Following years of frustrating delays, College Point residents now have a new north-south roadway extension between 20th Avenue and the Whitestone Expressway that will improve traffic conditions and accommodate future traffic growth around the neighborhood.
Council Member Vickie Paladino and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards joined city agencies and community leaders on Monday for the grand opening of the 132nd Street extension, a 0.7-mile extension that is the result of the “College Point Corporate Park Transportation Improvement Study” that was led by the city’s Department of Transportation.
“Today we cut the ribbon on the much-needed Linden Place Extension Project,” Paladino said. “Having been born and raised in District 19, myself and the residents of College Point know how integral this extension is to streamline traffic between Linden Place, 20th Avenue, and the Whitestone Expressway. After over a decade of delays on this project. I’m incredibly proud to say that my office and the office of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. played an instrumental role in bringing it across the finish line.”
Since the creation of the College Point Corporate Park, the area has become a major commercial and industrial corridor over the years and the neighborhood’s proximity to commercial hubs such as Flushing and Whitestone has generated a tremendous amount of vehicular traffic which has put a strain on streets and highways in the community.
“As College Point continues to grow, so must our infrastructure,” Richards said. “This vital project will alleviate traffic, address flooding concerns, protect our surrounding wetlands, and make our streets safer.”
The 132nd Street extension is the final phase of transportation improvements in the neighborhood and builds on the completion of previous projects including the Linden Place U-Turn, which created a free-flow U-turn below the Whitestone Expressway, the Linden Place Extension which created a new roadway from 23rd to 28th Avenue, and the College Point Wetland Migration from 20th to 28th Avenue which restored 12 acres of wetland within the former Flushing Airport site to a functional ecology.
“This area in College Point seemed more like Congestion Point, and NYC DOT’s transportation improvement study identified solutions to improve road conditions and ease congestion ahead of expected growth in the neighborhood,” NYC DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said. “The extension of 132nd Street from 20th to 23rd avenues will deliver new sidewalks, streetlights, traffic signals, watermains, and many more much-needed improvements to the roadway.”
The project also includes street trees, fire hydrants, updated drainage, and outfall to the wetland, according to the NYC Economic Development Corporation President and CEO, Andrew Kimball.
“We’re thankful to our city partners, including DEC, DEP, and NYCDOT, as well as Council Member Paladino and Community Board 7 for ‘paving the way’ for this new roadway in Queens,” he said.
CB7 Chairman Chuck Apelian said the road’s grand opening was the culmination of 20 years of advocacy and a great day for the people of College Point.
“Linden Place will once again connect the Whitestone Expressway directly to 20th Avenue for the first time since the mid-1980s, and will now provide the residents of College Point another means of access and egress besides the overburdened routes of 14th and 20th avenues and College Point Boulevard,” Apelian said.
NYCDOT’s study helped identify and prioritize a list of short-, medium-, and long-term recommendations to improve roadway usability and traffic conditions.
“When others couldn’t move the needle, we worked tirelessly to secure the necessary permits for EDC and push this forward,” Paladino said. “In addition to our work, Community Board Seven’s unwavering advocacy for this project and the persistence of countless civic leaders were also integral to its completion. We now stand on a completed extension of Linden Place, finally open to the public and serving the people it was always meant to help.”
