During this season of giving, we’ve received the best gift of all: significant progress on the Eastern Queens Greenway. The Department of Parks recently unveiled the long-awaited design for the next phase of the Destinations: Greenway project.

The greenway plan itself is really amazing. With only a few concerns, this plan is nearly perfect. It’s great when the engineers and the community strongly agree.

Our main concern for the route is the missing connection to the northern part of Kissena Park, which is the most frequently used area. We believe everyone should enjoy our parkland, and this route should bring people together rather than just pass through.

When we raised this issue, we were told that the grade was too steep to connect. That’s precisely our point: despite there being no paved path (just some woodchips) and a significant elevation difference, people still use this route heavily. This shows its value.

The planning team received our request well, and we hope this will be addressed in the final design.

Similarly, we’d love to see more work on connecting the north/south routes through Kissena Corridor Park. However, we trust these connections are already well-planned since they are much easier to implement.

Another major concern is the width of the greenway. The planning team is aiming for a width between 14 and 16 feet. While we respect the presence of many old trees that we don’t want to disturb, we know that narrower paths can lead to more conflicts. We suggest aiming for a 20-foot-wide path and having narrower sections only where necessary between trees.

Maintenance emerged as a key issue during the meeting. The greenway section behind the golf course has been neglected for years, leaving the entire northern half covered in ivy. While we commend the local volunteer park stewards Kissena Synergy for their recent efforts to clear part of the path, it’s clear that we need more robust, city-led maintenance. Expanding the trail width to 20 feet would also help decrease the impact of overgrowth, ensuring a conflict free experience for all users.

There are still questions about the intersections, especially where the route crosses Fresh Meadows Lane. Currently, there’s only a stop sign for pedestrians and cyclists, with nothing stopping motorists. While a stop light would be ideal, since it is next to an industrial center with heavy trucks, we understand the cost involved. A four-way stop with a raised crosswalk would be sufficient.

The traffic light already installed at 164th Street is fantastic and really helps this route. Hopefully, the Department of Transportation can adjust it so that cyclists don’t have to go onto the sidewalk to push a button for the light to change. Most people don’t realize this and wait for the light to change, which it won’t unless the button is pushed or a car triggers it. This is an easy fix the DoT could implement immediately to reduce cyclists and pedestrians crossing against the light.

Additionally, there is a request for a bike counter in Kissena Corridor Park. This would track how many cyclists use the route once it’s built, providing real data for the success of this project and estimates for future greenway projects. The Eastern Queens Greenway plans to check this counter at the end of each December to report on how many cyclists used the Greenway every year. We hope everyone involved in this project can look at the counter in the future and be proud of the many thousands of people they helped. The NYC DoT has already done this in other areas, most notably at the Manhattan Bridge.

The meeting was managed very well, you can watch it yourself here. There were no bad actors like at the Northern Queens Greenway meeting a few weeks before. The only real friction was a few neighbors asking about the City’s overall flood prevention efforts, not related to the greenway. Eastern Queens Greenway understands their concerns and suggests that once the greenway is built, that we should daylight Flushing Creek, which is piped under the current path. This could handle large amounts of water runoff and be a beautiful park feature.

The best part of the evening was that we finally have a timeline. Although it’s still a few years away and there’s some variability, it’s great to have a public goal for completion!

We’re thrilled to share that the best-case scenario for this section’s completion is 31 months (a little over two and a half years), targeting a ribbon-cutting in June 2027. Even in the worst-case scenario of 45 months (just under four years), we’re looking at September 2028 for the celebration. We’ve been dedicated to this project for over a decade. Though the start was slow, we are committed to ensuring a strong finish. This isn’t the last section we’re working on, and although it’s not built yet, we will continue to advocate tirelessly for all Eastern Queens residents to enjoy this incredible infrastructure.

This progress wouldn’t be possible without the efforts of many outstanding individuals behind the scenes. Mitchel Loring from the Department of Parks has been coordinating much of this project for years, ensuring its amazing forward momentum. Alexander Hart from Councilmember Sandra Ung’s office has been a consistent advocate, diligently helping us overcome every obstacle. A strong thanks to Mitchel and Alexander, and everyone else making this happen for our community.