THE FUTURE OF THE BQX
Can the BQX streetcar be a viable
transit option for Queens’ future?
Not without some big federal bucks
BY MARK HALLUM
As the Brooklyn-Queens Connector
crawls closer to reality or bust, there
is one snag a source sees in the $2.7
billion proposal by the de Blasio admin-istration
to link the two boroughs by a
north-south streetcar route.
The project is dependent on the
acquisition of $1.4 billion in federal
funding to come through, and a former
Federal Transit Administration official
says this may be a forlorn hope for the
transit project.
“The odds are slim to none that the
project will get out of the barn,” Larry
Penner, who worked in the FTA for 31
years, said.
The project will rely on a grant
through FTA New Starts program, but
the March 2019 report from the agency
for all projects does not include the BQX
for fiscal year 2020. This is problematic,
according to Penner, for the five years it
takes for grant applications to make its
way through the Federal Full Funding
Grant Agreement approval process.
How the streetcar would navigate
Newtown Creek and the Gowanus Canal
is still unclear.
The latest route projection for the
plan puts it closely shadowing and plac-ing
its new southern terminus just block
from that of the G train instead of mak-ing
its way all the way to Red Hook as
originally promised.
And although the plan has morphed
and shortened over the years since its
2015 inception, the cost assessment
seems to be on a continuous rise.
Not only that, but the streetcar route
would eat 2,000 parking spaces.
But advocates remain loyal to the
promise of BQX, having rallied in front
of City Hall in late May prior to a hear-ing
in the Council chamber with the
task force assigned to the streetcar’s
deployment as well as representatives
from city agencies.
Not all members of the task force are
fully invested in the plan and question
Economic Development Corporation and
Department of Transportation officials
how they plan to avoid fallbacks.
Councilman Costa Constantinides
wanted to know how they plan to avoid
exasperating gentrification and roadway
congestion on 21st Street in Astoria. The
EDC said they have taken into account
residents who are protected under rent
control laws, which have not stopped
gentrification in the past, and that busi-nesses
will adapt to receive deliveries.
With BQX proposal hardly making it
past the environmental review stage four
years into the game, city officials said the
20 JUNE 2019 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
delay in kickstarting the streetcar project
is not out of the ordinary when compared
to other light rail efforts in other cities.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer
expressed a dubious attitude toward
the prospect of an agency now under
the control of the Trump administration
awarding any funds at all to New York
City in the coming years at the May
30 hearing.
Streetcars and light rails went extinct
around the turn of the century with many
cities opting instead for underground
options for the versatility of buses and
freedom from vehicular disruption for
subways.
But the 21st century has seen the
reemergence of this technology with
Cincinnati launching its Bell Connector
on a 3.6 mile loop of the city in 2016.
Phoenix, Arizona, known for its
never-ending sprawl, even began its
own service with the 26.3-mile Valley
Metro Rail, for which construction
began in 2005 and opened for busi-ness
in 2008.
According to the MTA, many of the
bus routes across the city, including
Queens, follow the old streetcar routes.
A template they are attempting to break
for a bus system the agency is hoping
will serve the needs of modern riders.
As part of the discussion in 2016 for
the BQX, the changing needs of com-muters
has entailed a demand to reach
the Queens and Brooklyn waterfronts
and highlighted the antiquated spoke
and wheel design of subways centered
around the Manhattan.
The outer boroughs are now seeing
the higher job growth than before and
the G train simply does not cut it for
north-south commuters who opt instead
for schlepping through Manhattan
Penner concluded in a recent email to
QNS that the surest way to move people
along the tech hubs of Queens and Brook-lyn
would not be a light rail, but buses.
Community News
Courtesy Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector
/www.qns.com
/www.qns.com
