND); as such, New Yorkers originally applied the ''Eighth Avenue Subwa ...
in Manhattan and 178th Street and Hillside Avenue in Jamaica, Queens.See: * * Board of Transportation of the City of New York Engineering Department, Proposed Additional Rapid Transit Lines And Proposed Vehicular Tunnel, dated August 23, 1929 The line was first proposed in 1925. Construction of the line was approved by the
New York City Board of Estimate The New York City Board of Estimate was a governmental body in New York City responsible for numerous areas of municipal policy and decisions, including the city budget, land-use, contracts, franchises, and water rates. Under the amendments eff ...
on October 4, 1928. Approval of the section of the Queens Boulevard Line between the intersections of 137th Street (now 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 ...
) and Hillside Avenue was held up by a month during late 1929 because of a dispute over a spur that would run south to
Rockaway Boulevard Rockaway Boulevard is a major road in the New York City borough of Queens. Unlike the similarly named Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Rockaway Freeway, it serves mainland Queens and does not enter the Rockaways. Route description It begins as ...
. Some property owners wanted the spur to run under Van Wyck Boulevard, while others wanted it to run under Sutphin Boulevard to the east. On December 23, 1930, the contract for the construction of the section between 137th Street and 178th Street—Route 108, Section 11—was let. This section included the stations at 169th Street,
Parsons Boulevard Parsons Boulevard is a road in Queens, New York. The north-south street’s northern end is at Malba Drive in the Malba neighborhood while the southern end is at Archer Avenue in the central-downtown area of the Jamaica neighborhood. Route T ...
,
Sutphin Boulevard Sutphin Boulevard is a major street in the New York City borough of Queens. Its northern end is at Hillside Avenue in Jamaica and its southern end is Rockaway Boulevard on the border of South Jamaica and Springfield Gardens. It comes from the D ...
, and Van Wyck Boulevard. As planned, Parsons Boulevard was to be one of the Queens Boulevard Line's five express stops, as well as one of 22 total stops on the line between Seventh Avenue in Manhattan and 178th Street in Queens. Parsons Boulevard would be the only express stop built as part of Section 11. The contract for this section was awarded to Triest Contracting Corporation. The line was constructed using the
cut-and-cover A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two Portal (architecture), portals common at each end, though ther ...
tunneling method, and to allow pedestrians to cross, temporary bridges were built over the trenches. The first section of the line opened on August 19, 1933, from the connection to the Eighth Avenue Line at 50th Street to
Roosevelt Avenue Roosevelt Avenue and Greenpoint Avenue are main thoroughfares in the New York City boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. Roosevelt Avenue begins at 48th Street and Queens Boulevard in the neighborhood of Sunnyside. West of Queens Boulevard, the ...
in
Jackson Heights Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the borough of Queens in New York City. Jackson Heights is neighbored by North Corona to the east, Elmhurst to the south, Woodside to the west, and today northern Astoria ( Ditm ...
. Later that year, a $23 million loan was approved to finance the remainder of the line, along with other IND lines. The remainder of the line was built by the
Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration (PWA), part of the New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by United States Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes. It was ...
. In summer 1933 work on this station and 169th Street were completed, far ahead of schedule. In 1934 and 1935, construction of the extension to Jamaica was suspended for 15 months and was halted by strikes. Construction was further delayed due to a strike in 1935, instigated by electricians opposing wages paid by the General Railway Signal Company. In August 1936, tracks were installed all the way to 178th Street, and the stations to Union Turnpike were completed. However, the stops to the east, including Van Wyck Boulevard, still needed to be tiled and did not have stairways, turnstiles and lighting installed. Two additional contracts remained to be put up for bid, both the results of last minute changes; one such contract involved moving the eastern terminal from 178th to 169th Street. In addition, a new tunnel roof and new side supports had to be constructed. A extension from Roosevelt Avenue to
Kew Gardens Kew Gardens is a botanical garden, botanic garden in southwest London that houses the "largest and most diverse botany, botanical and mycology, mycological collections in the world". Founded in 1759, from the exotic garden at Kew Park, its li ...
opened on December 31, 1936. In March 1937, the extension to 169th Street was expected to be opened on May 1, requiring work to be finished by April 3, and fully approved and tested by April 20. As of this point, minor station work remained, including the installation of light bulbs, with the only major work left to be completed being the final of track in the 169th Street terminal.


