Infrastructure and Streetscape Improvements
The Department is also developing several initiatives
to improve the area’s infrastructure and physical
appearance. The most significant initiative to date
involves a traffic and pedestrian analysis of Queens
Plaza, the 250-foot-wide approach to the Queensboro
Bridge and the front door to the rezoning area and
Queens in general. Working closely with the city’s
Department of Transportation, the Queens Borough
President’s Office and other appropriate agencies,
the Department will develop recommendations to improve
vehicular flows and movements, enhance pedestrian
safety and improve the street’s overall appearance.
The study’s estimated $2 million budget is
financed through a federal traffic congestion improvement
program (CMAQ). The Department is also seeking additional
federal funds to develop a plan for pedestrian and
transit improvements to better connect the rezoning
area with the larger Long Island City neighborhood.
Efforts are also underway by the Department,
the Queens Borough President’s Office, the
departments of Transportation and Parks and Recreation,
and the Economic Development Corporation to identify
potential sites within the rezoning area for public
park land, and to improve unused city-owned property,
such as land adjacent to the Queensboro Bridge
upper deck ramp and street ends along the Sunnyside
Yard. Funding is needed for acquisition, development
and maintenance.
The Queensboro Plaza subway station (#7, N) is
currently under renovation, and the Queens Plaza
subway station (E, F, G, R) will be renovated
beginning in Fall 2001. Commuter rail access to
the rezoning area will be improved significantly
by 2010, when a new LIRR station resulting from
the LIRR’s Grand Central Connection will
be constructed in the Sunnyside Yard. The LaGuardia
Airport Access proposal would include a stop at
the Queensboro Plaza subway station, further improving
Long Island City’s connection to the region’s
transportation network.
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Open Space Studies
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Queensboro Bridge Ramp Land Study
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