9. The Queensway Ends in Ozone Park
Speaking of rotting tracks from the old Rockaway Beach Branch of the Long Island Railroad’s past, the QueensWay project has a plan to give the tracks a new life. Originally proposed in 2011 by concerned neighbors living along the former line, the QueensWay is set to create a 47-acre linear park in Queens stretching 3.5 miles from Rego Park to Ozone Park where it ends. Despite undergoing over a decade of legal and logistical battles, the QueensWay made groundbreaking progress in 2022 at last when New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a $35 million investment into phase one of the project.
The QueensWay is an asset to the borough that will bring greater amounts of greenspace and opportunities for social gathering for the more than 300,000 people who live within a mile of it. The project will also increase methods of alternative planet-friendly transportation such as biking or jogging between the Woodhaven, Ozone Park, Glendale, Richmond Hill, Little Guyana, Rego Park, and Forest Hills neighborhoods. Projects like this are becoming more popular across the city (for example the High Line) and the world as they address the climate crisis and the greater need for community spaces where city dwellers can enjoy nature.