Opening

On April 9, 1937, Mayor
Fiorello La Guardia Fiorello Henry La Guardia (born Fiorello Raffaele Enrico La Guardia; December 11, 1882September 20, 1947) was an American attorney and politician who represented New York in the U.S. House of Representatives and served as the 99th mayor of New Yo ...
announced that the operation of the $14.4 million extension to Jamaica and express service would begin on April 24.* * The extension to Hillside Avenue and 178th Street, with a terminal station at 169th Street, opened as planned on April 24, 1937. Service was initially provided by E trains, which began making express stops from 71st–Continental Avenues to Queens Plaza during rush hours on the same date, and by EE local trains during non-rush hours. The express service operated between approximately 6:30 and 10:30 a.m. and from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and ran every three to five minutes. This extension was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Parsons Boulevard station and with a parade along Hillside Avenue. On December 15, 1940, trains began running via the newly opened
IND Sixth Avenue Line The IND Sixth Avenue Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in the United States. It runs mainly under Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, and continues south to Brooklyn. The B, D, F, and M trains, which use ...
and along the Queens Boulevard Line's express tracks; they skipped the Van Wyck Boulevard station.See: * *


Changes

In 1953, the platforms at several IND stations were lengthened to allow eleven-car trains; originally, service was provided with ten-car trains. The lengthened trains began running during rush hour on September 8, 1953. Eleven-car trains would only operate on weekdays. The extra car increased the total carrying capacity by 4,000 passengers. The operation of eleven-car trains ended in 1958 because of operational difficulties. The signal blocks, especially in Manhattan, were too short to accommodate the longer trains, and the motormen had a very small margin of error to properly platform the train. It was found that operating ten-car trains allowed for two additional trains per hour to be scheduled. In early 1982, in an attempt to cover up empty advertising panels that had been vandalized, students at the nearby PS 117 painted 14 murals at the Van Wyck Boulevard station. After the murals themselves were destroyed by June 1982, the students reinstalled the murals in 1985 and covered them with
Plexiglas Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is a synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is a transparent thermoplastic, used as an engineering plastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and bra ...
. The
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...
(MTA) provided funding for the newer murals as part of its Adopt-a-Station program.


Archer Avenue changes

Before the
Archer Avenue lines The Archer Avenue lines are two rapid transit lines of the New York City Subway, mostly running under Archer Avenue in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens. The two lines are built on separate levels: trains from the IND Queens Boulevard Line () ...
opened on December 11, 1988, all Queens Boulevard express trains (E and F trains) ran to 179th Street. The E ran express east of 71st Avenue during rush hours only, and the F ran local east of 71st Avenue. In conjunction with the opening of the Archer Avenue lines, service patterns were changed. E trains were rerouted via the new line, running to Jamaica Center, via the Queens Boulevard Line's express tracks, and began running express east of 71st Avenue. However, some E trains continued to run from 179th Street as expresses during the morning rush hour. Service at local stations, such as Briarwood–Van Wyck Boulevard, was replaced by the R, which was extended to 179th Street from Continental Avenue. The R extension allowed F trains to continue running express to 179th Street. The changes in subway service angered riders at local stations east of 71st Avenue because they lost direct Queens Boulevard Express service. Local elected officials pressured the MTA to eliminate all-local service at these stations. On September 30, 1990, the R was cut back to 71st Avenue outside of rush hours. Local service to 179th Street was replaced by F trains, which provided Queens Boulevard Express service, during middays, evenings, and weekends, and local G service during late nights. In 1992, the MTA decided to have F trains run local east of 71st Avenue on a six-month trial basis to replace R service, which would be cut back to 71st Avenue at all times. The test started on October 26, 1992, and was implemented on a permanent basis six months later, eliminating express service along Hillside Avenue. In the late 1990s, the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...
proposed constructing a ventilation shaft near the Van Wyck Boulevard station.


