Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2019 April 5

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April 5

Geography

In New York City there is a bridge called Cross Bay Blvd. Leaving Howard Beech and moving south over Broad Channel one sees to the East a small a which island which appears to be nameless on Google maps. This is just adjacent to Sunset Cove Park. Do we have an article on this small island. It appears to have a railway line crossing it. It is a nature reserve? Is it natural or man made? Can one go there? Can one camp? There appear to be several other islands in this archipelago, I would be curious to have the same questions answered in relation these, most of them being to the West of the primary subject. Also, I note that JFK Airport is close by, would this make camping very noisy? Is there much wild life such as birds or is the area too polluted. (I have never been to New York but I assume it to be fairly polluted). Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.131.40.58 (talk • contribs)

The bay in question is Jamaica Bay, which is a fairly shallow marshy estuary system on Long Island in Queens and Brooklyn. The entire set of islands, including the one for which you ask for a name, is part of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. There is camping nearby, near Floyd Bennett Field in the Gateway National Recreation Area which forms the western entrance to Jamaica Bay; the Wildlife Refuge doesn't appear to allow camping. This topographic map also doesn't name the island, though it is clearly there. This map seems to label it "East Broad Channel", which Google Maps calls "Broad Channel", though it is unclear if that's the name of the island or the channel next to it, or maybe both (as in, is the island called "Broad Channel Island" or something like that). Sorry I couldn't be more help with the name, but I hope this information is useful to you. in some way. It's all that I can find.--Jayron32 14:00, 5 April 2019 (UTC)

If I've correctly identified the island you're referring to, the OpenStreetMap gives its name as Subway Island (perhaps so called for the transit line that crosses it). It's also identified as Subway Island on Wikimapia. Deor (talk) 14:39, 5 April 2019 (UTC)

Google Maps also confirms this place name this way: if you type "subway island" into the search box, "Subway Island, Broad Channel, NY" appears as a suggestion, and if you click on it, you get a place marker on the island. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 17:51, 5 April 2019 (UTC)

Now as to the question of whether it's an artificial island, the answer is yes. The subway line in question is the IND Rockaway Line, which was built originally as a Long Island Rail Road line that crossed the bay on wooden trestles. When one of the trestles was destroyed by fire in 1950, the LIRR offered the line for sale to the city, which connected it to the subway system and reopened it in 1956. But in rebuilding it, rather than using such a great length of trestles, they chose to create artificial islands by dredging up sand from the bay. Besides the Subway conversion section of the Wikipedia article, see also this railfan page and the book Under the Sidewalks of New York (by Brian J. Cudahy) at page 130 of the 1995 edition. --76.69.46.228 (talk) 18:16, 5 April 2019 (UTC)