House OKs $30M Transportation Bill

Funds for 14 transportation projects in Queens were given the green light last week by the House of Representatives.
The $30 million, six-year budget submitted by Queens’ six Representatives seeks to improve the borough’s highways, sewers, waterfronts, school and park accesses, mass transportation hubs, as well as upgrade the Jamaica, Far Rockaway and Flushing business districts.
Rep. Joseph Crowley called the new budget “a huge quality of life victory for the residents of Jackson Heights and the entire Queens County.” He predicted that the projects would create thousands of new jobs if the bill were enacted in its present form.
Also garnering funds for Queens were Reps. Gary Ackerman, Gregory Meeks, Nydia Velasquez, Carolyn Maloney and Anthony Weiner.
Many of these projects have been on local legislators’ and community activists’ “wish lists” for the last decade:
Not included in the listing are the following four items: Weiner’s ferry projects for the Rockaways and Floyd Bennett Field, a program to facilitate Queens’ truck routes, and a subway connection for the proposed 2nd Avenue subway line funded by Maloney, which will carry thousands of Queens commuters more rapidly to their Manhattan destinations.
Meeks said that his proposals help meet “the critical transportation and infrastructure needs of southeast Queens.”
The six-year program still has to be approved by the U.S. Senate, and signed by President Bush.
Victor Ross is a freelance writer.