The money train comes to Brooklyn
$4 trillion infrastructure bill could fund southern BK subway extension: Schumer
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Federal funds from a potential
$4 trillion infrastructure
package in Washington could
pay for a subway expansion
into southeastern Brooklyn,
Senate Majority Leader Chuck
Schumer said on Feb. 19.
President Joe Biden’s administration
and Democratic
lawmakers in the nation’s
capital are currently focused
on passing a $1.9 trillion
COVID-19 emergency relief
bill that would, among other
things, extend unemployment
benefi ts and provide $1,400
stimulus checks to many
Americans — but Schumer
said the new president’s next
big economic recovery package,
dubbed “Build Back Better,”
may include a train line
to the southern corner of the
borough starved of subway access.
“There’s some talk if we get
the $4 trillion that we could
build a subway line to southeast
Brooklyn, which is a subway
desert,” said the newlyminted
senate leader at a
Zoom panel with the Brooklyn
Chamber of Commerce Friday,
as the New York Post fi rst
reported.
The Park Slope lawmaker
in passing also mentioned
that some of the federal money
could go toward the crumbling
Brooklyn-Queens Expressway’s
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triple-cantilever section
around Brooklyn Heights,
but that government authorities
will still have to iron out
the plans for the beleaguered
highway.
“There probably could be
money if they ever fi gure out
what to do with the BQE overpass,”
he said. “I’m not going
to tell them what to do, they’re
going to have to fi gure it out
for themselves.”
Schumer did not give more
specifi cs on the subway plans,
but the Metropolitan Transportation
Authority offi cials
studied improving transit
along the busy Utica Avenue
corridor in February 2020 just
before the coronavirus hit.
The MTA study included
looking at extending a subway
line south from either Fulton
Street’s A and C stop or the
Eastern Parkway 3 and 4 stops,
which would extend the train
through the neighborhoods of
East Flatbush, Flatlands, Marine
Park, and Mill Basin.
The B46 bus and its express
line run along Utica Avenue
there and are the busiest
routes in the borough and
the third-busiest in the city
pre-pandemic with 44,000
daily commuters and frequent
over-capacity occupancies of
108-percent during morning
rush hours on weekdays and
121-percent on Saturday midday.
A spokesman for MTA said
the $5 million study will inform
the agency’s next capital
plan for 2025.
“We’re grateful to Majority
Leader Schumer for securing
billions of dollars in federal
funding to help save the
MTA’s basic services during
this pandemic,” said Shams
Tarek in a statement. “This
study looks at different transit
improvement concepts using
various modes and will
be evaluated along with other
major regional transit expansion
projects as we build the
next capital program.”
The Authority in 2019 also
eyed a $1-2 billion passenger
train project dubbed the Triboro
Line, which would run on
old freight lines through some
of the same southern Brooklyn
areas, along with Queens
and the Bronx.
The agency did not respond
to a follow-up request regarding
the status of that project.
Local state Sen. Andrew
Gounardes — whose district
includes subway-less nabes
such as Marine Park and Gerritsen
Beach — hailed Schumer’s
comments, adding that
better transit would be a boon
for local businesses.
“The Build Back Better
program is a massive opportunity
for the MTA and I’m
glad that Senator Schumer is
talking about funneling the
funds towards outer borough
transit deserts, such as those
that would benefi t from the
Utica Avenue extension,” Gounardes
said in a statement.
“Finally connecting these
neighborhoods to the rest of
the borough and making it
easier to access these small
businesses and restaurants in
these communities would be
a tremendous opportunity for
our economic recovery.”
Senator Chuck Schumer.
Photo by Todd Maisel
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