Nature, Your Neighbors, and You

Energy and sustainability, Essay, No Density, SLO Architecture, Territory and mobility, Urban Omnibus, Urban Paradigms

automobile, Bicycle, Bridge, Brooklyn, Connections, Cycling Infrastructure, Empowering society, Essay, Long Island, Mapping, Mass Transportation, Neighborhood, New York, Queens, Territory&Mobility, Urban Paradigms, USA, Waterfront

Previously published at Urban Omnibus.

A tangle of highways splits neighborhoods and parks throughout Queens into disjointed fragments impeding safe travel by foot or bicycle. Joby Jacob, a biology professor at LaGuardia Community College, and John Kelly, an IT consultant, are two residents of Eastern Queens working to reclaim the erstwhile Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, using its right-of-way to create a bike orgwork that will reconnect the borough and link it to both Brooklyn and Long Island. We speak to them about the history of the Motor Parkway, the diverse communities it now traverses, current challenges to its rebirth, and the curious alignment between vintage motorcar enthusiasts and greenway bikers.