A rendering of the proposed QueensWay in central Queens.
Friends of the QueensWay
The federal government granted New York City $117 million to design and build part of a High Line-esque “linear park” on an abandoned rail spur in Queens — but some advocates and elected officials worry the plan would forever foreclose the long-sought possibility of reactivating transit service along the corridor.
U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced the massive sum of funding for the QueensWay project last week, specifically to build the “Forest Park Pass” section between Union Turnpike and Park Lane South. When completed, the QueensWay will be a 3.5-mile, 47-acre linear park with pedestrian and cycling trails, which proponents say will connect residents to green space in areas between Forest Hills and Ozone Park.
“For many of the 2.3 million people who live in Queens, access to public parks and open space is limited, and in many cases, difficult and dangerous to access by bike or on foot,” Schumer said. “The QueensWay will provide much-needed green space and a new transportation corridor within walking distance of hundreds of thousands of residents and countless small businesses in Central Queens from Forest Hills to Ozone Park.”
The park would be built along the Long Island Rail Road’s long-disused Rockaway Beach Branch, which once upon a time provided rail service between Rego Park and the Rockaway Peninsula. The southern half is still used by the A train between Ozone Park and the Rockaways, but the northern bit has sat abandoned since 1962 — with the rail infrastructure deteriorating and the right-of-way becoming overgrown with vegetation.
Because the right-of-way is already set up for rail, local pols and advocates have long called for reactivating the branch as a subway line, providing a new commuting option with a wealth of transfers for southeast Queens residents who brave one of the country’s…
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