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Queensway concept<p>While the future of the <a href="https://inhabitat.com/nyc/photos-walk-the-queensway-a-possible-high-line-style-park-for-queens/">plan for a High Line-style QueensWay park</a> is still unknown, the <a href="https://inhabitat.com/tag/aiany/">AIANY</a> Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA) recently launched a design competition to help us visualize what the abandoned train track could look like if it were transformed into an urban greenway. Back in September, the <a href="https://inhabitat.com/nyc/tag/emerging-new-york-architects-committee/">ENYA</a> challenged architects around the globe to re-imagine the <a href="https://inhabitat.com/nyc/wxy-and-dlandstudio-selected-to-lead-queensway-high-line-style-park-feasibility-study/">three-and-a-half mile stretch of elevated tracks</a> spanning Rego Park, Forest Hills, Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, and Ozone Park. Entrants were asked to design a vertical gateway near the greenway’s entrance at the corner of Fleet and Selfridge Streets. Read on to see the winning submissions.</p>1
The Queensway Steps<p>The committee announced the winner of the competition was Carrie Wibert, a designer hailing from Paris, and her “Queensway Steps” concept. The winning design would reinvent the former <a href="https://inhabitat.com/tag/rockaway-beach/">Rockaway Beach LIRR line</a> into an aqueduct like structure with tapering arches and stairways in the background ascending to the pedestrian walkway some 15 feet above street level.</p>2
Queens Billboard<p>The second place winning design called the “Queens Billboard” by Nikolay Martynov reimagined the <a href="https://inhabitat.com/nyc/cross-country-skiing-in-queens-is-one-idea-for-how-to-use-the-elevated-queensway-park/">elevated rails</a> would be better seen from even farther way with a wire frame billboard. More than just a show piece from afar, the concept also suggested adding <a href="https://inhabitat.com/winners-of-the-st-louis-arch-renovation-competition-leaked-early/mvva-elevated-walkway/">rising paths</a> to let pedestrians ascend up to the top of the billboard to see even more <a href="https://inhabitat.com/construction-to-begin-on-chicagos-elevated-bloomingdale-trail-next-summer/">panoramic views</a> of central Queens.</p>3
Make It! Grow It!<p>In third place, Song Deng’s “Make It! Grow It!” would modernize the Queensway’s rusted metal structure with a thinner, black foot bridge. The <a href="https://inhabitat.com/chicagos-sky-park-to-break-ground-distinguishes-itself-from-nycs-high-line/">floating park</a> would feature tall grasses and trees along the path. Meanwhile, on the street level new businesses would also crop up underneath the bridge.</p>4
Upside Down Bridge<p>In an honorably mentioned design, Hyontek Yoon, a local designer from Queens, drew up the “Upside Down Bridge.” In a complete shift from the previous designs, Upside Down Bridge removes parts of the <a href="https://inhabitat.com/philadelphia-unveils-their-own-elevated-rail-park-for-the-abandoned-reading-viaduct/">elevated metal structure</a>, leaving the struts as a scaffolding to build a sloping path.</p>5
EBB & Flow<p>Students were also part of the competition and the winning design from educational institutions was Jessica Shoemaker’s Ebb & Flow. The concept imagined building new park to <a href="https://inhabitat.com/nyc/nyc-public-schools-recieve-funding-for-student-gardens/">green up Public School 65</a> lying just a few blocks from the end of the Queensway.</p>6
Queensway Underneath<p>Currently the <a href="https://inhabitat.com/nyc/photos-walk-the-queensway-a-possible-high-line-style-park-for-queens/">Queensway</a> stands as an aging metal structure where a wild and wondrous forest has taken root in a place of abandoned industry. But after <a href="https://inhabitat.com/nyc/things-not-looking-good-for-queensway-high-line-style-elevated-park/">Community Board meeting 5 voted 36-2</a> in favor of reactivating the train line for a direct connection from central Brooklyn to central Queens. The new train line would help cut the trip that involves multiple trip takes hours with several subway and/or bus transfers.</p>7