QUEENS — The QueensWay hopes to go viral.
The architects who hope to turn an abandoned Queens rail line into a version of the High Line — will employ social media, such as Twitter and Facebook to help design the project from the communities, advocates said.
Adam Lubinsky, from WXY architecture + urban design, one of the two companies chosen to conduct the study, said the goal is to “get a lot of feed back on the project,” which would transform a 3.5-mile of the abandoned Rockaway Long Island Rail Road line into a park similar to Manhattan's High Line.
“We know that lots of people will be interested in having a dialogue so we want to create a forum for that,” he said. “We want [social media] to be an opportunity for people who can’t go to meetings.”
The study, which is in its initial phase, will soon create a Queensway-specific interactive site, according to Jeff Ferzoco, who serves as a social media expert for the QueensWay project.
The site, Ferzoco said, will be accessible from the Friends of the Queensway site and will include information about the project as well as questions designed to get feedback as well as ideas for the design.
“It will be a place to have a longer conversation about the QueensWay, learn more about the project and space and to listen to what people think the QueensWay should be,” Ferzoco said in an email.
Lubinsky noted that there is a lot of interest in the project around the city. “We need a forum for cycling advocates and for all sorts of people who aren’t necessarily Queens residents," he said. "But we can use social media to capture some of their thoughts and ideas.”
The study of the Rockaway line, which ran from Rego Park to Ozone Park until it closed in 1962, will take less than a year to complete.
The analysis will also estimate the cost of construction, determine the levels of erosion and check the structural integrity of the elevated rail line.
WXY architecture + urban design will conduct the study along with dlandstudio. The two companies have been selected earlier this month from among 29 firms.