2010s renovations

The station's exits were rebuilt during the 2010s as part of the
Kew Gardens Interchange The Kew Gardens Interchange (also known as The Pretzel and The Maze) is a complex interchange between the neighborhoods of Kew Gardens, Kew Gardens Hills and Briarwood and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in the center of the New York City borough ...
reconstruction project, which includes replacement of the Queens Boulevard overpass over Van Wyck Expressway. Ecco won the contract for reconstructing the station's entrance at a cost of $9.9 million. In 2011, the north entrance was demolished as part of the interchange-reconstruction project, leaving the southern exit bordering Maple Grove Cemetery as the sole entrance and exit. A new entrance was built next to
Archbishop Molloy High School Archbishop Molloy High School (also called Molloy, Archbishop Molloy, or AMHS) is a four-year private, college preparatory, Catholic school for grades 9–12, located on on 83-53 Manton Street, Briarwood, Queens, New York. It is part of the D ...
on Main Street, replacing an exit that had been closed since 2010. Another entrance was built on the south side of Queens Boulevard between the Van Wyck Expressway's service and main roads, across from Maple Grove Cemetery. The project started in 2010 and was originally supposed to have been completed by 2016, with a new elevator entrance and rebuilt, widened mezzanine corridors. However, delays abounded, including the fact that the new Main Street exit was delayed, having been pushed back from August 2012, to October 2013, and then again to March 2014;
lead paint Lead paint or lead-based paint is paint containing lead. As pigment, lead(II) chromate (, "chrome yellow"), lead(II,IV) oxide, (, "red lead"), and lead(II) carbonate (, "white lead") are the most common forms.. Lead is added to paint to acceler ...
needed to be removed, costing $300,000; and plans were changed during construction, costing $1.7 million. The opening of the new Main Street exit was subsequently pushed forward to February 2014, then back again to May 2014. Work on the elevator was to begin after the new entrance opened; the elevator was to be complete by late 2014 or early 2015. A new staircase entrance, on the northwest corner of Queens Boulevard and Main Street, was opened in December 2014. After the new Main Street entrance opened, the MTA added landscaping, pavement, and sidewalks next to the entrance, and it began constructing an elevator entrance. The elevator was supposed to have been completed in late 2016, but the MTA also missed this deadline. The delays were caused by the need to install emergency systems; in the meantime, some riders chose to travel away to the nearest wheelchair-accessible station, Union Turnpike. The elevator finally opened in May 2017. The elevator runs only between the street and mezzanine, so the station is not
ADA-accessible The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...
; MTA officials had said that the platform was too narrow to accommodate an elevator. In 2019, the MTA announced that the Briarwood station would become fully ADA-accessible as part of the agency's 2020–2024 Capital Program. The renovation of the station was to be funded by
congestion pricing in New York City Congestion pricing in New York City, also known as the Central Business District Tolling Program or CBDTP, began on January 5, 2025. It applies to most motor vehicular traffic using the central business district area of Manhattan south of 6 ...
, but the renovation was postponed in June 2024 after the implementation of congestion pricing was delayed. In December 2024, after congestion pricing was approved, the MTA announced that the elevator installations would proceed.


