Queens deserves both transit & parks
This summer, while you are stuck in traffic on Woodhaven Blvd. heading to the beach, ask yourself why? On June 8, 1962, the Long Island Rail Road abandoned the Rockaway Beach Branch and left generations of city residents disenfranchised and disconnected from the rest of the city. Over the years, there has been a steady call for reactivation while recently another group has fought for converting the line into parks. Sometimes in life, we are forced to choose between two incompatible things. But here we could have both.
The QueensLink project is, by definition, the combination of a twotrack, 3.5-mile subway connection and up to 33 acres of new parkland. The idea for this combined project was advocated for by the president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce back in 2017.
A City Planning Department study indicates that south Queens suffers from the longest commutes in the city, making them some of the longest in the nation. While work-fromhome may be a permanent reality for New Yorkers in many fields, lots of the rest of us will have to commute for the indefinite future. Hence, the importance of a connection between Queens’ north and south subway lines in Rego Park and Ozone Park.
The Trust for Public Land says that 99% of New Yorkers are within a 10-minute walk of a park. Still, QueensLink planners have determined that most of the 47-acre rightof-way can be used for additional parkland. Additionally, QueensLink will help New Yorkers reach Forest Park, one of the most beautiful and underutilized parks in the city.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, asked QueensLink and Queensway/Trust for Public Land to work together for the good of the borough because he believes that Queens needs and deserves better transportation and more parks. We agree.
Unfortunately, the Friends of QueensWay and TPL have stated that they cannot envision a transportation component in their park plans, preferring a park-only plan that is faster and cheaper to build. But that’s because it doesn’t include a 3.5-mile subway connection and all the time saved, quality of life improvements, and economic development that goes with it. Like most everything in life, you get what you pay for. So it looks like Queens will have to forge on without them.
After 60 years, we don’t believe that we should rush to build anything until the people of Queens have a thorough understanding of the opportunities and challenges that this skinny little strip of land represents. We should weigh our options carefully, because future generations will judge us harshly if we get this wrong.
QueensLink would unlock new transit connections reducing people’s commute time by up to an hour a day, bringing education, employment, and recreation opportunities closer to communities that need them most. It would reduce traffic on congested Woodhaven Blvd. and Van Wyck Expressway, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.
It would promote transit equity for the underserved people in Glendale, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, Howard Beach, Broad Channel and the Rockaways. It would deliver faster trips from Midtown Manhattan and other parts of Queens to Resorts World Casino, JFK Airport and Queens’ beaches. It would boost small businesses along Metropolitan Ave., Jamaica Ave., 101th Ave., Liberty Ave., Cross Bay Blvd. and in the Rockaways, as well as the Queens Center Mall.
In 2019, an MTA study found our subway and park plan feasible and estimated it would have nearly 50,000 daily riders. It also included a ridiculously inflated construction cost of $8 billion, calculated using non-U.S. Department of Transportation formulas. An independent consultant subsequently estimated its actual cost at about $3 billion.
Our analysis shows that this investment would be a boon to the local economy. QueensLink is an investment that could pay for itself in economic return in less than a decade while serving New York for generations.
In January, Gov. Hochul proposed an ambitious plan to invest $20 billion in expanding and improving the MTA. Her initial project is called the Interborough Express, which would use 9.5 miles of an existing freight line for light rail from Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to Jackson Heights, Queens. The MTA will conduct a 20-year needs assessment that will evaluate costs, benefits, opportunities and potential issues.
We were happy to hear that the MTA will be including QueensLink in that assessment, which we hope will be both rigorous and transparent. Ideally, these assessments will show that both projects have value and should be added to future MTA capital programs. Expanding rapid transit to long-suffering outer boroughs makes sense both economically, environmentally and morally. It’s the right thing to do.
Never before have the winds of change been so in favor of linking Queens back together. Let’s meet the moment and do right by the borough and the city — with new parkland and new transit.