The Astoria Boulevard station on the N/W subway line is back in
service after a nine-month renovation.
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.2 COM | DEC. 27-JAN. 2, 2020
BY BILL PARRY
City Councilman Costa
Constantinides went back to
his old school to helped break
ground on a new, studentdesigned
playground at PS
84Q, located at 22-45 41st St.,
in Astoria.
The playground will be
built through The Trust for
Public Land’s New York City
Playgrounds Program and
will include a running track,
turf field, two play equipment
areas, basketball hoops, game
tables, benches and green infrastructure
elements including
permeable pavers and
specifically chosen plantings
and trees.
“As a PS 84 alumni and a
neighbor who grew up just
across the street from this
school, I have many fond memories
of this outdoor space,
from throwing a football to
chasing baseball into the
street, this schoolyard was a
place of happiness and I’m incredibly
proud to have helped
make the investment to transform
this concrete lot into a
vibrant green open space that
will better serve PS 84 and
the larger northern Astoria
community,” Constantinides
said. “The new schoolyard
will add many new play elements
like an amphitheater, a
turf field, and even an outdoor
classroom. Even better, green
infrastructure elements are
incorporated into the design
which will make this play
space more sustainable. I’m
excited to see this project get
started and look forward to
its completion.”
Since 1996, working with
the city, The Trust for Public
Land has designed and/
or built more than 200 school
and community playgrounds
across the five boroughs,
benefiting more than 4 million
New Yorkers who live
within a 10-minute walk of
one of these sites. The $1.5
million PS 84 playground will
bring nearly 18,000 residents
within a ten-minute walk of a
park when it opens in the fall
of 2020.
The green infrastructure
design elements, made possible
in part through a partnership
with the city’s Department
of Environmental
Protection, is a hallmark of
The Trust for Public Land’s
playground work. The features
help to improve the
city’s resistance to major
storms by reducing stormwater
runoff that can flood
streets and overwhelm sewer
systems, allowing untreated
water to end up in rivers and
bays.
“DEP is proud to partner
with The Trust for Public
Land and the entire PS 84Q
community as they design
their new, environmentallyfriendly
school playground,”
DEP Commissioner Vincent
Sapienza said. “The green
infrastructure elements to be
built into this new play space
will absorb more than 530,000
gallons of stormwater annually
and improve the health
of the nearby East River.”
The playground design
was led by students, helping
them gain valuable knowledge
and life skills like budgeting,
negotiations, and
planning. In addition to being
a fun, recreational space, the
playground will function as
an outdoor classroom for students
to explore nature, learn
about environmental science
and take part in physical
education and after-school
activities.
BY BILL PARRY
The MTA reopened the Astoria
Boulevard subway station
following a nine-month closure
and marking the on-time completion
of the first phase of critical
work that will eventually
include four new elevators and
other accessibility features.
During the closure, work
crews safely demolished and
rebuilt the station’s mezzanine
with more clearance to prevent
strikes by trucks traveling beneath
the station structure. The
station will remain open to the
public as work on the broader
accessibility components continue
with a full completion of
the station expected in the fall
of next year.
“Our customers were absolutely
thrilled to return to
the station last night and I’m
thrilled for them,” New York
City Transit President Andy
Byford said. “”I’m proud of the
team that delivered this complicated
phase of the project safely,
on time and on budget, and excited
for when we finish the job
with complete accessibility at
the station.”
When the entire project at
the Astoria Boulevard station,
which began in September of
2018, it will have two street-tomezzanine
elevators and two
mezzanine-to-platform elevators.
Additional accessibility
features, rebuilt elevated walkways,
new benches, finished
platform stair enclosures, new
digital service information signage,
and a pair of new street-tomezzanine
staircases are also
set to be incorporated by the
time the project is completed.
Stations along the N/W
subway line have not had such
renovations since they opened
more than 100 years ago in 1917.
So far, NYC Transit has completed
much-needed repairs and
renovations at the 30 Avenue,
36 Avenue, 39 Av-Dutch Kills,
Broadway and Ditmars Boulevard
stations. Crews replaced
thousands of feet of track and
10 switches along the line to address
deteriorating track components
and reduce train noise.
Age and increasingly extreme
weather have taken their
toll at each of the stations along
the elevated line to the point
where deteriorated steel and
concrete had to be replaced.
“Our commitment to upgrading
the infrastructure
throughout this area of Queens
is a huge win for local residents
and will vastly improve the customer
experience,” Byford said.
Since the Astoria Boulevard
station was closed in March,
workers also strengthened column
foundations, built four
new mezzanine-to-platform
staircases, rehabilitated platforms,
installed new LED lighting
and canopy roofs. Artists
also completed work on new
glass at both the mezzanine
and the platform level stair enclosures.
City Councilman Costa Constantinides
has long called on
the MTA to install elevators at
every station along the Astoria
line, and the agency announced
plans to build them at some stations
in the coming years, after
losing a lawsuit charging the
MTA was not ADA-compliant.
“Last night, trains officially
began to stop at Astoria Boulevard
again. This has been a
long few months for a lot of us
who use this station, but I’m
glad to see the authority kept
its word on finishing this December,”
Constantinides said.
“Our community will continue
to hold them accountable, however,
to ensure the elevators are
installed on time. Astoria has
been an accessibility desert for
faro too long, and we won’t stop
fighting until every station in
western Queens can be used by
everyone.”
State Senator Michael Gianaris,
a frequent critic of the
MTA, said, “I am pleased the
Astoria Boulevard station has
finally re-opened. It provides
an important service to thousands
of western Queens commuters
each day. I look forward
to the long awaited elevators
being completed in the coming
months.”
Meanwhile, Gianaris said
he “celebrated” the MTA’s announcement
that they plan on
adding elevators to three stations
in western Queens, at the
33rd Street-Rawson Avenue and
the 46th Street stations on the 7
line in Sunnyside and the Court
Square/23rd Street station on
the E/M line in Long Island
City as part of the next capital
plan.
“These improvements will
go a long way to making our
subway accessible to all. While
there is still a long way to go in
making the entire subway system
100% accessible, these elevators
represent a critical step
forward,” Gianaris said.
City Councilman Costa Constantinides and other officials for
the groundbreaking on a new playground at PS 84Q in Astoria.
Courtesy of The Trust for Public Land
Astoria school to get
brand new playground
Astoria Boulevard station
reopens after renovations
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