An abandoned LIRR line is set to become the High Line park of Queens
We first learned about QueensWay, an abandoned train track in Queens set to turn into the borough’s High Line, back in 2022. Fast-forward two years, and the project is even closer to reality.
Just last week, Mayor Eric Adams announced that a $117 million grant will help transform a 3.5-mile stretch of an abandoned Long Island Rail Road track into a green space that will connect six different Queens neighborhoods. In addition to it all, the administration also secured $5.6 million in federal grant money to update the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway corridor.
Simply put: Queens is getting a major upgrade.
“The next phase of the QueensWay will add more greenway miles, vibrant parks, and outdoor amenities to neighborhoods across Queens, and the BQE Corridor grant we won moves us closer to undoing some of the damage that Robert Moses caused and invests in beautiful, interconnected new public spaces,” the Mayor said in an official statement, calling out the renowned urban planner and former Secretary of State of New York.
The new green space will specifically be built on a vacant corridor of the former LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch: expect 47 acres of new park space and seven miles of greenway covering the neighborhoods of Rego Park, Forest Hills, Glendale, Forest Park, Woodhaven, Richmon Hill and Ozone Park.
The project, though, is far from being immune to criticism. In fact, the latest development has got many worried about the viability of QueensLink, a proposal to actually reactive the corridor as a transit hub, specifically extending the M train from Rego Park to the Rockaways but also using some of the space as a park.
“For years, QueensLink has called for this city-owned right-of-way to be used for both transit and park space,” the QueensLink campaign wrote in an official statement back in 2022. “Building the park, known as the QueensWay, would block any future use of transit on this line and deprive residents of southern Queens of a faster commute, less traffic, while reducing pollution and carbon emissions.”
We’ll have to wait and see what happens.