On the way to QueensWay: City presents first look at new park planned for abandoned rail line
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Locals in Central Queens are getting new looks at the QueensWay, a Highline-like park coming to an abandoned railway. Screenshot via Economic Development Corporation
By Ryan Schwach
The plan to build a park atop an abandoned train line in Central and South Queens may be a few years away from completion, but locals recently got a peek into what it may one day look like.
Phase one of the QueensWay – a Highline-like park planned for a portion of a long defunct Rockaway Beach Branch line – is moving full steam ahead after the city recently released new renderings of the park, as well as a new projected timeline.
The first phase of the project, which is being constructed by the city’s Economic Development Corporation and will cost around $46 million, is called the “Metropolitan Hub,” and is only a small partition of the full planned 3.5 mile park.
The Metropolitan Hub is planned to run about 0.7 miles long, located between Trotting Course Lane, Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School, Metropolitan Ave. and Union Turnpike.
The segment is adjacent to Forest Park, and will include a greenway, pedestrian and cyclist paths, seating, a fitness area and various other amentieies.
The new plans come about a year after the city held a number of public feedback sessions on the project.
“We’re very happy to show what we've been able to incorporate so far in terms of the feedback that we heard,” said EDC Project Manager Angelina Espino at a meeting in December.
In December, the city gave locals new looks at the planned QueensWay project as well as a new timeline. Screenshot via Economic Development Corporation
The preliminary design for the Met Hub, which locals saw renderings of in that December meeting and which the EDC released online this week, includes a train track inspired theme calling back to the land’s past, and refreshed greenery in what is now an overgrown area.
Locals like Karen Imas, who have been pushing the QueensWay for years alongside the Friends of QueensWay organization, are happy with what the project appears to be shaping out to be.
“Friends of the QueensWay is pleased to see progress on phase one,” she told the Eagle. “We were pleased to see that the input from last year's community input sessions were taken into account in a lot of different ways.”
“We're excited to continue with community engagement as the project moves forward,” she added. “We want to make sure that there will be additional points and opportunities for the community to be made aware of progress and engagement.”
Imas is a member of Community Board 6, whose chair, Heather Beers-Dimitriadis, is also happy with the project and EDC’s work.
“I feel very good that the EDC keeps reaching out to us, and we're not having to chase them for an update like we have with other agencies on different projects,” she said. “I feel like the EDC has been very good at engaging the community board, and giving us updates as we move along in the process. So, I think that's really great.”
Beers-Dimitriadis is also happy with what the design itself looks like.
“I love the thoughtful design and that it keeps people that are walking separate from people that are biking, I love the play spaces, I love the accessibility features that we didn't have to beg for, but that we got, which was really nice,” she said. “I love the design. I love the tie-ins with the rail, so that it reminds people of what was there forever.”
Beers-Dimitriadis said she only has one real issue with the plan as it currently looks – there are no bathrooms.
“I think bathrooms are really important,” she said. “There is an insufficient number of bathrooms in our city to begin with for public use.”
“There is no bathroom on this entire piece, and there's no funding for that,” she added. “That is really disappointing to me because at this point, if I were going there with my child, I would have to keep in mind that and walk my butt all the way back to Trader Joe’s, depending on where I'm at.”
According to a preliminary timeline, the project will be going through permitting and other approvals until 2026, and then procurement and construction through to the end of 2028.
“I think it's moving along,” said Beers-Dimitriadis “I think the design phase has moved faster than we expected, but I think things will probably take a little longer once you get to the construction component, because construction always has those things that come up during construction that you weren't aware of.”
While the QueensWay is in full swing, and has more than $150 million in funding behind it already, some in Queens are still holding out hope that QueensLink – a proposal to reactivate the route as a train line – could also be in the cards.
City officials maintain that the current QueensWay plan does not preclude transit, but there is little energy behind QueensLink at the city level, or at the MTA.
But some are still fighting for it.
In November, the City Council introduced a resolution calling on the MTA to study the potential for a QueensLink, which supporters say will bring a much-needed train to a part of Queens largely considered a transit-desert.
“We would have liked to have had more conversation on QueensLink, but we look forward to working with MTA and follow up on it,” Queens City Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, who introduced the QueensLink resolution, told the Eagle in November. “They know that this is very important to us. We're looking forward to continued conversations.”
Designs for the Queensway include bike lanes, a fitness area and new plantings. Screenshot via Economic Development Corporation
The MTA has previously taken a look at the project as part of its 20-year needs assessment report and found the project wasn’t high on its list of priorities, calling it a “high cost” project that would serve “relatively modest number of riders.”
In a few weeks, the EDC’s preliminary designs of the QueensWay will be presented to the Public Design Commission before moving on to the final design phase.
