By Bianca Fortis
Activists calling for the city to reactivate the old Rockaway Beach branch received a push forward Monday when state Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) announced his support for the project.
“We have an option here,” Avella said. “Nobody can say that Queens is properly served by mass transit. We have to do this.”
Activists rallied at the corner of 99th Street and Liberty Avenue to call for reactivation of the rail line. Those supporters, alongside a handful of elected officials, contend reviving it would help decrease travel time to and from the peninsula as well as boost economic development in south Queens.
The line, originally a part of the Long Island Rail Road system, was shut down in 1962 and has sat dormant ever since. It ran from Rockaway into Rego Park.
Others have launched an effort to turn the decommissioned line into a 3.5-mile-long public park, similar to Manhattan’s High Line. That project, known as QueensWay, will soon undergo a feasibility study funded by a grant provided by the governor’s office.
And yet, residents of Woodhaven, who live immediately adjacent to the rail line opposed to any and all development of it, are trying to stop both projects.
Philip McManus, who founded the Queens Public Transit Committee, brushed aside a 2001 Metropolitan Transportation Authority feasibility study that determined reactivating train service would be impractical.
“If the governor wanted it, we would have it,” he said. “The ultimate authority in this state is the governor. If the governor wants the Rockaway Beach line, the MTA would want it, too. It’s politics.”
Avella, who is running for borough president, acknowledged that to reactivate the line would be costly, but he said it would be worthwhile.
“It’s going to cost, there’s no question,” he said. “But where else do we have an opportunity like this?’
“If you put money in, you’re going to get it back in terms of increased jobs, economic activity and tax revenue,” he said. “This is the appropriate thing to do.”
McManus said the train line is the most efficient way to get into Manhattan from the Rockaway Peninsula, but his group is pushing for other modes of transportation as well.
“It’s not just about the Rockaway Beach line, it’s also more buses, more trains and more investment in transportation,” McManus said.
Reach reporter Bianca Fortis by email at bfortis@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
