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The Brooklyn–Queens Connector, abbreviated the BQX, is a proposed
streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
line in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. It is planned to operate
24/7 In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at any time and usually, every day. An alternate orthography for the numerical part includes 24×7 (usually pronounced "twenty ...
on a north–south corridor along the
East River The East River is a saltwater tidal estuary in New York City. The waterway, which is actually not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates the borough of Quee ...
between the
boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle A ...
of
Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
and
Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
. A previous plan bearing similarities to the BQX was initially proposed in 1989 as part of a Brooklyn waterfront streetcar line connecting Red Hook with
Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and r ...
. A study by the city, published in 2011, found the proposal to be infeasible. A later proposal by the nonprofit Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector, made public in January 2016, found backing from Mayor Bill de Blasio. A director for Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector was appointed in May 2016, and a list of possible routings was released in November 2016. However, there has been criticism of the project, namely that its completion date of mid-2020s may make it obsolete; that it does not have a clear source for funding; and that it is a poor substitute for subway service.


Previous proposal

Since
electric trolley Electric current collectors are used by trolleybuses, trams, electric locomotives or EMUs to carry electrical power from overhead lines, electrical third rails, or ground-level power supplies to the electrical equipment of the vehicles. Those for ...
s in Brooklyn stopped running in 1956, activists led by the
Brooklyn Historic Railway Association The Brooklyn Historic Railway Association (BHRA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a shop, trolley barn and offices located in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, on the historic Beard Street Piers (c. 1870). BHRA had a fleet of 16 trolleys (1 ...
(BHRA) had been trying to revive streetcars. In the 1990s, the BHRA received permission from New York City's government to develop a streetcar line running from Beard Street to Borough Hall. The association's president Robert Diamond collected disused PCC streetcars that had been used in Boston and Buffalo for potential use on the new line. By 1999, the group had begun laying new track for the project in Red Hook. However, in 2003, transportation officials elected to revoke Diamond's rights to the route's right-of-way. Instead, officials intended to sell the rights to the highest bidder in the event that the project ever moved forward. Diamond's efforts to secure independent funding were not successful. In 2005,
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
Nydia Velázquez Nydia Margarita Velázquez Serrano (born March 28, 1953) is a politician serving in the United States House of Representatives since 1993. A Democrat from New York, Velázquez chaired the Congressional Hispanic Caucus until January 3, 2011. He ...
helped obtain a $300,000 federal grant for a six-month streetcar study. Although the BHRA had estimated $10–$15 million would be required to complete the project, the
New York City Department of Transportation The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) is the agency of the government of New York City responsible for the management of much of New York City's transportation infrastructure. Ydanis Rodriguez is the Commissioner of the Depart ...
(NYCDOT) streetcar feasibility study (completed in April 2011) concluded that the line would cost $176 million in capital funding, plus an additional $6.2 to $7.2 million in annual operating funds. A significant portion of the capital cost would be required to make modifications to Red Hook's narrow streets in order to allow streetcars to make right turns. The study concluded that, due to a number of factors such as high costs, low ridership, and physical constraints like narrow streets, a streetcar line would not be an appropriate transit solution for the area. By June 2013, Diamond had partnered with John Quadrozzi of Gowanus Bay Terminal (a concrete firm), and the Gowanus Canal Community Development Corporation in an effort to revive the project, which he now envisioned running partly underground through the
Cobble Hill Tunnel The Cobble Hill Tunnel (also known as the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel) is an abandoned Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tunnel beneath Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, running through the neighborhoods of Downtown Brooklyn and Cobble Hill. ...
, a former Long Island Rail Road tunnel under Atlantic Avenue. Diamond pursued federal funding in order to pay for the project, which he estimated would cost $50 million.


