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Queens Plaza gets $10.8M from feds

By Matthew Monks

On the roof of Queens Plaza parking garage, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) presented an oversize check to officials from the city Planning Department, which is launching a $14 million project to improve traffic and walkways along five blocks near the Queensborough Bridge. Maloney obtained $1 million from a federal budget transportation appropriation. The Planning Department secured the rest from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program. Work starts in 2007 and should be finished in five years, the Planning Department said. “What you see here today will not be here five years from now,” said Iris Weinshall, commissioner of the city Department of Transportation. “This project will make this very important transit hub very user friendly to bikers, pedestrians and motorists.”Nearly 140,000 motorists pass daily through Queens Plaza, a seedy commercial stretch that has for years been plagued by prostitution and strip clubs. The redesign will add bike paths, crosswalks, more lights, benches and trees. It will make a park out of a parking lot in the shadow of the elevated train platform at the intersection of Northern Boulevard. The traffic overhaul marks another stage in the push to rejuvenate Queens Plaza. In December, the City Council approved a 26-block business improvement district in the area. The BID, a coalition of 65 property owners, will fund street cleaners and security crews from Queens Plaza to Court square. “By investing in Queens Plaza we can make it the foundation for economic growth in western Queens,” Maloney said. Reach reporter Matthew Monks by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 156.