Changes are in store for a busy thoroughfare in Queens as NYC officials continue their Streets Plan rollout.
Woodside Avenue from Roosevelt Avenue to Broadway in East Elmhurst will look nothing like it currently does, as NYC’s Department of Transportation (DOT) announced in August a series of incoming traffic-pattern changes and “safety improvements” along the approximately two-mile stretch.
The street, lined with both homes and stores, will become one-way, eastbound, from 76th Street to Broadway, forcing more westbound traffic onto residential side streets.
Queens street redesign will impact hospital
Drivers coming to and from Elmhurst Hospital, the borough’s trauma center, located at Baxter Avenue and Broadway, will likely be impacted by the redesign. Accessing the emergency room eastbound will remain the same, according to DOT’s plans, but drivers will likely not have access to westbound Woodside Avenue until 76th Street.
amNewYork contacted the hospital’s press office for comment on the upcoming redesign, inquiring how it will impact staff and patients, and is awaiting a response.
The DOT will add bike lanes in both directions on Woodside Avenue. It is not yet clear where the bike lanes will start and stop along the stretch, but both conventional and shared bike lanes are part of the plan.
According to the agency, traffic signal timing changes will alleviate congestion in the area.
DOT said the plan includes safety improvements such as expanded sidewalks and public spaces to reduce contact with vehicular traffic. It builds on the agency’s Woodside Avenue Open Street.
“We’ve reimagined this section of Woodside Avenue to deliver a streetscape designed to support and celebrate the businesses and community members who’ve built a vibrant and thriving corner of our city on “Little Thailand Way,” an agency spokesperson said. “The comprehensive redesign of Woodside Avenue from Roosevelt Avenue to Broadway will expand pedestrian space through the use time-tested design features to improve visibility for all roadway users and enhance roadway organization and safety.”
DOT has been redesigning NYC streets and adding bike lanes per its five-year master plan, which was made in response to Local Law 195 of 2019. The law requires DOT to issue and implement a transportation master plan every five years.
Included in the plan is a mandate for the implementation of 50 miles of protected bike lanes per year.
In 2024, the agency added 29.3 miles of protected bike lanes. Short of its goal, it was still the third highest mileage number built in the city’s history, following 31.9 miles in 2023, according to the Streets Plan.
“We built the third-most number of protected bike lane miles in the city’s history and took major steps toward launching a network of 500 secure bike parking locations in 2025,” DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez wrote inside the plan.
Similar to the Woodside Avenue redesign, Queens Boulevard from Skillman Avenue to Roosevelt Avenue underwent changes per the DOT’s Streets Plan. The project featured parking-protected curbside bike lanes and pedestrian islands to shorten crossing distances while slowing and calming traffic.
Meanwhile, work has already begun on the Woodside Avenue redesign, but officials have not yet said when the project will be complete.
