NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Plans to build an Interborough Express light rail system between Brooklyn and Queens took a major step forward Friday, as Gov. Kathy Hochul said the ambitious transit project has moved to the design and engineering phase.
The design process is the last major step in the project before formal construction begins, Hochul said at a news conference with the MTA.
The design phase will start this summer and focus on designing signals, vehicles, tracks, stations, bridges and retaining walls, as well as an operations facility and a storage yard.
“The outer boroughs are now joined,” the governor said. “That it's not a requirement if you want to go see your mother in Queens from Brooklyn that you have to go into Manhattan first. Now Manhattan is a lovely place, but why did people envision a world where you had to go there first to be able to come out to another borough?”
Once completed, the Interborough Express will link Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to Jackson Heights, Queens. It will be built on a 14-mile freight line owned by the MTA LIRR and CSX Corp.
According to officials, there will be 19 stations, linking 17 subway lines, 50 bus routes and two Long Island Rail Road stations.
Hochul approved $2.75 billion in funding for the project as part of the 2025-2029 MTA Capital Plan. The funding includes $45 million for the project design.
It’s not yet clear when the project will be finished, but MTA CEO and Chairman Janno Lieber said it will be a “life-changer for millions” of people who commute between the city’s two most populous boroughs.
“The IBX will change everything,” Hochul said. “It will open up a whole new world of opportunity without adding traffic on our clogged roads.”
The governor said it will take 32 minutes to ride the length of the route, which she said is 10 minutes less than the initial estimate. “Riders will save 30 minutes each way,” Hochul said, adding that’s “an hour back in your life” for round-trip commuters.
The IBX will be the first new end-to-end rapid transit built entirely within New York City since the IND Crosstown Line, now called the G, fully opened in 1937.