Station layout

This local station, which is located directly under the Van Wyck Expressway's southbound service road, has four tracks and two
side platform A side platform (also known as a marginal platform or a single-face platform) is a platform positioned to the side of one or more railway tracks or guideways at a railway station, tram stop, or transitway. A station having dual side platforms, ...
s. The F train stops here at all times, while the E train stops here during evenings, late nights, and weekends. The E uses the two center tracks to bypass this station weekdays (
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
-bound from approximately 6:00 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.,
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
-bound from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.). The next stop to the west is Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike. The next stop to the east is Sutphin Boulevard station for trains and Jamaica–Van Wyck for trains. The platforms have Slate blue I-beam columns, a Jasmine yellow tile trim with black borders, and name tablets reading "VAN WYCK BLVD." in white
sans-serif In typography and lettering, a sans-serif, sans serif (), gothic, or simply sans letterform is one that does not have extending features called "serifs" at the end of strokes. Sans-serif typefaces tend to have less stroke width variation than ...
lettering on a black background with a Jasmine yellow border. Small panels reading "BRIARWOOD" in white Copperplate font are centered underneath each name tablet; they were placed over the original directional exit tiling (in place at other IND stations) that pointed to Queens Boulevard or 85th Avenue, the latter of which has never existed. The small tile captions running below the trim line retain the original "VAN WYCK" name. The tile band is part of a color-coded tile system used throughout the IND. The tile colors were designed to facilitate navigation for travelers going away from
Lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan, also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York City, is the southernmost part of the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The neighborhood is History of New York City, the historical birthplace o ...
. As such, a different tile color is used at , the next express station to the east. The yellow tiles used at the Briarwood station were also used at , the next express station to the west, and , the only other local station between Union Turnpike and Parsons Boulevard. The I-beam
piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...
on the platforms are located every and support
girder A girder () is a Beam (structure), beam used in construction. It is the main horizontal support of a structure which supports smaller beams. Girders often have an I-beam cross section composed of two load-bearing ''flanges'' separated by a sta ...
s above the platforms. The roof girders are also connected to columns in the walls adjoining each platform. The full-length
mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...
is directly above the platforms; however the northern half was closed, and the station mezzanine has hosted the NYPD Transit Bureau's District 20 station house since the mid-1990s. The open southern half is separated into three sections with chain-link fences;
fare control In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A s ...
is in the middle due to the need to have a pedestrian
underpass A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing running underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor or train traffic. Terminology In the United States, as ...
under Queens Boulevard. As a result, there are no free transfers between directions. The tunnel is covered by a U-shaped trough that contains utility pipes and wires. The outer walls of this trough are composed of columns, spaced approximately every with concrete infill between them. There is a gap between the tunnel wall and the platform wall, which is made of -thick brick covered over by a tiled finish. The columns between the tracks are also spaced every , with no infill.


Exits

The full-time exit is via a long passageway to Main Street and Queens Boulevard, where there is an escalator and elevator to the north side of Queens Boulevard. The elevator leads only to the mezzanine level. Another pair of exits exists at the southwestern corner of Queens Boulevard and the Van Wyck Expressway service road: one on the west side of the service road next to Maple Grove Cemetery, the other on the east side of the service road adjoining the Van Wyck Expressway.


Track layout

To the west of this station are track connections from both pairs of express and local tracks, which lead to
Jamaica Yard The New York City Transit Authority operates 24 rail yards for the New York City Subway system and one for the Staten Island Railway. There are 10 active A Division yards and 11 active B Division yards, two of which are shared between divisions ...
. Just to the compass south ( railroad north) of this station, the IND Archer Avenue Line splits from the Queens Boulevard Line in a
flying junction A flying junction or flyover is a railway junction at which one or more diverging or converging tracks in a multiple-track route cross other tracks on the route by bridge to avoid conflict with other train movements. A more technical term is "gr ...
; trains to/from the Archer Avenue line can serve the station as local trains or bypass it as express trains. At the split, the Archer Avenue tracks split from both pairs of express and local Queens Boulevard tracks. The connection uses trackways that were constructed at the same time as the station, part of the section of the Queens Boulevard Line from Kew Gardens–Union Turnpike to 169th Street. The
provision Provision(s) may refer to: * Provision (accounting), a term for liability in accounting * Provision (contracting), a term for a procurement condition * ''Provision'' (album), an album by Scritti Politti * A term for the distribution, storing and/ ...
(then known as the "Van Wyck Stub") was intended to be built as part of the
IND Second System Since the opening of the original New York City Subway line in 1904, and throughout the subway's history, various official and planning agencies have proposed numerous extensions to the subway system. The first major expansion of the subway sy ...
in the 1920s and 1930s. The original plans had a line diverging south of Briarwood, running down what is now 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 ...
to
Rockaway Boulevard Rockaway Boulevard is a major road in the New York City borough of Queens. Unlike the similarly named Rockaway Beach Boulevard and Rockaway Freeway, it serves mainland Queens and does not enter the Rockaways. Route description It begins as ...
near modern
John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...
. The extension was never constructed due to lack of funding. The current Archer Avenue plans emerged in the 1960s under the city and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s
Program for Action Metropolitan Transportation: A Program for Action, also known as simply the Program for Action, the Grand Design, or the New Routes Program, was a proposal in the mid-1960s for a large expansion of mass transit in New York City, created under t ...
. It was conceived as an expansion of Queens Boulevard service to a "Southeast Queens" line along the right-of-way of 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 ...
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 ...
towards Locust Manor; a two-track spur from the Queens Boulevard Line would use the original Van Wyck Boulevard bellmouths. However, the line was only completed to Jamaica Center–Parsons/Archer, and opened several years behind schedule in 1988. There are
punch box Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...
es on the Jamaica-bound track of this station to allow trains to go to either the Hillside Avenue or Archer Avenue lines.


