Abandoned LIRR line in Queens gets $120M closer to becoming acres of green space
(Credit: Trust for Public Land)
QUEENS - NYC Mayor Eric Adams says his administration secured more than $120 million in federal grants for the new public park being built in Queens.
The QueensWay will essentially transform the abandoned corridor of the former LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch into 47 acres of new park space and seven miles of greenway.
The park trail stretches across Rego Park, Forest Hills, Glendale, Forest Park, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, and Ozone Park.
The development is part of Adams's expansion of greenway plan focused on underserved communities.
"Our infrastructure should be bringing communities together, not tearing them apart, and that’s why we aggressively pursued these Reconnecting Communities grants, to reshape our city in a way that unites us," Adams said Wednesday.
This comes after the mayor secured $35 million for phase one back in Sept. 2022.
Adams said his team won two federal grants worth $123.6 million in total.
The grants, issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation, will help start the second phase of the QueensWay and begin developing sections near Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE).
Of the two grants, $117 million will go towards 1.3 miles of extension in Forest Park.
$5.6 million will help build concepts for the Brooklyn Queens Expressway corridor in North and South Brooklyn.
Freshkills Park in Staten Island occupies what used to be the largest landfill in the world, and where New York City dumped all of its trash. Closed in 2001, the area is now being developed into a 2,200 acre park three times the size of Central Park.
What is a greenway?
A greenway is an undeveloped land area outside or near an urban area used for recreational use or environmental protection.
Adam's expansion plan spans across five corridors making up roughly 60 miles of new and existing greenways that include:
- Queens Waterfront, Gantry Plaza State Park to Little Bay Park (16 miles)
- Historic Brooklyn, Coney Island to Highland Park (12 miles)
- Staten Island Waterfront, Goethals Bridge to Verrazzano Bridge (10 miles)
- South Bronx, Randall's Island Park to SUNY Maritime (15 miles)
- Southern Queens, Spring Creek Park to Brookville Park (7 miles)
New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference in the Blue Room at City Hall (Jeff Bachner/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
NYC Mayor Adams's greenway expansion plan
NYC Mayor Eric Adams launched the historic expansion of the city's greenways back in 2022 after winning $7.25 million in federal funding.
The plan aims to fill gaps in outer-borough green space to create 60 miles of greenway corridors.
The expansion would include miles of protected bike infrastructure and walking paths along the corridor of Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.
The corridors are chosen based on the merits of equity, access, transportation use, and economic development, among other factors.
The Harlem River Greenway in the Bronx has already been under development. Planning will begin on the Queens Waterfront Greenway in early 2024.