76 replies to this topic

[KevinKorell]

Astoria-Long Island City Patch, 2/24/20:

 

 

   Astoria To Host Meeting About $2.7-Billion BQX Streetcar Proposal   

 

 

 

 

City officials will present plans for the BQX, a $2.7 billion streetcar that would run between Brooklyn and Queens, at a public workshop Tuesday in Astoria.

 

Continue reading this.

[KevinKorell]

Daily News, 4/30/20:

 

   Coronavirus may derail de Blasio’s $2.7B Brooklyn-Queens streetcar  

 

 

 

Budget woes created by coronavirus may derail Mayor de Blasio’s pricey streetcar project.

 

Article

[KevinKorell]

Railway, Track, & Structures, 5/4/20:

 

   A streetcar with desire? NYC mayor still wants to move forward with light-rail plan despite critics 

 

 

The mayor refused to say the project, an 11-mile light rail line connecting Red Hook and Astoria, was going to go on the chopping block when questioned about it recently, even though there is no new money marked for the $2.7 billion project and the environmental review process has not begun.

 

Update

[KevinKorell]

Red Hook Star-Revue, 6/12/20:

 

      Desired streetcar short $1.4 billion in federal funding

 

 

 

It is no surprise that, due to the financial crisis imposed by COVID-19 upon the municipal budget, Mayor Bill de Blasio is reconsidering advancing his $2.7 billion Brooklyn Queens Connector streetcar project known as BQX. There was never a guarantee that the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) would pay for 50 per cent of the cost. Dreams of Amazon doing the same have come and gone, since they cancelled coming to Long Island City, Queens.

 

Read

[KevinKorell]

Greenpoint, NY Post, 9/4/20:

 

  Future of the BQX Streetcar Will Be in the Hands of the Next Mayor, De Blasio Says   

 

 

 

The future of the $2.7 billion streetcar connecting western Queens to the Brooklyn waterfront will be up to the next mayor of New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday.

 

Update

[KevinKorell]

Spectrum NY-1 TV, 3/10/21:
 

 

 Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar Is in Hands of Next Mayor, But No Democrat Running Fully Embraces It

 

 

A 16-mile streetcar line along the East River in Brooklyn and Queens was going to be one of Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature projects, expanding transportation access to neighborhoods like Red Hook that are relatively far from the subway.

 

Read

[KevinKorell]

Queens, NY Chronicle, 7/15/21:

 

 

 

  BQ-axed? Mayor de Blasio still believes  

 

 

Give Mayor de Blasio credit for optimism on the subject of the Brooklyn Queens Connector streetcar idea.

 

The plan isn’t moving forward. The Friends of the BQX website on Friday had no accessible information on a blank home page. But it also has not been canceled and still has influential supporters in residential and business communities

 

Story is here.   The plan was probably already doomed long before COVID hit, such as when the area dropped out of contention for an Amazon headquarters.