The Kew Gardens, NY Long Island Railroad Station under construction. (Courtesy of the Queens Borough Public Library, Long Island Division, Illustrations Collection - Kew Gardens.)
"The contract for the Maple Grove cut-off improvement of the Long Island Railroad has been awarded to the Elmore & Hamilton Company of Albany. The work includes the straightening and fourtracking of the main line from Grand street, Newtown, to Jamaica avenue, Richmond Hill, the beginning of the Jamaica yard a distance of four miles. The contract calls for the elimination of all grade crossings by means of overhead or underneath crossings, and there will be over 500 feet saved in distance. Among other properties taken is the famous Richmond Hill Golf Club links."L. I. Improvement - Contract for Four-Tracking Main Line and Straightening Road", THE RICHMOND HILL RECORD [a local newspaper] (Nov. 28, 1909).
The grade crossings to be removed are the following: . . . Union Turnpike, Lefferts avenue, Hoffman Boulevard and Hillside avenue. . . . The company has acquired a strip from 150 feet to 200 feet in width and will eventually build two more tracks over the line for local service.
The Maple Grove improvement, like the Glendale cut-off, is part of the general plan of the improvement between Sunnyside Yard and Jamaica, to meet the requirements of the immensely increased traffic that will follow the completion of the P. R. R. tunnels and which include the elevation of the tracks through Jamaica and building of the new station. The Glendale and Maple Grove improvements involve an expenditure of $2,500,000."