Prior to the construction of Grand Central Parkway and Interboro Parkway (now the Jackie Robinson Parkway) in the 1930s, Union Turnpike was heavily used, and developed businesses throughout its length. In 1929, there was a proposal to make improvements to four existing roads in order to make them major thoroughfares between Queens and Nassau, namely Astoria Boulevard, Northern Boulevard, Nassau Boulevard, and Union Turnpike. Civic associations in Jamaica opposed the Union Turnpike proposal, and they convinced Queens Borough President George Harvey. Nevertheless, the section of Union Turnpike from Kew Gardens to the Nassau County line was converted from a narrow unpaved road to a paved multi-lane highway in the late 1930s, in advance of the 1939 New York World's Fair. Around the same time, the turnpike was depressed below Queens Boulevard in conjunction with the construction of the Queens Boulevard Subway, and extended eastward from Fresh Meadows towards Marcus Avenue in Nassau County.