Qns. Plaza Project Gets Stimulus Aid

Renovations to Queens Plaza in Long Island City aimed at promoting economic growth will be moving forward with the help of funding provided in the recently-passed federal stimulus package, it was announced.

The project is one of 25 public works which had been stalled as a result of inadequate funding in the current capital plan. New York City will shift $261 million toward these efforts from six other major improvements in the capital plan which will receive direct federal funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan.

In all, a total of $1.1 billion in transportation projects will be funded, which Mayor Michael Bloomberg anticipates will save or create 32,000 jobs across the five boroughs.

"The federal stimulus dollars mean that we can move projects that would have been on the chopping block and get shovels in the ground quickly," Bloomberg said, "putting thousands of people to work and rebuilding our infrastructure."

Part of an ongoing transformation of the Long Island City area, the Queens Plaza project will be conducted in two phases. The first phase will focus on improving traffic flow and creating a public plaza; the second will focus on enhancing the streetscape.

Among the improvements expected to be made during the first phase of the project will be the installation of new sidewalks and landscaping along Queens Plazas North and South between Northern Boulevard/ Jackson Avenue and Vernon Boulevard. The bikeway along Queens Plaza will also be extended between 23rd and 21st streets.

Landscaping will also be developed along both sides of Queens Plaza from 21st Street up to the wa- terfront.

The second phase of the public work will continue the work of the first phase, including the installation of new lighting and street trees in a continuous trench with cobblestone.

The total costs of the project is anticipated to be $135 million, with $37 million of the total now being paid for with federal monies instead of city funds as originally planned.

In turn, the city funds no longer being used for the project has been disseminated toward other projects citywide that otherwise would not have had the funding available to be implemented.

Both phases of work are expected to begin in the summer and be completed by the spring of 2011.

One of the six projects that will be directly funded through the federal stimulus package is the rehabilitation of the Greenpoint Avenue Bridge connecting Greenpoint and the Blissville section of Long Island City over the Newtown Creek.

Used by 24,000 vehicles per day, the bridge will have the concrete deck on its movable span replaced.