Streets thumb|upright=1|Cross-street signs for a single-named boulevard and a co-named avenue in Queens The streets of Queens are laid out in a semi-grid system, with a numerical system of street names (similar to Manhattan and the Bronx). Nearly all roadways oriented north–south are "Streets", while east–west roadways are "Avenues", beginning with the number 1 in the west for Streets and the north for Avenues. In some parts of the borough, several consecutive streets may share numbers (for instance, 72nd Street followed by 72nd Place and 72nd Lane, or 52nd Avenue followed by 52nd Road, 52nd Drive, and 52nd Court), often confusing non-residents. Also, incongruous alignments of street grids, unusual street paths due to geography, or other circumstances often lead to the skipping of numbers (for instance, on Ditmars Boulevard, 70th Street is followed by Hazen Street which is followed by 49th Street). Numbered roads tend to be residential, although numbered commercial streets are not rare. A fair number of streets that were country roads in the 18th and 19th centuries (especially major thoroughfares such as Northern Boulevard, Queens Boulevard, Hillside Avenue, and Jamaica Avenue) carry names rather than numbers, typically though not uniformly called "Boulevards" or "Parkways".
streets thumb|upright=1|cross-street signs for a single-named boulevard and a co-named avenue in queens the streets of queens are laid out in a semi-grid system with a numerical system of street names (similar to manhattan and the bronx) nearly all roadways oriented north–south are "streets" while east–west roadways are "avenues" beginning with the number 1 in the west for streets and the north for avenues in some parts of the borough several consecutive streets may share numbers (for instance 72nd street followed by 72nd place and 72nd lane or 52nd avenue followed by 52nd road 52nd drive and 52nd court) often confusing non-residents also incongruous alignments of street grids unusual street paths due to geography or other circumstances often lead to the skipping of numbers (for instance on ditmars boulevard 70th street is followed by hazen street which is followed by 49th street) numbered roads tend to be residential although numbered commercial streets are not rare a fair number of streets that were country roads in the 18th and 19th centuries (especially major thoroughfares such as northern boulevard queens boulevard hillside avenue and jamaica avenue) carry names rather than numbers typically though not uniformly called "boulevards" or "parkways"