From AM-NY:Both QueensWay and the High Line involve former rail rights of way but, functionally, they are very different. The High Line was a short freight line, with no real potential, then or now, for passenger use.
The Rockaway Beach Branch, however, did serve passengers, and the right of way still has great transportation potential. It shouldn't be used only for a linear park and food stands. This irreplaceable, publicly owned land could also serve to reduce auto traffic and increase mobility in the local neighborhoods.
This could be achieved by using the Queens right of way for a modern, context-sensitive, grade-separated bus rapid transit service with connections to area bus and rail lines, including Metropolitan Avenue, Atlantic Avenue, other major crossroads and the Queens Boulevard subway. This type of quick, reliable, environmentally friendly rapid bus system has been in service for years in many cities, including Pittsburgh, Los Angeles and Miami.
At Atlantic Avenue in Woodhaven, the bus rapid transit station could connect to a rehabilitated Woodhaven Station on the LIRR Brooklyn line. In this way, Queens would gain the public transportation service that was denied it when the AirTrain to Kennedy Airport was built.
Both sustainable elements -- parks and high-quality transit -- could be achieved by the time-shared use of a single "way" within this right of way: transit during weekday peak periods and a pedestrian-bicycle trail at all other times.
10 comments:
I may be the only one, but I like this idea.
I second this idea.
You are NOT going to share tracks - vandals will make sure that it will not work.
This should be incorporated into the transit system. Spread the millions for Plan 2030.
Linear parks like the High Line are nice but Queens NEEDS better transit. BRT would be good. An actual SUBWAY (or in this case, ELEVATED) would be better.
Of course, what we REALLY need is the Triboro RX. I'd trade QueensWay transit for that in a heartbeat.
This is a really dumb idea.
The whole point of reactivating these tracks would be to provide a one seat ride from manhattan to JFK & the Casino.
I say leave it wild, to serve as a metaphor for the decaying morals and ethics of NYC/Queens politicians/developers.
Sounds good to me. These tracks need to be reactivated one way or another. We desperately need more transportation alternatives in Queens.
Financing is the biggest hurdle for activating the tracks.
People want people off of welfare, including many who are on it. Transportation to and from the Rockaway Peninsula will enable folks transportation to and from employment, enabling them to remove themselves from the welfare rolls.
It's a bad idea. It would be a three seat ride from southern Queens to Manhattan and thereby not substantially reducing the commute. If it wouldn't be a significant improvement over the A train, then what's the point?
Reactivate it as a railroad or subway! There would still be room in certain sections for a bike path.
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