Light Rail Transit Project will Serve 115,000 Daily Riders and Connect to 17 Subway Lines and the Long Island Rail Road
Meeting to Be Held Online on Wednesday, Aug. 16, at 6:30 p.m.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is reminding the public it will hold a virtual public town hall for an overview of the actions taken on the Interborough Express project so far, including the Planning and Environmental Linkages study. The transformative Light Rail Transit project will connect communities in Brooklyn and Queens to 17 subway lines and the Long Island Rail Road, and significantly reduce travel times within and between the two boroughs.
The Interborough Express would use the existing right-of-way of the Bay Ridge Branch, which is a freight rail line that runs through Brooklyn and Queens, connecting ethnically and socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods such as Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Borough Park, Kensington, Midwood, Flatbush, Flatlands, New Lots, Brownsville, East New York, Bushwick, Ridgewood, Middle Village, Maspeth, Elmhurst and Jackson Heights. The project would include several new connections in neighborhoods that currently lack efficient connections to each other, and in some cases, to Manhattan.
The project has the potential to provide connections to 17 subway lines ( ) serving areas of Brooklyn and Queens, and initial studies indicate this new transit option could serve up to 115,000 daily weekday riders, amounting to an annual ridership of approximately 40 million. Travel times between Brooklyn and Queens could be reduced by up to 30 minutes each way, depending on travel distance.
The meeting will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 16 from 6:30-7:30PM. Register to attend the town hall here and read more about the planned Interborough Express here.