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The MTA’s proposed Brooklyn-Queens train line could link up with some of the alternatives to replace the Port Authority’s AirTrain to LaGuardia Airport, transit officials said Thursday.
Both agencies are currently mulling options for their respective projects at the direction of Gov. Kathy Hochul, including light rail, heavy rail and bus rapid transit.
“It has not been lost on either of the two projects that there may be some synergy in connecting the two,” MTA construction official Mike Schiffer said during a presentation before the New York City Transit Rider Council.
Hochul’s proposed Interborough Express would run along an existing 14-mile rail line between Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and western Queens near LaGuardia Airport. Port Authority officials, meanwhile, are mulling alternative routes to ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s “wrong way” AirTrain to Citi Field that could intersect or even overlap with the IBX, Schiffer said.
“I know that a couple of their options are considering a connection that Jackson Heights and we’re anticipating this service would go to somewhere in that vicinity as well,” he said.
“They’re of course looking at other options in Astoria. And we’re looking up in that vicinity as well.”
Schiffer said the MTA was even considering merging the two projects.
“It’s a dense, exciting area,” he said of Jackson Heights and western Queens. “It’s really hard to shoehorn new services, particularly around 74th [Street].”
The MTA and Port Authority are both in the process of collecting public input on their respective decisions.
Transit advocates have said the connection to LaGuardia should be integrated into the bus and subway network.
The original route to Willets Point, which was mocked by transit advocates and Queens elected officials including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for taking passengers east toward Long Island instead of west toward Manhattan, remains on the table.
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