Connector proposal


Initial study

The current line was initially proposed by a non-profit group, Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector, which commissioned a study to examine the corridor along the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront. First publicly reported on in January 2016, the study proposed a route between the neighborhoods of Astoria in Queens and Sunset Park in Brooklyn, passing through several neighborhoods on the way. News media reported that the study had estimated construction costs of $1.7 billion, annual operating costs of $26 million, and 15.8 million annual riders by 2035. The proposal included a branch going through
Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and r ...
to the Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station. The study described a routing that would begin in Queens near the
New York City Housing Authority The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. Created in 1934 as the first agency of its kind in the U ...
's Astoria Houses. It would run down 21st Street south to Queensboro Plaza, west onto 11th Street to Newtown Creek. The streetcar would cross Newtown Creek into Greenpoint, then pass through Williamsburg and the
Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
using one-way streets close to the waterfront. It would turn onto Park Avenue, run to Navy Street, then through
Farragut Houses The Farragut Houses is a public housing project located in the downtown neighborhood of northwestern Brooklyn, New York City, bordering the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Farragut Houses is a property of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The houses ...
,
Vinegar Hill Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to ...
, and
Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, ...
. The line would then run south through Red Hook, cross the
Gowanus Canal The Gowanus Canal (originally known as the Gowanus Creek) is a canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, on the westernmost portion of Long Island. Once a vital cargo transportation hub, the canal has seen decreasing use since the mid-2 ...
, and continue south on Third Avenue to 58th Street, where it would turn west to serve the
Brooklyn Army Terminal The Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) is a large warehouse complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York City. The site occupies more than between 58th and 63rd Streets west of Second Avenue, on Brooklyn's western shore. The complex was originally u ...
and
Industry City Industry City (also Bush Terminal) is a historic intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex on the Upper New York Bay waterfront in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The northern portion, commonly cal ...
. From there, the line would turn east, terminating at the 59th Street subway station in Sunset Park. Schwartz's firm worked on the proposal for over a year and considered five options aside from streetcars. One other option,
Select Bus Service Select Bus Service (SBS; stylized as +busservice) is a brand used by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)'s Regional Bus Operations for limited-stop bus routes with some bus rapid transit features in New York City. The first SBS route ...
, was estimated to cost $1 billion to implement, and was not chosen since it would not raise property values as a streetcar would. The engineers projected 52,000 to 53,000 riders per day on the streetcar, which would have required a bus every minute. Each street car would be able to carry 150 to 175 passengers. Additionally, buses would also have a harder time navigating the 12 to 15 streets along the route. The engineers' route would have its own dedicated lanes for the whole route. The study recommended that two facilities for maintenance and storage would be built at a cost of $100 million. In addition, the streetcar would need at least 140 employees to operate the streetcars and a host of other workers, including traffic enforcement agents.


Mayoral endorsement

On February 3, 2016, the office of Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the city would begin planning work for the streetcar line, with a formal announcement by de Blasio at his State of the City speech the following day. The BQX was promised as a way to reinvent the city's transit system, along with the Citywide Ferry Service (now NYC Ferry) proposal. City officials said that several years of additional study and review would precede groundbreaking, planned for 2019, with service beginning around 2024. Since the line would be a street-level project, the streetcar would not need state approval. The city will rely on increased real estate revenues to pay for the project. Mayor de Blasio's office commissioned a study toward researching the projected effects of the streetcar. Under the slightly revised plan released by the city, the route would travel with 30
wheelchair-accessible Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i.e ...
stops, with an increased construction cost of $2.5 billion. There would be sixty vehicles, costing $5 million total, that would travel at , and would be separated from vehicular traffic for 70% of the route. Two bridges over the Newtown Creek and the
Gowanus Canal The Gowanus Canal (originally known as the Gowanus Creek) is a canal in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, on the westernmost portion of Long Island. Once a vital cargo transportation hub, the canal has seen decreasing use since the mid-2 ...
were proposed, in the case that the
Pulaski Bridge The Pulaski Bridge in New York City connects Long Island City in Queens to Greenpoint in Brooklyn over Newtown Creek. It was named after Polish military commander and American Revolutionary War fighter Casimir Pulaski in homage to the large ...
over the Newtown Creek, and the Hamilton Avenue bridge over the Gowanus Canal, aren't able to accommodate the vehicles; the Newtown Creek bridge will probably be located at Vernon Boulevard, where another bridge previously existed. A trip between Dumbo and Greenpoint would take 27 minutes via the line. The fare for the route would equal the fare of the subway and the buses. The line is planned to use multi-section vehicles to negotiate sharp curves at Lorraine Street,
Cadman Plaza Cadman Plaza is a park located on the border of the Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York City. Named for Reverend Doctor Samuel Parkes Cadman (1864–1936), a renowned minister in the Brooklyn Congregation ...
, 21st Street, and Astoria Boulevard. Streetcars, rather than light rail vehicles (LRVs), are proposed to be used, despite the fact that LRVs have more capacity and shorter headways; this is because streetcars were determined to operate better within mixed-use rights-of-way, as opposed to LRVs, which were determined to operate better within dedicated rights-of-way.
Electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...
is proposed to be from hydrogen fuel cells within the streetcars themselves, as opposed to from
overhead line An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipm ...
s or from embedded rails. Since the BQX would operate on both dedicated rights-of-way and on streets, the BQX would use both standard traffic lights and dedicated signals during operation. Annual operating costs are estimated at $26 million. The new line would provide a new transit route for 45,000 public-housing residents. An additional motivation for the line has been the tremendous growth in Brooklyn and Queens waterfront areas since the early 2000s.


