One of the most densely populated places in the United States is, ironically, a “transit desert.” To get to work or school, the middle class residents of eastern Queens neighborhoods such as Glendale and Rego Park, endure packed New York City buses that move at a snail’s pace, or endure long walks in freezing winters and humid summers.
No wonder many of them choose a sluggish driving commute, even in the face of the nation’s first congestion pricing plan, aimed at curbing vehicle traffic by nudging more people onto public transit. As of Jan. 5, they are charging $9 to drive south of 60th St. in Manhattan, a toll scheduled to increase to $15 by 2031.
But in a far less publicized transit development last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program awarded a $400,000 grant to Queenslink, a nonprofit determined to revive a rail corridor that has been shuttered since the 1960s. Known as the Rockaway Beach Branch (or Queens Boulevard Line) of the Long Island Rail Road, this right-of-way could facilitate the expansion of the subway’s M train. The restored line would create a vital crosstown link for up to 47,000 daily riders, easing congestion on city streets and relieving pressure on subway lines like the E, F, and R.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Daily News (paywall)
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Paul Dreyer is a Cities Policy Analyst at the Manhattan Institute.
Photo by C T Aylward/ Getty Images