MTA to hold open houses on IBX
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The proposed Interborough Express would run from Jackson Heights to Red Hook, Brooklyn, provided lawmakers approve the MTA’s capital plan. Map via MTA
By Noah Powelson
The MTA will soon hold a series of public town halls on their ambitious plan to build a light rail from Queens to Brooklyn, even as funding for the project remains in question.
MTA officials announced a series of open houses open to the public which take place throughout the spring to spread awareness on the planned Interborough Express, a 14-mile light rail running from Jackson Heights in Queens to Red Hook in Brooklyn. Open houses will consist of a short presentation and an exhibition of informational posters explaining the project.
MTA representatives will also be on hand to answer questions and take down public comments on the project, commonly known as the IBX. The first open house will take place on Thursday, March 27, at Queens Public Library in Ridgewood from 6 to 8 p.m.
“The Interborough Express will give Brooklyn and Queens the fast, reliable, frequent public transit connection they deserve,” MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer said in a statement. “This project will transform mobility in New York’s two largest boroughs and we can't wait to share our ideas with the New Yorkers who will benefit from it.”
The MTA will host additional open houses in Brooklyn as well as at the Renaissance Charter School in Jackson Heights on Thursday, May 8 from 6 through 8 p.m.
The IBX’s future has been uncertain, however, as the MTA struggles to get lawmakers to approve funding for the estimated $5.5 billion project.
The MTA unveiled their 2025-2029 capital budget last year asking for a massive $68.4 billion to fund a variety of repairs, updates and new projects. Included in that budget was $2.75 billion to begin the initial environmental review and preliminary engineering of the IBX, which is planned to make use of existing freight routes.
The plan was rejected by lawmakers at the end of last year, citing a significant funding deficit as around $33 billion of the capital plan had no attributable funding source. Governor Kathy Hochul’s state budget proposal, unveiled in January of this year, also did not provide the MTA with funding solutions.
Advocates for congestion pricing argued that the income it would bring into the city would directly fund many of the project’s MTA has advocated for in their capital plan. But after President Donald Trump has publicly called for the toll to end, that funding source remains tenuous.
Until funding questions are answered and the capital plan is approved, the initial construction of the IBX can’t begin.
