Proposed Queens Park at Kosciuszko Bridge. (NYSDOT)
Oct. 19, 2018 By Nathaly Pesantez
A new park is in the works for Queens as part of the Kosciuszko Bridge project, with officials inviting the community to give input on it in a scoping meeting next week.
The meeting, set for Oct. 23 at Sunnyside Community Services, covers the proposed park on essentially two remote blocks along 43rd Street between 54th and 55th Avenues, flush against the Queens approach of the bridge.
The park’s proposed area is within Community Board 2, and considered to be part of Maspeth, just south of Sunnyside and Woodside.
The park is still in its very early stages, but is expected to span more than 30,000 square feet between two parcels. The design process is kicking off this year, with the park expected to open in spring 2022.
State and city officials say the park can provide opportunities for a variety of active and passive features, which the community can help narrow in on at the scoping meeting and subsequent public comment periods.
Some features are already included in the park’s design, such as a comfort station, seating areas, bicycle racks, drinking fountains, and trash receptacles.
The park would be built out by the New York State Department of Transportation, and be transferred over to NYC Parks to maintain once completed.
The scoping process is expected to take about three months, with NYSDOT expecting to present a conceptual design to the community in early 2019, according to Joseph Morrissey, DOT spokesperson.
Officials said at a 2017 Community Board 2 meeting that the park will be a “destination” location.
“We want it to be something that people would want to go to, so it’s more of a magnet kind of park,” said Jim Lau from the state DOT.
A park on the Queens side as part of the bridge project has been in the works for roughly a decade, according to Robert Adams, project director for the Kosciuszko Bridge Project.
The scoping meeting will be held at Sunnyside Community Services, located at 43-31 39th St., from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 23. RSVP to Helen Neuhaus by phone at 212-532-4175 or email at hna@hna1977.com
The park location as seen today. (Google Maps)
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24 Comments
Please keep in mind that this will also serve as an access point to the pedestrian walkway / bicycle path over the kosciuszko bridge (new span being built)…. a park was built on the Greenpoint Side as well.
This will be just like that playground for kids the built on the other side of the bridge in Greenpoint right next to the onramp to the Kosciuszko Bridge that no one goes too. If you put a ‘green space’ right next to the BQE it sort of misses the point, no?
I hope its another several hundred thousand dollar dog run . please let the dogs have ample space , screw people. especially those south of the tracks.
When the hookers homeless and junkies take it over you won’t be going in there,maybe then you’ll comprehend what Walter is implying. This is for the future gentrification crew, not really us.
is this going to be a slab of concrete with benches facing the incredibly clean air of the highway overpass and underpass, or a real sunnyside park, aka, a cemetery? because, cemeteries are literally the only real parks with greenspace in sunnyside. the fake parks are just slabs of concrete with benches facing heavy traffic. do kids in this area even know what grass and plants look like?
The spiral is getting gentrified.
That area is called Laurel Hill. All industrial buildings; maybe the factory workers will use it for lunch but it’ll probably go under utilized. The park should be put closer to 48 street, at least there are some homes around there that might use it within walking distance
Uhh ? shouldn’t this be a cemetery ? We can’t have any open space without tombstones in our neighborhood.
prostitutes deserve parks too
They should also add a pond with goldfish and ducks so that the homeless can feed them
nice Better Call Saul reference
In keeping with the new Sunnyside tradition, I hope it has a bike lane to and from the park and within the park. (I just had to say it.)
Yeah. Who needs a park anyway. What we really need is more parking! A nice five story parking deck would be just the ticket
Crazy watse of taxpayer dollars.
wow, that’s a lot of downvotes. i guess people really do want to waste taxpayer dollars.
watse of taxpayer dollars — our money for a park which will be used by protitutes and drug addict i this remote part of Queens.
Walter- You’ll cry over anything. A park behind a huge cemetery and 2 highways away from you at the closest and you’re worried and crying about hookers. Did you cry this loudly when Exxon polluted the creek? A park would be nice, times change it may not desolate forever.
right, it might not be desolate forever. but dont you think the residential developers should be responsible to build that park when the time comes? why should the tax payer foot the bill to build and maintain it?
Bundy- I don’t disagree with your point. A park is probably an initial investment to entice development to the area. Developers have gotten a free rode putting nothing into new developments. They should be forced to flip the bill for some infrastructure projects.
It’s you who has been crying since Trump got elected.
Did someone mention Trump? Lol!
have no fear Mr. JVB approves of this.
I’m JVB and I approve this message
People will use it. There is a dearth of parkland in South Sunnyside. Its easily accessible via 43rd St if DOT makes the small sidewalk that leads to the pedestrian overpass actually look like a sidewalk. Also, a park there probably means that area is going to get rezoned, which could also mean there may be future plans for the Montauk Branch rail line or a Newtown Creek ferry route. A bus route will need to be adjusted anyway just for the park to be utilized.