The blossoming areas of Long Island City and Astoria need better connections to tech hubs in Brooklyn, as well as Roosevelt Island and LaGuardia Airport.
So say city planners, who are suggesting a slew of changes to better connect rapidly developing areas of Western Queens to job centers across the city.
Among the possibilities included in a city study, issued this week, are the creation of a new transit corridor — potentially serviced by an express bus — that would extend from LaGuardia to Downtown Brooklyn.
The city also proposed the expansion of bus and ferry service to service Astoria’s rapidly developing waterfront neighborhoods.
Among other possibilities:
- Extending service to Roosevelt Island on the Q19 (Astoria Blvd. to Main St.) and Q39 (Queensboro Plaza to Ridgewood) bus routes.
- Eliminating the Q102, which runs between Manhattan, Roosevelt Island and Astoria.
- Adding express service on the N and Q subway lines at the Ditmars Blvd., Astoria Blvd. and Queensboro Plaza stops.
- Calming traffic along Vernon Blvd., 21st St. and Crescent St. including the addition of crosswalks and curb bumpouts.
- Converting metered lots at Vernon Blvd. and Jackson Ave. into so-called green medians.
- Improving bike travel to Roosevelt Island by upgrading a path along 36th Ave.
Some objected to elements of the proposals — such as the new ferry service — that seemed geared to accommodate Astoria Cove, which is still under public review.
Yup, that's the only reason this is happening. Love the war on Vernon/Jackson metered parking. Will do wonders for the restaurants there, especially when the 7 stops running again. There's also a guy petitioning for a Metro North stop in western Queens.
19 comments:
Connect hipster Asstoria to hipster Crooklyn? Why not? Oy!
The queens metro north stop should have been in Sunnyside. It won't get much ridership from queens residents anywhere, but in Sunnyside after merging with the LIRR mainline it would have served as a transfer point between Penn and GC bound trains. This way the station cost and time penalty from stopping trains would be justified, even if few people are getting on. the planned Sunnyside lirr station is after the GC bound tracks break off from the mainline so it won't serve this purpose. Still though, as Penn station access develops it would be nice to ensure that the contract between CDOT and the MTA allows new haven line trains to stop in Sunnyside.
Aren't the Vernon Blvd meters the day-longs? What's the connection to restaurant parking?
Ali Fadil is a menace.
Is he is looking for a job in city planning or the like? His ideas are little more than whoring for developers by pushing for transportation routes that do nothing for the community but open it up to development.
That is his stick pure n simple.
Talked to the lad about that once and he displayed a clueless dismissive attitude towards those whose lives will undoubtedly be displaced and disrupted by his schemes.
Meanwhile areas in the double fare zone are paying taxes and fares not to improve their service but to subsidize new development.
You can do those things when you bribe, er, pay a campaign donation 'fee' to a politician.
The original idea a century ago was to make a Grand Central Station / office tower at the end of Bridge Plaza linking Hell Gate Bridge, Penn Station, and LIRR with the Queens transit network.
The impact this will have on getting to and across the Queensboro Bridge is your problem dear taxpayer.
"Aren't the Vernon Blvd meters the day-longs?"
No, it's 2 hour parking. I have parked there myself on a Sunday to go have dinner at Tournesol.
"traffic calming' = congesting 2 lane roads by making them one lane. If they timed the lights correctly like they do in manhattan and much of brooklyn, traffic would flow far better on all of those roads they mentioned.
They tried running the N express and the W local through astoria. It was a disaster ended after 6 months.
What they need is a turn lane on 21st. and a new subway route under it that goes all the way to LGA.
But we won't see that. Because our electeds have no vision and don't know how to make money off it.
I dont think its a good idea to put anything under 21st Street. Those new buildings already have flooded basements from Sunswick Marsh.
We need to extend the train as planned beyond Dirmars and up 20 Ave - the area is relatively sparsely populated and UCCA has to stop being the tail that wags the dog. There is no need for a handful of contractors and their ilk who live around there to push us around.
As to that kid that is circulation all those transit petitions, he is fronting for someone IMHO. Get real. How many high school kids are actively getting 100s of names to improve bus service on 21st St?
Extending the N/Q will never happen. Real estate prices over there are way too high, and the 'developers' & land owners are the biggest political campaign donors.
It also would only make the N/Q more crowded - it's already standing room only late into the evening. And it's not like they're going to stop building bigger.
