Bedford Avenue is the longest street in Brooklyn

Brooklyn

Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

, New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, stretching 10.2 miles (16.4 km) and 132 blocks from Greenpoint

Greenpoint, Brooklyn

Greenpoint is the northernmost neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bordered on the southwest by Williamsburg at the Bushwick inlet, on the southeast by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and East Williamsburg, on the north by Newtown Creek and Long Island City, Queens at the...

 south to Sheepshead Bay

Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn

Sheepshead Bay is a bay separating the mainland of Brooklyn, New York City from the eastern portion of Coney Island, the latter originally a barrier island but now effectively an extension of the mainland with peninsulas both east and west...

, and passing through the neighborhoods of Williamsburg

Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordering Greenpoint to the north, Bedford-Stuyvesant to the south, Bushwick to the east and the East River to the west. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 1. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 90th ...

, Bedford-Stuyvesant

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

Bedford-Stuyvesant is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Formed in 1930, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3, Brooklyn Community Board 8 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The neighborhood is patrolled by the NYPD's 79th and 81st...

, Crown Heights

Crown Heights, Brooklyn

Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....

, Flatbush

Flatbush, Brooklyn

Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....

 and Midwood

Midwood, Brooklyn

Midwood is a neighborhood in the south central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, New York, USA, roughly halfway between Prospect Park and Coney Island. The neighborhood is within Community District 14...

.

Automobile traffic flows in two directions on the southern half of the avenue (south of Grant Square at Dean Street), and one-way northbound north of that location. Northbound and southbound bicycle lanes are painted on the avenue south of Grant Square. There are two New York City Subway

New York City Subway

The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...

 stations named for the avenue, the Bedford Avenue (BMT Canarsie Line)

Bedford Avenue (BMT Canarsie Line)

Bedford Avenue is a station on the BMT Canarsie Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and North Seventh Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, it is served by the L train at all times...

 station at Bedford Avenue and North 7th Street in Williamsburg and the Bedford–Nostrand Avenues (IND Crosstown Line) station at Bedford Avenue and Lafayette Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

The many different building types common in Brooklyn are evident at some point on the avenue, from attached and detached single family houses in Sheepshead Bay and Midwood, to brownstone

Brownstone

Brownstone is a brown Triassic or Jurassic sandstone which was once a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States to refer to a terraced house clad in this material.-Types:-Apostle Island brownstone:...

 rowhouses in Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, to medium and large apartment buildings in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. In addition, the avenue passes through neighborhoods representative of Brooklyn's famous cultural and ethnic diversity. African-American, Hasidic, Hispanic

Hispanic

Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...

, Russian

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

, and Polish

Poles

thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

 neighborhoods are all found along the avenue.

Bedford Road, passing through Bedford Pass, was an important north-south route in the 18th century for traffic between the farming village of Flatbush

Flatbush, Brooklyn

Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....

 and the headwaters of Newtown Creek

Newtown Creek

Newtown Creek is a estuary that forms part of the border between the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, in New York City, New York, United States. It derives its name from New Town , which was the name for the Dutch and British settlement in what is now Elmhurst, Queens...

. In the 19th century it was extended south to the shore, and late in the century became one of the earliest paved roads in the rapidly growing eastern suburbs of the City of Brooklyn. Designated landmarks include the Studebaker Building and the 23d Regiment Armory.