Rendering (EDC)
Jan. 12, 2020 By Kristen Torres
Mayor Bill de Blasio is moving forward with plans to construct the Brooklyn Queens Connector—a $2.7 billion, zero-emission street car that will run 11 miles along the waterfront from Astoria to Red Hook.
The city launched an official BQX website Thursday that provides details of the plan as well as an array of meeting dates in neighborhoods to be served by the proposed streetcar– including in Greenpoint, Astoria and Long Island City.
The city will be providing workshops, webinars, community board presentations, public outreach campaigns and environmental review scoping hearings. The city is taking steps that will ultimately lead to the ULURP process, the mandated city land use review process.
“With the BQX heading toward its public review process, 2020 promises to be a big year for the project,” according to a spokesperson for Friends of the BQX, an advocacy group comprised of real estate developers, transit experts and representatives of public housing.
“Engaging with those who live and work along the route is critical to the BQX’s success, and we applaud the City for putting together a robust outreach plan for the coming months…we expect that support network to keep growing,” the group spokesperson added
The city’s Economic Development Corporation is spearheading the project alongside the Department of Transportation.
The BQX is expected to serve nearly 400,000 people living along the corridor, with connections to 13 subway lines, nine Ferry landings and more than 30 bus routes. The cost for riders is expected to be the same as a MetroCard fare and there would be free transfers to subways and MTA buses.
The BQX was first announced by the de Blasio administration in 2016, and originally consisted of a 16-mile railway running from Astoria to Sunset Park with a $2.5 billion price tag.
The Sunset Park leg of the proposed route was scrapped by the EDC, with the city-backed organization citing low predicted ridership and high construction costs. The estimated price tag increased to $2.7 billion despite the shorter route.
BQX route from Astoria in Queens to Red Hook in Brooklyn
The EDC is expected to release a draft environment impact statement later this year. The agency hired an engineering firm in 2019 to conduct the study.
The proposal has been controversial since it was first announced, with opponents arguing that the new transit system would gentrify surrounding neighborhoods and add to roadway congestion.
But the city contends that the BQX is a much needed transportation link that would provide service to those residents living along the corridor who currently lack easy access to the city’s subway system.
The city needs to get federal dollars to help pay for the project. The city was initially looking to fund it entirely through a concept called value capture–a tax mechanism that uses the increased land value of nearby real estate projects to pay for it. However, revenue from value capture will not be enough.
A report on the plans for the project was last released in 2018. The city aims to start construction in 2024 and complete it by 2029.
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17 Comments
I honestly feel like this idea is terrible. This streetcar will only SPREAD crime as the proposed line runs through many low income neighborhoods and several NYCHA housing complexes. A tram also doesn’t belong in NYC. Maybe in Chicago or Boston, but not NYC
Schumer stepped down end of last year.
To come up with the funding is easy . Speak with Jeff Bezos . Give him the option to build a new headquarters or storage and distribution center anywhere along the proposed route with the right tax incentives . With the promise that Amazon will then provide the city with fifty thousand jobs and the entire Streetcar project is funded and paid for by him … Get to the table and Dablasio you and your ppl sit with Jeff and his ppl and work it out . This time Mr. Mayor don’t let Albany bully you . Keep them completely out of the deal by not asking for any Capital of N.Y funding . All that comes from Mr . Bezos under his terms . You can’t lose … Make sure they get all the taxing situations in their favor … It’s a Win – Win for all parties . Let’s make NY great again …
See Frank C. above. Test it out with a bus line before committing construction resources. Common sense. Of course, DiBlasio isn’t driven by common sense.
It’s not rocket science guys… run a bus route along the proposed planned route to see if it is worth spending the money on! Maybe this should be part of the city bus route redesign that is currently taking place.
With apologies to Tennessee Williams.
it’s no joke Stella:
A Streetcar Named DeBlasio is what we Desire
– and what we need.
It will link rapidly growing neighborhoods on the Queens and Brooklyn waterfront.
It will increase mobility and decrease air pollution, as it helps to relieve subway congestion.
It will create a new easy-to-access bridge betweens Greenpoint & Long Island City that will accommodate both bikes and pedestrian across Newtown Creek.
The low level streetcar access design will be especially useful for the elderly and disabled, or simply moms & dads with strollers.
It’s good for our communities, it’s good for our City,
it’s good for our businesses & manufacturers,
it’s good for our entertainment and retail sectors,
it’s good for tourism
….and it’s great for residents.
p..s. While it is true that that waterfront is increasingly sprouting high-end building development there are still considerable middle class and poorer residents along the route, including several NYCHA projects. For far too long the transit systems in NYC have been Manhattan-centered. It’s time to recognize and link these rapidly growing outer borough centers of residence, commerce and entertainment.
We need this! Ever since the G train was cut short commuting between boroughs has been horrible ?
“Value exchange based on increased land value” … translation for all who don’t realize how our city’s dysfunctional property tax system works … anyone who lives along this line will be faced with a significant increase in their property taxes … and as a result rent. So I guess we get no Amazon, we still get increased property taxes and rents … no new jobs and no new employer tax revenue … the simple math is that we all end up paying for this with no new source of revenue or jobs for the city. Thanks to our stupid mayor and the “advocacy” (sarcasm) of JVB and Giannaris. We need politicians who don’t just pander to small vocal groups and actually understand how to run our city…
At least there’s no secret that this is collusion between developers and city officials. Next step, fascism!
I live by 21st Street on 21st Avenue.
I really hope this gets built, and soon.
We need it.
The BQX would make it much easier for me to commute to work.
Seems to me that the city should put a bus line in there for a bit first to test ust how much demand there is for this. Then we should re-evaluate this project. Also, don’t the ferry lines make this project less necessary?
There is a fatal missing $1.4 billion federal funding shortfall flaw to the recent announcement by City Hall concerning advancement of the Brooklyn Queens Street Car Connector project. After five years, there has been no real progress in securing federal funding for the proposed Brooklyn-Queens Street Car Connector project. In 2015, The Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector originally claimed it could be built for $1.7 billion. In 2016, the NYC Economic Development Corporation said $2.5 billion. Today, the estimated cost is $2.7 billion. How many more billions might it cost upon completion? It takes more than a simple planning feasibility study to turn it into a viable capital transportation improvement project. There have been no completed environmental documents or design and engineering efforts necessary to validate any basic estimates for the $2.7 billion construction costs. Awarding a $7.25 million consultant contract to perform environmental work supplements the previous $7 million feasibility study for a total of $14.25 million. This leaves the project $2.685 billion short of funding needed for completion. The original completion date has already slipped five years from 2024 to 2029. It is doubtful that the Federal Transit Administration would pay for up to 50% of the cost. Dreams of Amazon doing the same have come and gone since they canceled coming to Long Island City. There is no funding for this project in the MTA $51 billion 2020 – 2024 Five Year Capital Plan, It remains to be seen if this project will be included within the pending long range MTA 2020 – 2040 Capital Needs Assessment document. This report was suppose to have been released by the end of December 2019. Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet to request let alone been granted approval to enter the Federal Transit Administration New Starts process for future funding. The project is not included within the March 2019 FTA New Starts report for federal fiscal year 2020. Don’t count on seeing it in the next FTA New Starts report for federal fiscal year 2021. This easily averages five or more years before there is an approved Federal Full Funding Grant Agreement in place. After five years, NYCDOT has been unable to convince FTA to approve $97 million in New Starts funding toward $231 Woodhaven Blvd. Select Bus Service Phase 2. If NYCDOT can’t obtain $97 million, the odds of obtaining $1.4 billion in FTA New Starts funding toward $2.7 billion for the Brooklyn Queens Street Car Connector are slim to none. It is not ethical for project director Jessica Schumer to “lobby” her father Senator Charles Schumer for federal funding. Without a billion or more from Washington, don’t count on riding the Brooklyn Queens Connector in your life time. Instead, try running simple limited stop bus service on the same route. MTA New York City Transit Queens Bus Network Redesign Draft Plan proposes creation of the new QT 1 bus route. It would cross the Pulaski Bridge to connect Astoria, Long Island City, Greenpoint, Williamsburg, The Brooklyn Navy Yard, and Downtown Brooklyn. This might make for a low cost easy to implement improvement versus the $2.7 billion Brooklyn/Queens Street Car Connector..
(Larry Penner — transportation historian, advocate and writer who previously worked 31 years for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 NY Office. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for grants supporting billions in capital projects and programs on behalf of the MTA NYC Transit bus and subway & NYC DOT Staten Island Ferry & private franchised bus operators).
While not perfect – ANY connector between Brooklyn and Queens is good for life in the future of this borough. A lot of businesses are moving to Brooklyn. Many people who live in Queens are working in Brooklyn (NOT Manhattan) and it could go the other way around in the future as Queens grows. We only have the G train and some very bad bus lines. It’s faster to walk to Brooklyn than take a train in many cases. Yes it goes to places that have been hit with gentrification – but these are also the places that the jobs are happening, and with it hugging the river it’s only place that won’t have as much cross traffic. These trams work in cities all through Europe- so it’s not some new-fangled idea. This city needs some new public transport to keep it viable and I’m not holding my breath for Albany to improve what we already have (the fact that the city doesn’t control our subway is a whole different issue). If you have a better idea of a path that has less cross traffic, let us all know. If you think building a new subway line will happen for cheaper you are insane, and if you think it could happen sooner than this time table then ask the 2nd Ave subway line how that went for the last 90 years. It’s got flaws, but I think this is our best option or… nothing. So if you hate it- I think that amounts to “I want the the crappy status quo.” This city used to be bold with transport (hell, Sunnyside was built because they put a subway over farmland). It’s a damn shame to see this idea get shot down by extremes on the left and the right.
A BRT system along the same route would be much cheaper, faster and serve the same purpose. I’m down with having a streetcar along this route but creating it and paying for it with expected taxes isn’t the best strategy.
Queens is redesigning a bus route along this route to end in Greenpoint. Convert it to SBS, extend it to Red Hook and give it a dedicated bus lane. Done.
ULURP, worst acronym ever.
Who even wants this, other than the real estate developers? I thought this boondoggle was dead, especially after the Amazon HQ2 died.
This is NOT the transit repair and upgrade we need. It is to fulfill a promise made to potential investors for shoreline luxury to be built if this is installed.
BQX will cost many more billions than quoted, disrupt small businesses, and do nothing that more and faster buses could do better. A taxpayer giveaway to the rich.