FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com march 12, 2015 • THE COURIER SUN 3 Construction on Atlantic Avenue Extension project set to begin this year BY SALVATORE LICATA [email protected]/@Sal_Licata1 After a long wait, new parks and increased access to the Jamaica train hub from the Van Wyck Expressway are set to arrive soon in Jamaica. The Atlantic Avenue Extension project is set to break ground this summer and will create three new park areas (Gateway Park) totaling 0.86 acres, according Richmond Hill star student graduating college at 19 THE COURIER/Photo by Salvatore Licata Trivendra Persaud to the city Economic Development Corporation (EDC), the agency in charge of the project. Work is estimated to cost about $21 million, all of which has already been fully funded. “Station Plaza will create new public plazas, improve pedestrian subway and bus access, and decrease roadway congestion adjacent to the LIRR Jamaica Station/ AirTrain Station,” according to the EDC’s website. The extension will connect Atlantic Avenue to 95th Avenue near the Van Wyck Expressway, changing the nowtwo way street to a northeast-bound one-way street. It will also do the same for 94th Avenue, which will now solely be southwest-bound. The parks are being built because of the extra space that this construction will create. The extension, which will cut through both avenues in a roundabout fashion, is designed to create an eastwest street network that serves downtown Jamaica and to alleviate the traffic congestion that regularly occurs as drivers try to make their way to and from the Van Wyck and Jamaica LIRR station. It will also cut off access directly from Van Wyck Boulevard to 95th Avenue, which is currently possible, by using trees as barriers at the current intersection. Once construction is finished, drivers will need to travel on Van Wyck Boulevard to Atlantic Avenue and then turn on the new street path to get to 95th Avenue. The project was planned to begin in 2012 but acquisition of the property by the city took longer than planned, according to the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation. BY SALVATORE LICATA [email protected] @Sal_Licata1 While most 19-year-olds are looking forward to finishing up their second year of college, Trivendra Persaud is gearing up for graduate school. Persaud, who lives in Richmond Hill, has been a self-motivated student ever since he emigrated from Guyana to America at the age of 4 with his parents, his brother and his sister. He went to P.S. 54 in Richmond Hill until sixth grade, which is when he pursued an education in the York Early College Academy. In the 10th grade, he enrolled in his first college credit classes, and by the time he was a senior, he had already earned 58 credits toward his higher education. “I know that hard work pays off,” Persaud said. “I always have a major focus on school work but you always have to keep that balance and have some fun.” But it is not so easy for him to keep that balance. Along with going to school up to six days a week and through the summer and winter semesters, Persaud works three days a week at a law office and volunteers his time at Jamaica Hospital two other days. He said organization is his key to getting everything done, but that along his path toward success he had to cut some ties with friends and naysayers who were holding him back. “I had to cut a lot of friends because they were pulling me down,” he said. “You know, they tell you to stop taking so many credits, to go hang out more instead of studying, but I knew I couldn’t do that. It was work now, party later for me.” Because of his determination, Persaud is set to graduate with his bachelor’s degree in psychology in the spring. He is then looking to go back to school for his master’s and become a practicing occupational therapist. He one day wants to open up his own practice and said he has always had the urge to help people, especially when they cannot help themselves. “I always think to myself, what if I was in that position?” he said. “I want to help people. I do it because I feel it should be done.”
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