by Benton Grahamgrist
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Travis Terry lives in Forest Hills, a neighborhood in Queens about 5 minutes from an abandoned railroad line. He described the tracks, last used in 1962, as a “blight” plagued by illegal dumping. “It’s been sitting there for 65 years now,” he said, “and those of us in the community, we’re tired of what it’s become.”
Terry has long seen great potential for a green space that allows people to easily bike to Forest Park, the borough’s third largest park. He has pursued this view since 2011, advocating a proposal, called QueenswayTo convert 3.5 miles of defunct railroad tracks into a 47-acre park.
But some prefer the tracks, once the Rockaway Beach branch of the Long Island Rail Road, a subway line running north-south through New York’s largest borough.
Andrew Lynch doesn’t see why it can’t be both. “When I saw this debate, I was like, ‘Man, none of you want to work together. Let me show you what’s going on,'” Lynch told Grist. He wrote a Blog post A project outline with rail services and green space in 2016. That formation led QueenslinkA proposal to extend the subway’s M train line and create 33 acres of parkland.
All these years later, the two concepts remain in conflict, a conflict that mirrors debates in other cities about how to repurpose such infrastructure — whether as transit, green space, or some combination of the two. Nationwide, more than that 25,000 miles The railway has been converted into a recreational trail. The Atlanta Beltline is one of the most prominent examples, with its 22-mile loop of trails and parks, though there are plans to include light rail. has stalled.
The debate in New York is happening even as the city continues to expand its subway system. It is spending $5.5 billion on the Interborough Express Connect Queens and Brooklynand $7.7 billion in the second phase of Manhattan Second Avenue Subway. Meanwhile Queens showed Steady growth from epidemics, and do to the inhabitants More travel by car than those in any other borough. New York also has a history of ambitious rail-to-rail projects, including The high lineAnd officials have spent more than a decade investing Equitable park access.
This long-standing question is now facing Mayor Zohran Mamdani. With the first phase of the QueensWay expected to begin construction later this year, supporters of QueensLink are urging city and state officials not to foreclose on the possibility of restoring rail service.
As an assemblyman representing parts of Queens, Mamdani revealed Support for QueensLink In 2023, as mayor, he included $43 million for the Queensway Park project $124.7 billion annual budget. “The city is committed to expanding green and open space across the borough and is actively exploring all available funding options to make this a reality,” a mayoral spokesperson told Grist.
Lynch said Queenslink supporters were “upset” and “shocked” by the decision. A City Hall official told Grist that the decision to fund the park also does not preclude construction of the rail line.
The first phase of Queensway, which will create a 5-acre linear park, is slated to begin later this year. The second phase, which would add a 1.3-mile extension, would have to be paid for with a $117 million grant From the federal reconnection community initiative, but Congress withdrew funding for that program when it passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
Mamdani officials recently told QueensLink supporters that the first phase of the park project is too far from being stopped, according to Lynch, and said the administration would not rezone the land as a park site. It also preserves the possibility of building a subway line, something former Mayor Eric Adams’ administration said it would do One does not preclude the other. However, Lynch thinks the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA, which operates most of the region’s transit network, would block building a line on park land.
Lynch said QueensLink is looking to Governor Cathy Hochul, who appoints the MTA’s board and plays a key role in drafting the budget to support the project. His office referred Grist to the MTA and New York City Hall for comment.
The nonprofit Trust for Public Lands has supported the park project since 2011 Tamar Renaud, its New York state director, said QueensWay will eventually increase equity by serving four of the 20 neighborhoods. Minimum amount of accessible park. With 28 schools around the railway line, it will improve recreation for children, as well as make the area more bikeable and walkable. “It was really about reconnecting communities separated by these big infrastructure projects,” he said.
QueensWay supporters see their project as more tangible. A 2019 MTA report found that QueensLink would be the rail line Cost $8.1 billionBut from the agency It was revised to $5.9 billion And it is estimated that it will serve 39,000 daily riders. “Reactivating the Rockaway Beach branch with NYCT service has a high cost and serves a relatively small number of riders,” the agency concluded. “This project will reduce auto use and provide additional rail connectivity, but compared to other projects, the benefits are average for sustainability and resilience.”
Park project advocates, on the other hand, would cost about $350 million. “I think we all recognized that there wasn’t going to be a train after all this research,” Terry said.
Rail supporters argue that the MTA’s cost estimates are high and its ridership estimates are low. They hired consultancy firm Transport Economics and Management Systems to evaluate the report – it Setting costs Close to $3.5 billion. A report from New York University approx It will serve about 75,000 daily riders; Else find it will Take 14,800 cars off the road every day
Eric Goldwyn, an expert on public transit project costs at the NYU Marron Institute, said QueensLink may not greatly increase ridership, but it would benefit operations by allowing busy trains to run at higher capacity on Queens Boulevard.
In Goldwyn’s view, QueensLink is the project that brings together rail and parks. Like Lynch, he thinks Queensway’s progress will not bode well for Queenslink. “Once that first shovelful of dirt is turned, the odds … are long,” he said. “It will be harder and harder to imagine Queenslink as proposed.”
This article originally appeared on grist A https://grist.org/cities/what-is-the-best-use-for-old-railroad-tracks-new-yorkers-have-opinions/.
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This is the story Originally published by grist.
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