Come Talk Possible Streetcar Routes With the City's BQX Point Person

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — The city's top expert on the proposed Brooklyn Queens Connector will update Community Board 7 on the project on Dec. 12.

Adam Giambrone, a light rail advocate and previous head of the Toronto Transit Commission who was hired in July to lead the Economic Development Corporation (EDC)'s exploration of the BQX, will update CB 7's transportation committee on the project.

The committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 12 at the CB 7 office, located at 4201 4th Ave. (the entrance is on 43rd Street). CB 7 represents both Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace.

Giambrone recently updated Community Board 6 on the proposed train, which would connect Astoria, Queens to Sunset Park, Brooklyn via a 17-mile light rail route running along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront.

In November, the EDC and the Department of Transportation (DOT) posted maps online showing possible routes where the BQX might run.

In Sunset Park, the agencies envisioned the train running along 3rd Avenue to 58th Street, with a possible detour along 2nd Avenue south of 39th Street.

Several pros and cons of each route were listed. For example, 3rd Avenue is wider, but is technically challenging because of the elevated Gowanus Expressway running above it. By contrast, 2nd Avenue is closer to industrial jobs, but would put the train closer to businesses loading and unloading their wares.

The Dec. 12 meeting will be a chance for community members to weigh in on those route proposals, and ask questions about the project more broadly.

At his last presentation, Giambrone said many elements of the BQX haven't been worked out, such as whether it would connect for free to the MTA system. But he also offered support for the project — noting, for example, that light rail systems only cost about 20 percent more than high-speed bus systems, and are significantly cheaper to build than subways (the 2nd Avenue subway cost $1 billion per mile, he said, while the BQX's total cost is estimated at $2.5 billion).

The EDC and DOT are scheduled to put out a feasibility report on the project in the first quarter of 2017.

In other CB 7 transportation news, the Dec. 12 meeting will also feature a DOT presentation on the feasibility of adding speed bumps to 41st Street between 4th Avenue and 5th Avenue.

Lead rendering courtesy of Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector