BY JULIANNE CUBA
The city tapped an engineering
fi rm to study
the environmental impacts
that Mayor De-
Blasio’s beloved Brooklyn–
Queens trolley may
have on the neighborhoods
through which it
would run, according
to the leader of an advocacy
group for the socalled
Brooklyn-Queens
Connector.
“Today’s news makes
it clear: the BQX is moving
forward,” Jessica
Schumer, the daughter
of Sen. Chuck Schumer
(D–New York), said on
Feb. 6. “These steps
show meaningful progress
for the project —
something we’ve been
eager to see.”
The city’s Economic
Development Corporation
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awarded Manhattan
based fi rm VHB a
$7.2-million contract to
lead the environmentalreview
process and subsequent
Uniform Land
Use Review Procedure
the trolley project must
snake through before
any straphangers can
hop aboard, according
to a rep for the agency.
News of the contract
comes months after
Hizzoner put the
fate of the streetcar in
jeopardy last summer,
when he announced it
would derail without $1
billion in federal funding
approved by his political
rival President
Trump.
DeBlasio’s plea for
federal cash — which
some Brooklyn pols in
Washington, DC, said
he should not hold his
breath for — followed
a city study of the project,
which revealed that
the streetcar would not
entirely pay for itself by
revenue generated from
new developments along
its line, despite initial
claims that it would by
the consortium of builders
that fi rst pitched the
scheme.
The adoption of a
new fi nancial model
came around the same
time that the city took
other sharp turns in
the project , including
shrinking its original
14-mile route to 11
miles, changing the
path of its Brooklyn
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FORWARD MOMENTUM: The city on Feb. 6 tapped an engineering
fi rm to begin the environmental-review process
required to break ground on Mayor DeBlasio’s beloved
Brooklyn—Queens Connector trolley linking Red Hook and
other waterfront neighborhoods with the outer borough.
Economic Development Corportation
tracks so they would
skip Dumbo entirely
and terminate in Red
Hook, not Sunset Park,
and increasing its projected
$2.5-billion budget
to $2.73 billion.
Offi cials also set a
new start date for construction
as sometime
in 2024 — the year they
initially said the trolley
would be up and running
when DeBlasio announced
it back in 2016 .
VHB’s engineers
will seek input from locals
whose transit-hungry,
waterfront neighborhoods
the streetcar
would serve as part
of their environmental
review. And offi -
cials expect the fi rm to
start pushing the plan
through the lengthy
ulurp process next
year, with the hope of
starting the service in
2029, according to an
Economic Development
Corporation spokeswoman.
“The BQX will link
l ong - d i s c on ne c t e d
neighborhoods and
shorten commutes for
over half a million New
Yorkers who live and
work along the Brooklyn
and Queens waterfront,”
said Stephanie
Báez. “It is a
21st-century solution to
our city’s transit challenges,
and we’re excited
to move the project
forward.”
It’s ready to roll
City taps engineer to begin environmental
review for Brooklyn–Queens trolley project
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