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The work to restore this stretch of land along the Van Wyck Expressway is finally underway. It's a welcoming sight for residents near 116th Avenue who remember what the area used to look like.

"Oh my God, it was horrible," said one resident. "There was dumping there. Garbage there. Only God knows what was in there. It was unsightly."

The dumping went on for years until NY1 alerted the Sanitation Department and the State Department of Transportation. But there was another problem: the DOT said the Port Authority fenced off the area during construction of the AirTrain to Kennedy Airport and the authority was supposed to remove it when the project ended in 2003.

Nearly 10 years later, the fence is finally gone and the site is almost back to normal. The Port Authority blamed the mess on a miscommunication between the agencies. But now that it's straightened out, the Port Authority is remedying the situation.

"I've been watching them do some work over here and it's actually pretty nice," said one resident.

A new fence is up and the weeds and debris are gone. New grass will be planted soon to make the area look like the rest of the stretch along the expressway.

"I'm happy about it," said one resident. "It's going to bring the value of the neighborhood up, that's for sure. Because it was looking kinda slummish before.

The work is scheduled for completion by mid-September, which has some residents saying better late than never.