WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES NOVEMBER 21, 2019 23
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
the time.
It was called the “Montauk Options,”
and would have extended a new subway
line along the aforementioned
Lower Montauk branch of the LIRR.
We’re grateful to transit expert Joe
Raskin for providing us with some
details about the proposal:
The Montauk Options were part
of the Queens Subway Options Study,
which was sort of meant to restart work
on some of the lines that were planned
as part of the 1968 “New Routes” plan.
Work was underway for the 63rd Street
and Archer Avenue Lines, along with
the Second Avenue Subway when the
city budget crisis of the ’70s and ’80s
stopped further work.
The original plan had called for the
63rd Street line to extend into Forest
Hills, connecting into the Queens Boulevard
line near Yellowstone Boulevard.
It would have gotten there using rightof
way along the LIRR’s Main Line, with
land acquisition needed in Woodside
(the right of way was essentially the
roadbed once used by the Rockaway
Beach Line between Woodside and Rego
Park).
Trains would also run to Rosedale via
the upper level of the Archer Avenue line
and the LIRR right of way. The part of
the tunnel that was built (from the Jamaica
Center-Parsons/Archer Station
to a point somewhere between Liberty
Avenue and South Road) is used now to
lay up E trains.
The study was essentially a “Where
do we go from here?” thing. There were,
in eff ect, fi ve options:
• Going back to the original plan for
a connection in Forest Hills, with no
physical connection between the 63rd
Street and Queens Boulevard lines in
Long Island City, aside from a transfer
station at Queens Plaza. The City Planning
Commission did a whole study on
how the Queens Plaza area could be built
up around the new station.
• Connection of the two lines in Long
Island City. Essentially, this would evolve
into what was built; the plan originally
called for a connection only with the
local tracks.
• The Montauk-LIRR option, terminating
the 63rd Street line at a new
Queens Plaza Station, putting riders
onto LIRR trains there, which would
have run along the Montauk Line to
Jamaica and points beyond.
• The Montauk-Subway Option, which
would have connected the 63rd Street
Line with the Montauk Line, incorporating
it into the subway system (the Queens
Plaza station would have also been built,
it would have connected with the J Line
at Leff erts Boulevard, running to Archer
Avenue’s lower level. In order to build
this, the J line as it then existed would
have been truncated west of Richmond
Hill (I’ve blanked out on where the last
stop would have been).
• Do nothing.
A whole series of meetings were held
on this, culminating in an MTA public
hearing in 1984. The original plan experienced
a lot of opposition in Woodside
and Forest Hills, due to the amount of
land acquisition and construction impact
that would have been required.
I don’t recall where the tunnel portal
in Forest Hills would have been built, but
it’s unimaginable as to how the actual
connection would’ve been built in Forest
Hills.
Both Montauk Options experienced
huge opposition along the length of that
line in Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth
and Richmond Hill. Al D’Amato spoke
at the public hearing against them.
Many things were cited, including the
greatly increased used of the line, vibrations
and the need to eliminated grade
crossings.
There was very little support in the
communities in southeast Queens, who
would have benefi ted the most from the
Montauk Options, aside from (to his
great credit) Archie Spigner, who talked
in favor of them at the public hearing.
As a result, the MTA had little choice
but to go with what eventually evolved
into the line that was built.
That line, as Raskin mentioned, is
the 63rd Street Line which runs between
Midtown Manhattan and western
Queens via the F line, which went
into service in 1989. It also includes a
stop at Roosevelt Island, the only rail
connection to the residential island in
the heart of the East River.
One can only imagine the impact
that an extended subway line through
Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and
Middle Village would have on the
community today.
To the best of our knowledge, there
were other concerns raised such the
potential electrifi cation of the Lower
Montauk line to allow subway cars
to run along it. It was a valid concern,
given the at-grade nature of the line
and the propensity for trespassers to
cross the tracks, as this 1980s photo
shows.
Up until March 1998, the LIRR did
run diesel-powered commuter trains
along the Lower Montauk line during
the morning and aft ernoon rush
hours. These trains stopped at Richmond
Hill (near Leff erts Boulevard
and Jamaica Avenue), Glendale (near
73rd Street and Edsall Avenue), Fresh
Pond (near Metropolitan Avenue and
Fresh Pond Road on the Ridgewood/
Middle Village border), Haberman
(Rust and 50th streets in industrial
Maspeth) and Penny Bridge (Review
Avenue and Laurel Hill Boulevard in
Long Island City).
By the time service was cancelled
along the line, only a handful of passengers
were using the rush-hour
trains. Many of these stops were
barely constructed as stations at all;
the Glendale station, for instance,
lacked platforms, with passengers
waiting for the trains on the ground
on either side of the tracks. Upon
arriving, conductors would lower a
small stepladder to allow passengers
to board and depart. Part of the reason
for the lack of usage may be the lack of
a direct connection via the Montauk
Branch to Manhattan; it terminates
in Long Island City, and Manhattanbound
passengers would have to walk
over to the Vernon Boulevard-Jackson
Avenue or Hunters Point Avenue stops
on the 7 line.
Meanwhile, in southeast Queens,
the area’s primary rail service are two
passenger lines on the LIRR with stop
in neighborhoods such as St. Albans,
Laurelton and Rosedale. The service
is infrequent and costly; in recent
years, the city and MTA agreed upon
a discounted ticket program called
the “Atlantic Ticket” to make LIRR
trips more aff ordable for residents in
the region.
Had the subway line proposed
nearly 40 years ago become a reality,
trips on that line would be at the
standard New York City Transit fare
of $2.75.
Old Timer’s note: Mr. Raskin chronicles
in his acclaimed book, “The Routes
Not Taken: A Trip Through New York
City’s Unbuilt Subway System.” It’s
available for purchase on Amazon
and at local book retailers — and you
can also borrow it from the Queens
Borough Public Library.
* * *
If you have any remembrances or old
photographs of “Our Neighborhood:
The Way It Was” that you would like to
share with our readers, please write to
the Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 38-
15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361, or send
an email to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.
com. Any print photographs mailed to
us will be carefully returned to you upon
request.
Teenagers trespassing along the LIRR tracks in Glendale
Ridgewood Times archives
This 1911 photo shows the LIRR Lower Montauk Branch near the Glendale
station. Ridgewood Times archives/courtesy of Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
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