Environmental Assessment of Interborough Express

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced it is beginning the environmental review process for the forthcoming Interborough Express (IBX) under the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act. The commencement of environmental review is the first major milestone reached for the IBX after Governor Hochul’s announcement that the project had entered the preliminary engineering and design phase in August.

“The IBX will dramatically improve the commutes of over 160,000 daily riders and we are moving full-speed ahead to keep this transformational project on track,” Governor Hochul said. “Beginning environmental review is yet another statement of intent that in New York, we don’t just talk about major infrastructure projects, we build them.”

To kick off environmental review, there will be a series of three public meetings that will explain the scope of the project and the review process. The first will be held Wednesday, Oct. 29, at Brooklyn College. A second meeting will be held Thursday, Nov. 6 at Christ the King High School in Middle Village, Queens. A virtual meeting will be held Wednesday, Nov. 12. Members of the community interested in attending can register here.

The environmental review process will run concurrent to the ongoing preliminary design and engineering phase of the project kicked off in August. Following public outreach, the SEQRA process will produce a Draft Scoping Document, and ultimately, a draft Environmental Impact Statement on the project. This process will assess potential significant environmental benefits and impacts of the IBX project.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, “900,000 New Yorkers live along the proposed IBX route, and we’re not going to waste any time advancing this project for them. Launching the State environmental review process gives us the momentum we need to move this transformational effort toward construction."

MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer said, “The IBX project will finally give Brooklyn and Queens the fast, reliable transit connection they deserve, and we're ready to complete it faster, better and cheaper. We look forward to putting shovels in the ground on this transformational project and sharing our ideas with customers.”

About the IBX Project

The Interborough Express is a generational transit investment that will connect nearly 900,000 New Yorkers in underserved areas of Brooklyn and Queens to the subway, bus and Long Island Rail Road. The project will also significantly reduce travel times between the two boroughs, with an end-to-end run time of 32 minutes along an existing 14-mile freight line owned by the MTA and CSX Corp.

In August, the MTA Board authorized the selection of a joint venture between Jacobs and HDR, who will oversee the design and engineering phase of the IBX. Project design, which got underway this summer, focuses on a light rail system design. This was determined to offer the best service to riders at the best value to the MTA, with about 70 percent of projected IBX riders expected to transfer within the MTA system. The project design work includes communications and signal design, vehicle design, track design, station design, among other components.

Once the design process is completed, the next step will ultimately create 19 stations that connect with 17 different subway lines, 50 bus routes and two LIRR stations. The IBX will be the first new end-to-end rapid transit built entirely within New York City since the IND Crosstown Line, now called the G, which fully opened in 1937. IBX stations in Queens will be the first new transit stations built since the Archer Avenue extension of the EJ and Z lines to Jamaica in 1988.

Funding the IBX

The current project design phase is funded mainly through $45 million secured by Governor Hochul in New York State’s 2025 budget and the MTA’s 2025-2029 Capital Plan. The total estimated cost of the IBX project is $5.5 billion, with 50 percent of the total funding for the project secured by Governor Hochul in the MTA’s 2025-2029 Capital Plan. 

Since 2023, the MTA has hosted ten open houses attended by nearly 1,000 community members along the route to raise awareness and gather feedback. The MTA also held pop-up outreach at 10 locations across the IBX corridor speaking with 1,300 members of the public and over 250 businesses. Every quarter, the MTA hosts a virtual community council on the project with elected officials, community groups and community boards.