Queens College to run poll on the future of abandoned White Pot Junction line

onrockaway.com

Rockaway's online Newspaper

By Howard Schwach
June 16, 2014

 A Team of professors and students from Queens College will soon be in Rockaway, taking a survey detailing what local residents think of reopening the long-closed LIRR Rockaway Beach line that once brought Commuters from the west end of Rockaway to Manhattan in about 45 minutes. 
 During the 1940’s and into the 1950’s, commuters to Manhattan from Rockaway could take the Long Island Railroad to the “city” in either of two ways, often called “the short way” and “the long way.” 
 The long way entailed going through the five towns to the Jamaica station and then changing for Manhattan. That route still exists today, except that riders can only access the line at Nameoke Street in Far Rockaway, rather than at stations throughout the peninsula. The long way took a little more than an hour to get to Manhattan. The short way took riders over Jamaica Bay and then through Queens to Manhattan. The short way took about 45 minutes and was much more scenic.    
 The short way is now called “White Pot Junction” or the “Old Rockaway Beach Line,” especially by activists who want to renew it as a commuter option for Rockaway riders. It ended in 1962 with a major fire on the Jamaica Bay trestle and the sale of the line to the city for the use of a new rapid transit line – The IND. 
 The Long Island Railroad’s Rockaway Beach Branch diverged from the LIRR’s Main Line in Rego Park at about 66th Avenue at what was called Whitepot Junction. It ran south through the neighborhoods of Middle Village, Woodhaven, Ozone Park, Howard Beach, across Jamaica Bay and through Broad Channel, and on to the Rockaway Peninsula, where one spur continued east and rejoined the LIRR in Far Rockaway, and the other went west and dead-ended at Beach 116 Street at the Rockaway Park station. 
 The northern end of the line above Liberty Avenue remained in service until 1962, when declining patronage convinced the LIRR to close it down. The right of way of the old line has remained surprisingly intact over the years, and in some places, tracks and overpasses are still in place. This has given some Rockaway activists the idea to reactivate it as a one-seat ride to JFK Airport, but since it now runs through a residential neighborhood, it’s unlikely that the locals will allow that to happen. Today, the abandoned tracks run through backyards and jogging paths. Queens politicians say that they want a park – much like Manhattan’s Highline Park – built on the right of way. 
 The Rockaway Branch featured stations at Grand Street (now Grand Avenue), Rego Park (which were on the Main Line but were stops only for Rockaway Branch trains), Parkside, Brooklyn Manor, Woodhaven [Junction], Ozone Park, Aqueduct, Howard Beach, Hamilton Beach, Goose Creek, The Raunt, Broad Channel, and the myriad stations on the peninsula. Many of the stations were of wooden construction, and no trace of them remains today except a widening of the space between trackways. Two stations made of concrete, Woodhaven and Ozone Park, are still there. In 1956, Aqueduct, Howard Beach, Broad Channel and the peninsula stations were taken over by the MTA as subway stations. 
 Within the next week, the Queens College Office of Community Studies will begin distributing survey questionnaires for a study we are conducting on the potential community impacts of various proposed redevelopment options for the abandoned Rockaway Beach Branch line.
 Professor Scott Larson, who leads the team, said that the questions the survey asks are mainly about community opinions concerning the various redevelopment options for the abandoned rail line, including which particular option residents and businesses support and what impact they believe the potential projects would have on nearby neighborhoods.   
 The intent of this study is not to advocate for any one option or use. Rather, we intend to produce objective research that provides a more complete understanding of the various options in relation to community needs. 
 Upon completion of the survey, information collected will be made available to community members, the media and elected officials. The hope is the findings will offer insight into community attitudes about and understanding of each redevelopment option. 
 Questionnaires will be hand-delivered to 5,000 residents and 1,000 businesses along the path of the abandoned rail line, as well as in Howard Beach and the Rockaways. Questionnaires are in English and Spanish. Respondents have the choice of submitting completed questionnaires using self-addressed, postage-paid envelopes or going online to a web address printed on their questionnaire. They will be asked to submit their completed questionnaires on or before July 18. 
 Only people who receive a printed, numbered questionnaire are eligible to complete the survey. This is to ensure a true random, but controlled, sampling of community members. Duplicate questionnaires/submissions will be invalidated.