The state announced a plan to renovate I-495 in the vicinity of Alley Pond Park and the Cross Island Parkway in 1995. In 2000, Pataki and New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani announced that this segment of I-495 between exits 29 and 32, near Alley Pond Park and the Cross Island Parkway, would be rebuilt at a cost of $112 million. The project was announced after the cancellation of the HOV lanes within Queens. Work started in August 2000 and was substantially completed by 2005. The project included the restoration of within the park, as well as the construction of new ramps to and from the Cross Island Parkway at exit 30. As part of the reconstruction, two cloverleaf ramps were replaced with flyovers; the shoulders in each direction were converted into travel lanes; the westbound exit 31 to Douglaston Parkway was closed; and new collector-distributor ramps were installed east of the Cross Island Parkway interchange.