QUEENS — Residents can now exchange ideas about the plan to transform an abandoned Queens rail line into a version of the High Line on a newly launched online forum.
The discussion site — thequeenswayplan.mindmixer.com — was initiated as part of a feasibility study about the QueensWay, a park proposed along a 3.5-mile of the abandoned Rockaway Long Island Rail Road which ran from Rego Park to Ozone Park until it closed in 1962.
The architecture firms WXY architecture + urban design and dlandstudio, which are conducting the study, have also started a new website and a Twitter handle to measure public opinion about the project.
The forum seeks “to build a conversation around the QueensWay,” said Jeff Ferzoco, who serves as a social media expert for the project, in an e-mail. “We will be asking people to give input on what they'd like to see in the project and get meaningful feedback and ideas from the potential future users of the QueensWay.”
Residents can also give their feedback during a series of workshops that will begin this week in neighborhoods near the abandoned railway, including Woodhaven, Forest Hills and Ozone Park.
“Because we know that many people won't be able to get to the meetings, we didn't want to leave them out and they can go here [to the online forum] 24 hours a day and give their thoughts,” Ferzoco said.
The public involvement will help to develop a design for the proposed QueensWay. The feasibility study will also estimate the cost of construction, identify the funding sources, check the structural integrity of the tracks, test soil and examine the level of erosion.
The website — www.thequeenswayplan.org — will list events and any updates related to the project. It will be updated approximately every three weeks and will contain “information, a calendar and a place to find and RSVP for the events we will be having throughout November,” according to Ferzoco.
Updates will also be posted on the new Twitter handle: @queenswayplan.
The website and the forum will run through March 15.
