From the Times Ledger:An anonymous group of architects is working on yet another plan to transform a stretch of abandoned train tracks in Queens into the borough’s version of The High Line, according to a South Ozone Park activist.
“There are a bunch of architects who have been working locally,” said Anandi Premlall, who has been publicly advocating for a park on the abandoned Rockaway Branch of the Long Island Rail Road, which cuts a rusty, overgrown swath through several neighborhoods in the borough.
Premlall, who would not name the architects but said she was meeting with them at the end of the month, was inspired by the Manhattan park, which is a greenspace built on another set of elevated subway tracks.
Israel Center of Conservative Judaism
The premise for the Queens version would be the same, according to Premlall, since the old LIRR line has not been in use since the 1950s, when the railroad company sold the tracks to various city agencies.
15 comments:
what you are describing is what is called "rails to trails"
It's the cycle mafia spending a lot of federal and state funds to get what they want.
I'd be fine with spending the money for folks to ride the trails. But since divers pay for the roads, let's see how willing cyclists are to pay for their trails.
Drivers don't pay for the roads. When you look at level of government subsidies per transit method cars are the highest mass transit are the lowest. The myth that drivers cover the cost of road use via gas taxes and tolls has to stop. We all pay for cars- whether we drive or not. Directly in the form of tax dollars and indirectly in the form of negative externalities- air pollution, premature deaths, etc. Finally, getting more people into busses and trains and on bikes reduces road costs because most roads these days are built for congestion easement and not to go to new places. Mass transit and bikes require fewer roads because they take up less space per person.
Bring back the Rockaway line as a railroad.
Yet there is no money to buy 6 acres in Whitestone that was once for the children and can again be?
Bring back the Rockaway line as a railroad.
I agree!
It's not easy being a non-car person in this city which is one of the most suited to giving up the tyranny of the internal combustion engine.That old car habit dies hard, doesn't it folks? Well prepare for a long protracted death rattle, cos its comin',like it or not.
Accent on high!
As I proposed a few years ago in a letter to Queens Chronicle, the Rockaway Branch can become both a rail line and a park trail. The rails would be underground, with the park running above the tracks.
Precedents for this include Riverside Park and Park Avenue in Manhattan.
Also, Joe Anuta's story states that the A train takes the right-of-way below Atlantic Avenue. It's actually below Liberty Avenua, a mile to the south. Sorry, Joe.
If you don't want to be a car person, go move to Manhattan. Or to Europe. See if I care. Just don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Light rail is the way to go.It's not wide enough for a trail......
If they built the Highline then Highline 11 can be built. I suggest that certain rail areas that easily accessible near Woodhaven, Forest Hills that are basically at ground level be used to create walking bicycling trails. The trick is to select stretches that are publicly visible and are easy to convert and police while giving access to the public. The elevate Highline in Manhattan was conceived by the smart RE folks who owned property along the elevated line and wanted to create gold out of tin & did so at public expense.
Dear first commentator: OF COURSE divers pay for the roads -- how else do they get to the water?? Silly boy.
Wasn't this very idea proposed 5 years ago and shot down by CB 6?
Allowing unused open space for public parkland is a good idea, no matter its use. I do not see anyone on this site complaining that we have too many parks in Queens. They aren't asking to change parking lanes in bike lanes here, so I don't understand the anti-cycle vehemence. At the very least, it would protect the ROW from future sale and overdevelopment.
Also, the old Rockaway Branch ROW was the proposed route for the one-seat LIRR train-to-the-plane from JFK.
This must end! It was to be a HS project at one time, but no one realizes there are no fences and safety is not being addressed! Let the animals live, let the humans walk on a side walk! I really think someone needed to give a relative a job, really...a high line over places that fix cars and store items!? What about the safety of the school close to this thing? What about the safety and security of this walk way at night? Can't people be offered to buy their plot? Who owns this anyway? That has never had a true reply from any agency! Let us be real...more money to fix up other places in Queens...not places that are nice and peaceful!!!!!
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