City neglects park space on the Maspeth side of the Kosciuszko Bridge

Queens Post 

At the Brooklyn base of the Kosciuszko Bridge a gleaming new park attracts visitors from around the world. On the Queens side they have anger and frustration.

Residents of Maspeth who were promised some green space instead got a bridge to nowhere.

In late 2008, as part of a project to reconstruct the Kosciuszko Bridge between Brooklyn and Queens, state officials determined a park could be built at the base of each side. Initial projections said it would be done by 2020.

The state Department of Transportation completed the $873 million renovation of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway’s span over Newtown Creek in 2019.

Last year, officials cut the ribbon on the Under the K Bridge Park in Greenpoint, on the Brooklyn side of the suspension bridge.

But nearly 14 years after transportation officials identified a space for recreation in the Queens neighborhood of Maspeth, they’re not even close to completing a park there.

“What’s the delay?” said Tom Mituzas, a member of Queens Community Board 2, who has been asking for progress updates for the last two years. “Get it done.”

The designated park space, located on two parcels of land in an industrial area at 43rd Street and between 54th and 55th avenues, is currently shielded by a chain-link fence, a green tarp and signs that warn: “DANGER CONSTRUCTION AREA KEEP OUT.”

 Inside, mounds of rubble and construction equipment reveal scant signs of progress on the nearly one acre site, previously used as a staging area for the bridge’s construction.