Naming

The station was originally known as Van Wyck Boulevard, for the wide thoroughfare that existed when the station opened. 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 ...
was built over the boulevard in 1949. As early as 1997, the Briarwood Community Association had been pushing to rename the station to "Briarwood" or "Briarwood–Van Wyck" since it better reflected the fact that the station served the Briarwood neighborhood. Furthermore, the existing name memorialized
Robert Anderson Van Wyck Robert Anderson Van Wyck ( ;Paumgarten, Nick"The Van Wyck Question" ''The New Yorker'', June 11, 2001. Accessed May 10, 2023. July 20, 1849 – November 14, 1918) was the first mayor of New York City after the consolidation of the five ...
, the first mayor of the
City of Greater New York The City of Greater New York was the Merger (politics), consolidation of the New York City, City of New York with Brooklyn, western Queens County, and Staten Island, which took effect on January 1, 1898. New York had already annexed the Bronx ...
, who had been accused of corruption. Bronx borough president
Fernando Ferrer Fernando James Ferrer (born April 30, 1950) is an American politician who was the borough president of The Bronx from 1987 to 2001. Ferrer was a candidate for mayor of New York City in 1997 and 2001 and was the Democratic Party nominee for may ...
supported the proposed renaming. The name was changed to Briarwood–Van Wyck Boulevard in 1998 to avoid confusion with Jamaica–Van Wyck on the IND Archer Avenue Line. The mosaic tilework remained unchanged. By 2008, community members were advocating for the "Van Wyck" name to be dropped entirely, since "Van Wyck Boulevard" does not characterize the area well (the now-expressway runs through several other neighborhoods in Queens). State senator
Tony Avella Anthony Avella Jr. (born October 27, 1951) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the New York State Senate's 11th district in northeast Queens from 2011 to 2019. The district included the mostly affluent ne ...
and local community groups pressed for the name change. The legislation, proposed in January 2013, was passed in the
New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...
on June 19, 2014. In August 2014, it was announced that the station would be renamed Briarwood. The station was formally renamed on April 17, 2015.


In popular culture

In the 1988 comedy film ''
Coming to America ''Coming to America'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy film directed by John Landis, based on a story originally created by Eddie Murphy, written by David Sheffield and Barry W. Blaustein, and starring Murphy (in various roles), Arsenio ...
'',
Eddie Murphy Edward Regan Murphy (born April 3, 1961) is an American actor, comedian, and singer. He had his breakthrough as a standup comic before gaining stardom for his film roles; he is widely recognized as one of the greatest comedians of all time. H ...
's character, Akeem, tries to persuade his love interest to marry him and go to Zamunda, a fictional kingdom in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
. He follows her onto the Briarwood station. When Akeem jumps the turnstile, "Van Wyck Boulevard" can be seen in the background above the token booth. They board the train which next stops at the
Sutphin Boulevard Sutphin Boulevard is a major street in the New York City borough of Queens. Its northern end is at Hillside Avenue in Jamaica and its southern end is Rockaway Boulevard on the border of South Jamaica and Springfield Gardens. It comes from the D ...
station where she gets off. This scene, however, was actually shot at the unused platform and tracks of Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station in
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 ...
.


Notes


References


External links

* * Station Reporterâ
F Train
* The Subway Nutâ
Briarwood–Van Wyck Boulevard Pictures

Former Queens Boulevard south side entrance from Google Maps Street View
(now demolished)
New Queens Boulevard entrance and elevator from Google Maps Street View

New Van Wyck Expressway entrance (west side) from Google Maps Street View

Van Wyck Expressway west service road entrance from Google Maps Street View

Platforms from Google Maps Street View
{{DEFAULTSORT:Briarwood - Van Wyck Boulevard (IND Queens Boulevard Line) 1937 establishments in New York City IND Queens Boulevard Line stations Kew Gardens, Queens New York City Subway stations in Queens, New York Railway stations in the United States opened in 1937 Briarwood, Queens