Federal DOT is doing the right thing, giving transportation advocates another chance…. a 400K grant.
The ten-year debate in Queens ended last year with ‘a park’ winning support over ‘transportation.’ Although a bit under the radar, the decision to use the abandoned Montauk rail line as a park came to fruition last year. The Trust for Public Land has been doing outreach to talk with stakeholders on more specifics to the plan to turn the 30 ft. wide, 3 1/2 mile long stretch between Forest Hills and Ozone Park into a ‘highline type’ park. The swath of land runs parallel to Woodhaven Blvd., just a few blocks east of the roadway.
But wait …. It seems Federal DOT has given the transportation advocates another shot. Queenslink is advocating using the path as transportation. They were just awarded a grant of a 400K … if they can raise 100K on their own. We have not really heard of anything like this before but apparently it’s a federal grant program which has to do with collecting data to show how transportation impacts ‘underserved’ communities. Queenslink has been pushing that the three and a half mile former Montauk rail line running from Forest Hills to Ozone Park be used as a light rail line, linking south Queens to mid-Queens, connecting to the LIRR in Forest Hills, the J train in Jamaica and the A train in Ozone Park.
Should the rail line be used the way the ‘High Line’ is used in Manhattan, as a park pathway? Or should the swath of land be used as a transportation link? It seems Queenslink lost the debate. But it lost the fight due to the highly questionable cost estimate. 8.1 billion for bringing back the rail or 350 million for making it a park-like pathway for bike riding, walking and the like. It’s a no-brainer for sure. But is the cost really 8.1 billion? The grant dollars should be spent on studying the cost.
A recent poll done by Senator Joe Addabbo determined that 75% want a rail link. Just look at a train map in Queens. The real transportation desert is the route between north and south Queens. But there is a strong lobby for parks and the lobby for rail transportation is quite weak. But Queenslink is not going away, and they shouldn’t. We see the 8.1 billion dollar price tag as baloney. Although every legislator that has constituents impacted by this stretch has signed on to help Queenslink, unless this 8.1 billion dollar price tag is refuted the half-million dollar grant to study the use of the land is a waste. We know there can be a solution that combines the use between transportation and a park. It should be noted that the Forest Hills community is the most supportive neighborhood for using the line as rail.
Not only will a rail link connect south Queens to mid Queens, taking a train from the Rockaway or South Ozone Park into Manhattan goes through Queens, then Brooklyn and takes an hour or more. A link through Forest Hills can cut as much as 20 minutes from a commute. We say look at the return on investment in the long term. Decades of economic growth will follow.