Development

In May 2016, Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector appointed its first executive director, Ya-Ting Liu, to oversee route operations and design. Two months later, mayor De Blasio appointed
Adam Giambrone Adam Giambrone (born March 8, 1977) is a Canadian transportation consultant and retired politician who served on Toronto City Council from 2003 to 2010, representing Ward 18 Davenport. Giambrone served as the chair of the Toronto Transit Commiss ...
, former councilor in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
and chair of the
Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and larges ...
, to serve as a consultant or "streetcar czar" for the project. On November 1, 2016, the city presented a list of possible routings of the BQX through several neighborhoods. The study found that four New York City Subway stations along the BQX's route—at Jay Street–MetroTech, Borough Hall, Court Square–23rd Street, and Vernon Boulevard—had high weekday ridership, and thus, would benefit from a BQX transfer. The city, citing the successes of other American cities' streetcar systems, estimated that the project will pay for itself by increasing the property values in the neighborhoods around it in a form of
transit-oriented development In urban planning, transit-oriented development (TOD) is a type of urban development that maximizes the amount of residential, business and leisure space within walking distance of public transport. It promotes a symbiotic relationship between ...
, similar to how the
7 Subway Extension The 7 Subway Extension is a subway extension of the New York City Subway's IRT Flushing Line, which is served by the local and express services. The extension stretches southwest from its previous terminus at Times Square, at Seventh Aven ...
was built. It is expected to create 86,000 jobs through 2045. In November 2017, Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector revealed a mockup of a vehicle that might be used on the BQX. The $100,000 prototype, a Citadis low-floor streetcar created by Alstom, was displayed at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex located in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a semicircular bend ...
. However, there was insufficient funding to start construction. Internal memos from the city around this time suggested that the project was endangered due to an ongoing dispute between Mayor de Blasio and New York State Governor
Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cu ...
, since the state government owned some of the land that the BQX was to pass through. Shortly afterward, Liu stepped down from the director's position of Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector, to be replaced by Deputy Director Jessica Schumer, the daughter of U.S. Senator
Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, an ...
. By April 2018, there was still insufficient funding, and de Blasio announced that the city would ask for federal aid for the BQX, despite the city's previous assurances to completely self-fund the project. Moreover, the streetcar project was already behind schedule: major design work had been slated to start that year, but the public approvals process that preceded it had not started. Officials predicted that even if the BQX were to be fully funded, construction would not start until at least 2020. Additionally, if the BQX's construction were to proceed, the project would interfere with the renovation of the
Brooklyn Heights Promenade The Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also called the Esplanade, is a -long platform and pedestrian walkway cantilevered over the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (Interstate 278) in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, United States. With views of ...
section of the
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway Interstate 278 (I-278) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York in the United States. The road runs from US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) in Linden, New Jersey, northeast to the Bruckner Interchange in the New York ...
, which would occur during roughly the same time frame. The BQX's proposed route between Red Hook and Sunset Park was eliminated in August 2018, and a routing through Dumbo was shelved in favor of a more direct routing through Downtown Brooklyn. The route was thereby shortened from a alignment with 30 stops to an alignment with 26 stops. This was supposedly because of cost constraints, since it was projected that the stops in Sunset Park and Dumbo would not have enough ridership to justify building the streetcar there. However, the shortened route was estimated to be more expensive than the original proposed route to Sunset Park. The new route would cost $2.73 billion, versus the original proposal, which would have cost $2.5 billion. The proposed completion date for the BQX was also postponed to 2029. The NYCEDC announced in February 2019 that it had awarded a contract to create an environmental impact statement for the BQX. The report would be written by the firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., which would publish a final statement by 2020. Afterward, the city would perform a comprehensive
Uniform Land Use Review Procedure Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) is a process mandated by the 1975 revision of the New York City Charter that is invoked when a proposed development will affect certain legal protections afforded to the existing area and/or its inhabitan ...
zoning plan (ULURP) for the areas along the BQX. Due to the length of the ULURP process, construction would not begin until at least 2024. In September 2020, de Blasio deferred decisions on the BQX to after the
2021 New York City mayoral election The 2021 New York City mayoral election was held on November 2, 2021. Incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio was term-limited and ineligible to run for re-election. On June 22, 2021, the primary elections for the Democratic and Republican primaries ...
; de Blasio was term-limited and unable to run for reelection, which meant further action on BQX would be taken by the next mayoral administration. The city had experienced financial shortfalls that year because of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, making it unfeasible for de Blasio's administration to commence the project before the end of his term in 2022. By 2021, it was uncertain whether the BQX would ever be built. In the
2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary The Democratic Party primary for the 2021 New York City mayoral election took place on June 22, 2021. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams defeated 12 other candidates, including Kathryn Garcia, Maya Wiley and Andrew Yang. Adams went on to defe ...
, only one of the nine candidates ( Loree Sutton, who later dropped out of the race) supported building the BQX, while five candidates opposed it.


