New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that the engineering and design phase of the Interborough Express has started, the next step in the development of the transit project.
On Wednesday, the MTA Board authorized the selection of a joint venture between Jacobs and HDR to oversee the design and engineering phase of the IBX. The project will connect communities in Brooklyn and Queens to the subway, bus, and Long Island Rail Road, while reducing travel times between Brooklyn and Queens to an end-to-end run time of 32 minutes along the 14-mile line.
In April, Hochul approved $2.75 billion in funding for the project as part of the 2025-2029 MTA Capital Plan.
“We’re turning these old tracks into something remarkable,” Hochul said. “A clean, fast, 14-mile light rail line – a connection between Brooklyn and Queens like never before… it’ll serve about 160,000 riders a day and get this — a ride from end-to-end will take 32 minutes, 10 minutes less than the initial estimate. 32 minutes. Riders will save 30 minutes each way. If you’re a round trip commuter, guess what? That’s an hour. An hour back in your life.”
“It’s not just about creating the track, the stations, all the work that’s going to be involved… it’s about creating connections between communities,” Hochul added. “This is about bringing people together, that the outer boroughs are now joined, that there’s not a requirement that if you want to go see your mother in Queens from Brooklyn, that you have to go to Manhattan first. Manhattan is a lovely place, but why did people envision a world where you had to go there first to be able to come out to another borough? That will not be the future.”
