BY ANGELA MATUA
Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder wants the MTA to do some spring cleaning at the Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge.
Goldfeder wrote a letter to the MTA Bridges and Tunnels calling on the agency to clean up a blighted parking lot located on the Rockaway side of the Cross Bay Bridge linking Broad Channel with the Rockaway Peninsula.
“We’re only months away from the summer season and this parking lot is filled with trash and debris,” Goldfeder said. “Millions of beachgoers will pass over Cross Bay Bridge and see this eyesore. It’s time the MTA clean this lot and turn it into an entrance to Rockaway that our community can be proud of.”
In his letter to MTA Bridges and Tunnels President James Ferrara, Goldfeder said that the parking lot located between Cross Bay Parkway and Beach 94th Street is filled with trash and broken tree branches. He also noted there was rust on the metal fence surrounding the lot and cracks in the sidewalk and pavement where tall weeds have begun to grow.
The bridge is one of only three access points to the Rockaway Peninsula for millions of tourists. In 2014, more than four million people visited the popular beachfront, according to the NYC Parks Department. Thousands of these visitors use the Cross Bay Bridge and drive by the blighted parking lot to access the beach, with many more passing above the lot on the nearby elevated A train line.
The Cross Bay Bridge opened to traffic in 1970 and serves approximately 22,000 vehicles per day, with traffic increasing during the busy summer months.
“Given its location at the entrance to the peninsula, this lot is really Rockaway’s ‘welcome mat,'” Goldfeder said. “It’s time for some spring cleaning.”
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