Route

As proposed in November 2016, the northern end of the route would probably be at Hoyt Avenue or along 27th Avenue, with the BQX using either 31st Street (under the Astoria subway line, carrying the ), Vernon Boulevard, 21st Street, or Crescent Street to go south to Long Island City. From there, the BQX would use 44th Drive and then cross the Newtown Creek using one of three bridges (a new bridge at either 2nd Street or Vernon Boulevard, or the existing Pulaski Bridge). These options would then travel down either Franklin Street, Manhattan Avenue (over the Crosstown subway line), or McGuinness Boulevard, respectively. In southern Greenpoint, the Franklin Street routing would use either Kent Avenue or Berry Street (using Banker Street). The other two options could go down Wythe Avenue, Berry Street, or
Bedford Avenue Bedford Avenue is the longest street in Brooklyn, New York City, stretching and 132 blocks, from Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint south to Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, and passing through the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyves ...
, via Nassau Avenue or Norman Street. The four options would merge into two (Kent Avenue and Wythe Avenue) south of Division Avenue in Williamsburg. South of the neighborhood, all of the options would then cut through the Brooklyn Navy Yard using Assembly Street. At Clinton Avenue, the BQX would have three options to the west to access
Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and r ...
, Dumbo, or
Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, ...
. The BQX could use Market Street and Eighth Street;
Flushing Avenue Flushing Avenue is a street running through northern Brooklyn and western Queens, beginning at Nassau Street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and ending at Grand Avenue in Maspeth. It divides the neighborhood of Williamsburg from Clinton Hill an ...
; or Park Avenue. The Eighth Street option would merge onto Flushing Avenue at Cumberland Street in
Fort Greene Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the wes ...
. At Navy Street, the two routings had three options: go to Dumbo using Gold Street, Front/York Streets, and
Cadman Plaza Cadman Plaza is a park located on the border of the Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn neighborhoods in Brooklyn, New York City. Named for Reverend Doctor Samuel Parkes Cadman (1864–1936), a renowned minister in the Brooklyn Congregation ...
East; go to Downtown Brooklyn using Navy Street, Ashland Place, Willoughby Place, and Joralemon Street; or use Tillary Street to access Brooklyn Heights. At Joralemon and Court Streets, all of the options would turn south down Court Street and then west along Atlantic Avenue. The Dumbo option was ruled out in August 2018. In Cobble Hill, the route could go in one of three directions. It could continue to the west end of Atlantic Avenue and then southward down Columbia Street, serving the
Columbia Street Waterfront District The Columbia Street Waterfront District is a neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City on the Upper New York Bay waterfront between Cobble Hill and Red Hook and situated on the western side of the Brooklyn–Queens Expressway (B ...
; serve the residential section of Cobble Hill via Henry, Congress, and Columbia Streets; or turn down Hicks Street. The two Columbia Street options would need to go around the
Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel The Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel, officially the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel and commonly referred to as the Battery Tunnel or Battery Park Tunnel, is a tolled tunnel in New York City that connects Red Hook in Brooklyn with the Battery in Manhatta ...
toll plaza, while the Hicks Street option would use Sackett and Union Streets to use Van Brunt and Richards Streets, thus bypassing this detour. South of the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel toll plaza, the Van Brunt/Richards Streets option would travel down to the streets' south end to Beard Street and turn eastward there, while the Columbia Street option could go down to either Mill or Bay Streets, then travel eastward at one of these two streets. The Mill Street option would go across the Gowanus Canal using 10th Street, while the Bay Street option further south could either use the existing 10th Street bridge or a new 19th Street bridge to cross the canal. The BQX's southernmost leg was canceled in August 2018. As originally planned, it would have traveled down
Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...
underneath the
Gowanus Expressway Interstate 278 (I-278) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in New Jersey and New York in the United States. The road runs from US Route 1/9 (US 1/9) in Linden, New Jersey, northeast to the Bruckner Interchange in the New York ...
. This would be parallel to the Fourth Avenue subway line, one block east under Fourth Avenue. Between either 10th or 19th Street (depending on which bridge option was chosen) and 39th Street, the BQX would have run along Third Avenue. From 39th Street to 58th Street, the BQX could have swung west to 39th Street to serve
Industry City Industry City (also Bush Terminal) is a historic intermodal shipping, warehousing, and manufacturing complex on the Upper New York Bay waterfront in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. The northern portion, commonly cal ...
, the
Brooklyn Army Terminal The Brooklyn Army Terminal (BAT) is a large warehouse complex in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, New York City. The site occupies more than between 58th and 63rd Streets west of Second Avenue, on Brooklyn's western shore. The complex was originally u ...
, and the industrial center of Sunset Park; or it could have kept running along Third Avenue and serve residents of western Sunset Park. The BQX would have ended at Third Avenue and 59th Street, a block from the entrance to the 59th Street subway station.


