QueensWay Park Project Reaches Funding, Planning Milestones

[mtattrain]

The effort to transform a 3½-mile stretch of abandoned railway tracks in Queens into a park reminiscent of Manhattan's High Line has reached two milestones: Organizers have raised $1 million for the design and planning phase and next week they will launch a feasibility study spearheaded by two New York firms.

 

Supporters of the so-called QueensWay project envision bike trails, public art installations, cultural programming and food stalls celebrating the dozens of ethnic groups that live within a mile of the park.

 

The Trust for Public Land is expected to announce Tuesday the selection of the two firms— WXY Architecture + Urban Design and dlandstudio—to calculate the project's cost, identify any environmental contamination of the site, evaluate the structural soundness of the railroad trestles and develop a conceptual design. Only with that information in hand can organizers confront another fundamental question: whether a park wending through central and southern Queens can attract the size of checks that breathed life into the High Line.

 

The QueensWay would transform a railroad right-of-way from Rego Park to Ozone Park that passes backyards, retail areas, at least one schoolyard and an existing city park. About a third of the tracks stand on an elevated structure. The middle section passes through the bottom of a ravine in Forest Park, while the northernmost section runs atop an earthen embankment about 10 to 15 feet high.

 

WXY principal Claire Weisz said described the QueensWay as "a green connector and cultural corridor."

 

The project would add green space to Ozone Park, an industrial neighborhood where parks are scarce. It would also serve as a pedestrian and cycling link to Forest Park, a city park bordered by the Jackie Robinson Parkway and bisected by heavily trafficked Woodhaven Boulevard. Some 70% of visitors to that park now arrive by car, said Marc Matsil, New York state director for the Trust for Public Land, the nonprofit group helping to lead the QueensWay's development.

 

"This provides basically unprecedented safe access to the park," he said.

 

In December, the Trust for Public Land received a $467,000 state grant to fund the feasibility study. Including the grant, the Trust for Public Land has raised about $1 million, according to Mr. Matsil.

 

The city's Department of Environmental Protection contributed $140,000 toward environmental and green infrastructure assessments.

 

The yearlong feasibility study will include opportunities for residents to offer input through workshops and social media, Mr. Matsil said.

 

 

 

Read here: http://http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323608504579023321547355130.html

 

 

To the rail supporters: "We lost the game!"

[GojiMet86]

Where the hell's the rail studies? Are they even conducting rail studies? F*ck.

[bobtehpanda]

Where the hell's the rail studies? Are they even conducting rail studies? F*ck.

 

There are five politicians pushing for one right now - Congressmen Greg Jeffries and Hakeem Meeks, Assemblymen Phil Goldfeder and Mike Miller, and State Senator Tony Avella.

 

Remember, for Queensway to work, there have to be private donors who are willing to pay for upkeep on a continual basis. We can't even get people to do that for Corona Park.