The long-anticipated transformation of Queens Plaza, the 100-year-old iconic gateway from Manhattan to Long Island City, officially broke ground on Monday, August 3, 2009. Known as the Queens Plaza Bicycle and Pedestrian Landscape Improvement Project, planned and designed by Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT)/Margie Ruddick, the project re-establishes Queens Plaza as a residential, commercial, financial, and transportation hub, transforming the tangle of urban infrastructure into an immersive green landscape. The project is being overseen by New York City Economic Development Corporation on behalf of the City of New York.
The new Queens Plaza will radically challenge the conventional notion of an urban park and streetscape as hardscape. Rezoned in 2001 for commercial and residential development, the 37-block area surrounding Queens Plaza creates a new transportation network intended to reduce traffic congestion and make the area friendlier toward pedestrians and bicyclists. Spanning one mile from the 1.5-acre landscaped open space to the dramatic water's edge below the Queensboro Bridge, the project will reconnect neighborhoods and restore the connection between the neighborhood and the river. A broad swath of Ironwood trees will arc along the elevated subway tracks, enfolding the refuge-like landscaped open space. A river of understory trees will meander within the park, and then along the medians, down to the river. All site stormwater will be filtered through subsurface wetlands and median plantings.
WRT's design for Queens Plaza received The American Institute of Architects/NY's 2008 Merit Award.