Criticism

The Brooklyn–Queens Connector has received criticism in regards to its operation and cost. Several complaints are that while it is planned to connect to 17 subway stations, it would be far from the
BMT Canarsie Line The BMT Canarsie Line (sometimes referred to as the 14th Street–Eastern Line) is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway system, named after its terminus in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is served by the ...
() at
Bedford Avenue Bedford Avenue is the longest street in Brooklyn, New York City, stretching and 132 blocks, from Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint south to Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay, and passing through the neighborhoods of Williamsburg, Bedford-Stuyves ...
. The line would also not go near the
BMT Jamaica Line The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southeas ...
() at Marcy Avenue. Much of the areas that the new streetcar would serve are all from the
IND Crosstown Line The IND Crosstown Line or Brooklyn–Queens Crosstown Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It provides crosstown service between western Brooklyn and nor ...
(), while areas in Eastern Queens and parts of Brooklyn do not have nearby subway lines. Since the project would be constructed and run by New York City and not the MTA, it is not known how it would integrate to the MTA's fare system, if at all. Public officials on Staten Island, including Staten Island Borough President
James Oddo James Steven Oddo (born January 12, 1966) is an American attorney and politician who served as the Borough President of Staten Island from 2014 to 2021. Oddo had previously served as a member of the New York City Council, representing the 50th d ...
, did not oppose the plan, but they have stated that they felt under-represented after previous plans in Staten Island, including light rail along the island's
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...
and West Shores, were rejected. The line was also criticized by public officials in
South Brooklyn South Brooklyn is a historic term for a section of the former City of Brooklyn – now the New York City borough of Brooklyn – encompassing what are now the Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Gowanus, Park Slope, Windsor Ter ...
, who stated that their areas had their
express bus Public transport bus services are generally based on regular operation of transit buses along a route calling at agreed bus stops according to a published public transport timetable. History of buses Origins While there are indications ...
service cut, their subway stations lacked
elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...
s, their neighborhoods were under-served by public transit in general, and their requests for express F subway service and more reliable R train service had not yet been heeded. The proposal has also received criticism as it was viewed as a government subsidy to property developers. In addition, the BQX runs through several "100-year flood zones", meaning that the line would be prone to flooding during heavy storms and hurricanes. Steven Strauss, a
Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
professor, expressed his reservations about the BQX in a '' New York Daily News'' editorial in May 2016. In the article, he stated that he was concerned that by the time the project is completed, it will be potentially obsolete due to the development of
autonomous vehicle Vehicular automation involves the use of mechatronics, artificial intelligence, and multi-agent systems to assist the operator of a vehicle (car, aircraft, watercraft, or otherwise).Hu, J.; Bhowmick, P.; Lanzon, A.,Group Coordinated Control o ...
s. Further, he thought the estimated cost of $10 per person per ride might be uneconomic compared to other alternatives. Instead, Strauss recommended that the city engage in a wider Request for Expressions of Interest Process to look at other potential alternatives. In February 2017, the ''Village Voice'' examined the BQX project's cost and found that the city had only tenuous sources of funding for the project. The ''Voice'' study found that the neighborhoods along the proposed BQX pay a combined $1 billion annually in residential taxes, with the tax revenue having increased 17% since 2015. However, to pay for the BQX, the streetcar alone would need to raise tax by another 17%, or else the city would need to resort to financing the streetcar out of its own budget. In addition, there would be less benefit in building in already-gentrified neighborhoods than in neighborhoods that are gentrifying or being redeveloped. The streetcar's feasibility study estimated that property values would go up even without the streetcar.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooklyn Queens Connector Proposed public transportation in New York City Streetcar lines in Brooklyn Streetcar lines in Queens, New York Proposed railway lines in New York (state)