$5.5B Light Rail Project Connecting Brooklyn To Queens Enters Next Phase: Hochul

NEW YORK CITY — The Interborough Express, a proposed express light rail project between Queens and Brooklyn, will move forward and inches closer to reality as it begins its environmental review process, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday.

The light rail line would connect Brooklyn and Queens along a 14-mile-long route from Bay Ridge in Brooklyn to Jackson Heights in Queens. 19 new stations will be built for the Interborough Express and would connect to 17 different subway lines.

"The IBX will dramatically improve the commutes of over 160,000 daily riders and we are moving full-speed ahead to keep this transformational project on track,” Hochul said. “Beginning environmental review is yet another statement of intent that in New York, we don’t just talk about major infrastructure projects, we build them.”

The project would be made at a cost of $5.5 billion. The environmental review process will run concurrent to the ongoing preliminary design and engineering phase of the project that kicked off in August, officials said.

“900,000 New Yorkers live along the proposed IBX route, and we’re not going to waste any time advancing this project for them. Launching the State environmental review process gives us the momentum we need to move this transformational effort toward construction," MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said.

To learn about the project and comment on the review process, attend in-person and virtual meetings on Oct. 29, Nov. 6 and Nov. 12.

There will be a series of three public meetings that will explain the scope of the project and the review process.

The first will be held Wednesday, Oct. 29, at Brooklyn College. A second meeting will be held Thursday, Nov. 6 at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, Queens.

A virtual meeting will be held Wednesday, Nov. 12. Members of the community interested in attending can register here.