Today two nonprofits released schematic designs for the first phase of a High Line–like trail that its creators hope will connect a string of neighborhoods in Queens.

The Trust for Public Land and Friends of the QueensWay commissioned DLANDstudio to design the first half-mile of the QueensWay, a linear park on an abandoned rail line. The preliminary renderings depict lush trails, stepped outdoor classrooms and learning gardens for 2,000 nearby students, as well as wide verdant entrances to facilitate existing bike and pedestrian connections.

The park has been in the works since 2011, racking up support from electeds, a New York Times endorsement, and some far-out preliminary design visions.

“Today’s announcement is a tremendous step forward for the QueensWay, which would not have been possible without our partners in government and the community,” said Andy Stone, the New York City director of the Trust for Public Land, in a prepared statement. “[They] enthusiastically provided ideas for safe routes for biking and walking, outdoor classroom space, and enhancements to baseball fields. The completion of a compelling design for the first phase will bring us that much closer to making the QueensWay a reality for hundreds of thousands of people who live within a 10-minute walk.”

So far, the QueensWay team has raised more than $2 million in private funds and state grants to sustain the project, which runs along the former LIRR Rockaway Beach Branch line. Its first phase runs through Forest Hills and Glendale, two middle-class neighborhoods in the northern part of the borough. Phase I, which the groups are calling the “Metropolitan Hub,” will run south from Metropolitan Avenue to Union Turnpike, expanding access to Forest Park. In all, the QueensWay could run for three-and-a-half miles, from Ozone Park north to Queens Boulevard near Forest Hills and Rego Park.

DLANDstudio is preparing construction documents over the next year to move the project forward.