Flushing • Willets Point • Corona Local Development Corporation (LDC) believes the time is now to invest in downtown Flushing’s public transportation infrastructure to provide access to what is arguably the city’s most rapidly developing neighborhood.
A massive overhaul project introduced by the LDC known as the Flushing Transit Oriented Development (TOD) plan addresses what the LDC calls an overburdened No. 7 subway line while significantly redeveloping and modernizing the Flushing Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Station.
Additionally, the TOD has formulated two proposals, both of which include the construction of affordable housing, senior housing, commercial stores and a more accessible parking area. The LDC believes the Flushing TOD will facilitate greater use of the Flushing LIRR station, address traffic and pedestrian congestion and provide the growing population with a reasonable place to live.
“Flushing is growing by leaps and bounds,” said Claire Shulman, former Borough President and chief executive officer and president of the LDC, who called the Flushing LIRR the “lost station” due to its lack of signage and inaccessible conditions. “The No. 7 train is hugely oversubscribed . . . this is a great project for the people of Flushing.”
The program consists of three 13-story buildings, a two-level parking garage and an LIRR station in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) that include waiting areas on each platform side, a small retail space, two new elevators, a connecting overpass between tracks and a platform extending towards College Point Boulevard to a total length of 1020 feet. Currently, the Department of Transportation (DOT) owns Municipal Lot 3, the land on which TOD hopes to build their project. While the project is not yet a “go,” it does have buy-in from the MTA and the DOT as well as support from various Flushing groups, according to Shulman’s office.
“Flushing is experiencing an enormous amount of growth in an exceedingly concentrated area that not only strains the existing mass transportation infrastructure but also overwhelms the sidewalks, the local parking options and more,” said Nick Roberts of the LDC. “As an additional 3,500 residential units are expected in Flushing during the next 10 years, the LDC believes the TOD is really the only tenable option to counter the area’s swelling congestion.”
For TOD updates, visit www.queensalive.org, the official site of the Flushing • Willets Point • Corona LDC.