The area needs an entire new subway route. Route it up 33rd. Route it up steinway for all I care.
They keep messing with traffic patterns on Vernon - it used to be just fine. Now half of it is a bike lane that doesn't enough use to justify it's existence.
Metro North? Not going to happen. Penn station is at max capacity. *maybe* when some of LIRR diverts to GCT there'll be slots available, but don't count on it.
The answer would be to stop building so much shit until these transit options are resolved.
Also, Let's talk FDNY. Bloomberg closed 261 & 212 - both in areas that have seen massive population increases in the decade since. Should we wait for a few people to die before we get our first responders back?
West Queens & Bk have serious problems that are being ignored - and when the electeds do admit to them, it's in the form of proposing 'solutions' like 'traffic claiming (ie less traffic lanes and more anti-driver obstacles) or express subway service that was already tried and failed (since it cut service in half to all non-express stops - which are of course the most used)
Penn station access was always part of LIRRs ESA plan. Once they finish that cavern metro north will run to Penn,, they aren't talking about doing it before then. Why'd Cuomo kill the Hudson line to Penn connection by the way?
I thought Sunnyside was supposed to have a Metro North station. Wasn't that the plan all along?
I think metro north trains will be in the Amtrak bypass tunnel at QB so won't be able to stop. The MTA is not known for their transparency so who knows.
With the condition of the tunnels to penn, LIRR, Amtrak and NJT will be lucky if they get to keep running... nevermind metro north. That's decades away and solutions are required now.
I believe the sunnyside station idea was scrapped during East side access planning.
Developments like astoria cove should have a ferry stop. Instead they'll have a private shuttle bus to take them to the (already crowded) subway like 'shore tower' does.
Maybe MTA should look at bringing back the express bus, except have it run further into Manhattan than 57th street. The old qm21 didn't get many riders because it had a really limited schedule and don't go deep enough into Manhattan to be useful to many people. If they were smart they would survey area residents, see where they work, when they commute, and come up with a viable solution. Doing stupid shit like not running the Q to astoria on weekends is an example of how they're just not paying attention or giving a damn.
As for ole' sunswick creek and a new subway route, it's not like there are no sub aquatic tunnels in this town. Should be entertaining to watch those new buildings sink if the ground there really is that much of a bog.
Lirr Sunnyside station plan still exists. Metro north trains will be in a tunnel so won't stop.
The tunnels to Penn are not near capacity. They will shut them down for rehab one at a time with minimal service disruption.
MNR to Penn isn't decades a way. It's less than ten years away.
Ferries aren't as useful as people think. There's no subway at the waterfront in midtown Manhattan for anyone to transfer to, and the buses really crawl.
New subways in astoria aren't happening soon. A bus lane down 21 st, over the QB bridge and along 1st/2nd avenues would be a better short term solution.
Just in queens there are plenty of areas more in need of transit improvement than Astoria. It shouldn't be a priority for major capital expenses.
Express W and N service makes no
sense. You would save 3 minutes from
QP to Ditmars (wow!) and the local stops like Broadway would get less service and be more crowded. Where is the advantage?
Extending the N/Q will never happen. Real estate prices over there are way too high, and the 'developers' & land owners are the biggest political campaign donors.
******
I disagree, those Astoria Neanderthals up there have unleashed a monster that will consume them.
All that waterfront development will not need bike lanes or ferry service, crap that is fed to the gullible, but a major transport artery while means a big 4 lane highway and the only place to put it is somewhere like 20th Aven.
The past is littered with enclaves that got overwhelmed by the needs of the greater city - look at Old Astoria or Ravenswood.
After initial reaction they will embrace it.
Afterall, they were the ones that defined Astoria: a place where everything is worthless except the dirt under their feet and what can be dug into it. They will gladly throw their own neighborhood under the bus if it means money.
That is all their simple lives understand. Then they will move on to other caves.
This is why the good news is that someday they will be replaced with modern humans and the community can once again flourish.
Anon No. 11:
Cuomo didn't kill the Jersy tunnel to Penn Station (although he didn't help it, either). Christie did.
I said Hudson line. Metro north Penn station access used to include Hudson line trains, taking the bridge to Manhattan just north of spuyten devil, west side line to Penn. Same route used by Amtrak trains to Albany. Last time Cuomo mentioned it his documents omitted this connection, as well as the new stations i believe on 125 and ~60. They have only showed the new haven line over hells gate.
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