Its immense width, heavy automobile traffic, and thriving commercial scene has historically made it one of the most dangerous thoroughfares in New York City, with pedestrian crossings up to 300 feet (91 m) long at some places.

In 1941, the New York City Planning Department proposed converting Queens Boulevard into a freeway, which ultimately never occurred.

Queens Boulevard runs northwest to southeast across a little short of half the length of the borough, starting at Queens Plaza at the Queensboro Bridge entrance in Long Island City and running through the neighborhoods of Sunnyside, Woodside, Elmhurst, Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, and Briarwood before terminating at Jamaica Avenue in Jamaica.

[2] The express lanes use a 60-foot-wide (18 m) underpass (separated by a median) to bypass Woodhaven Boulevard and Horace Harding Expressway; the service roads provide access to both streets.

A remnant of the old Hoffman Boulevard can be found in Forest Hills where the local lanes of traffic diverge into two routes, one straight and one that bends around MacDonald Park.

The street was built in the early 20th century to connect the new Queensboro Bridge to central Queens, thereby offering an easy outlet from Manhattan.

[8][9] On May 2, 1936, Queens Borough President George U. Harvey cut the ribbon for the opening of the center roadway of the Boulevard at Seminole Avenue in Forest Hills.

[12][13] In 1941, the New York City Planning Department proposed converting Queens Boulevard into a freeway, as was done with the Van Wyck Expressway, from the Queensboro Bridge to Hillside Avenue.

[14] In 1960, Queens borough president John T. Clancy proposed reconstructing the entire seven-mile boulevard to meet traffic demand from the 1964 New York World's Fair for $17.1 million.

Only $2.6 million for the central section of the project was approved as rebuilding more than a mile of the road a time was deemed to be too disruptive for travel.

[17] The changing of traffic signals to increase crossing times across the boulevard helped reduce the average pedestrian deaths in a section in Forest Hills and Rego Park from 4 each year from 1980 and 1984 to 1 in 1986.

The DOT also planned on installing barriers in the center median separating eastbound and westbound traffic in a section of Forest Hills to discourage people from crossing the street outside of intersections.

The DOT had studied installing pedestrian bridges over Queens Boulevard, in addition to Eastern Parkway and Grand Concourse, but had found that it would have been too expensive to do so.

[19] In January 1997, the city commissioned a study of the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of roadway between the Long Island Expressway and Union Turnpike.

[20]: 138–143  As part of the improvement process, the city installed new curb- and median-extensions along the corridor; repainted crosswalks so they were more visible; added fences in the medians; closed several "slips" that allowed vehicles to make high-speed turns; posted large signs proclaiming that "A Pedestrian Was Killed Crossing Here" at intersections where fatal accidents have occurred; and reduced the speed limit from 35 to 30 miles per hour (56 to 48 km/h); a few segments had 35 mph speed limits.

Due to an aggressive public safety campaign by the NYCDOT and engineering changes, deaths fell from 17 in 1993 and 18 in 1997 to 4 in 2001; nonfatal accidents were reduced from 2,937 in 1993 to 1,627 in 2001.

The NYCDOT had resisted making the speed for the boulevard a uniform 30 mph for some time, arguing that it would reduce traffic flow.

[23] In May 2001, the NYCDOT proposed eliminating a traffic lane in each direction between Kneeland Avenue and Union Turnpike to be used for metered parking to make the street safer.

These included additional fences to deter jaywalking, modifications to improve traffic flow and safety, longer crossing times for pedestrians, and the elimination of U-turns and left turns in some locations.

[28] On August 18, 2010, the New York State Department of Transportation broke ground on the first phase of a reconstruction of the Kew Gardens Interchange, involved in the project was the renovation of a nearby viaduct carrying Queens Boulevard over the Van Wyck Expressway and the nearby Briarwood subway station (E, ​F, and trains).

[37] The project gained opposition from some of the community boards surrounding Queens Boulevard because parking spots were removed to make way for the bike lanes.

[21] The first segment to be overhauled, between Roosevelt Avenue and 73rd Street, received federal funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act in 2023; it is expected to be renovated for $23.75 million between late 2024 and 2027.

[20] Pedestrian crossings of Queens Boulevard can be up to 300 feet (91 m) long, or one-and-a-half times the length of a city block in Manhattan.

It is served by the following subway lines: Both use stretches of the right of way; only Broadway (nine services), Sixth Avenue (seven) in Manhattan and Fulton Street (eight) in Brooklyn carry more at any one time.