The IBX the MTA, accidental Governor Kathy Hochul and the urbanist cult lobbyists love so much is going to require eminent domain to get it done.
This means over a decade of construction that's going to cause damages to homes and displacement of residents and also the destruction of the environment by razing trees and green space all long the transit line that will stretch from middle class Middle Queens to low area median income towns in South Brooklyn.
This transit plan must be terminated.
Wondering if the IBX will improve your commute to the EFMR or 7 trains? Here's a video that illustrates the very impractical transfer. pic.twitter.com/yz0jWwcM3f
— Juniper Park Civic (@junipercivic) November 12, 2025
Pressure was on the MTA Thursday night to end or change plans for the IBX in Queens, as a number of local residents claimed the nearly $6 billion light-rail is “not needed or wanted” in their neighborhoods.
Over 100 Middle Village and nearby residents filled seats inside Christ the King High School’s auditorium on Nov. 6 to voice their opinions on the project, which centers on the construction of a 14-mile light-rail that would have a direct connection from Queens to Brooklyn without touching Manhattan.
MTA representatives at the meeting said the train, which already entered its environmental review phase last month and is in design contract, will be beneficial for residents because it will provide fast and direct transit service between the two boroughs.
“We’ve noticed there is significant travel demand between and among Brooklyn and Queens,” said Jordan Smith, IBX project director, adding that environmental review is a milestone for the project. “It’s a process that requires the MTA to take a hard look at what potential environmental impacts could result from the IBX project.”
While the MTA tried to focus the meeting on environmental scoping — the act of analyzing potential environmental impacts — attendees overwhelmingly voiced their opposition to the entire project, or at least the parts of the railway that would run through their neighborhoods.
At the top of the list of concerns was upzoning, which would likely attract more people to the relatively quiet parts of northern Queens.
“There will be upzoning with the City of Yes, and now with the proposals that just passed, high-density housing at market rate can get built, so it’s going to destroy the neighborhood,” said Lee Rottenberg, a Middle Village resident. “When we bought our house here, we knew it was a two-fare zone. We didn’t want to live near a subway station.”
City of Yes is a zoning reform that allows more housing to be built in places where it was historically not permitted. This can include the creation of basement apartments, conversion of commercial space into residential units and new construction. The goal is to address affordable housing concerns in NYC.
The initiative aims to create approximately 82,000 new homes over the next 15 years.
The proposed Interborough Express (IBX) light rail between Brooklyn and Queens is inching forward, with officials hoping the project can be designed and engineering challenges resolved starting this year, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Tuesday.
The governor’s 2024 State of the State policy book, accompanying her big speech to a joint legislative session in Albany Tuesday, notes that the MTA will “initiate formal design and engineering” on the IBX, which aims to convert the underutilized Bay Ridge Branch rail spur, owned by the Long Island Rail Road and currently used by CSX freight rail, into a light rail line between Brooklyn and Queens, sharply reducing commute times between the two boroughs.
The line would run 14 miles between Bay Ridge and Jackson Heights, running through many neighborhoods with few transit options while also connecting to 17 other subway lines. The MTA estimates the line would see 120,000 daily riders by 2045, and cost $5.5 billion to construct.
“The [IBX] represents one of the most impactful infrastructure projects initiated by Gov. Hochul,” the policy book reads, “with the potential to substantially cut down on travel times, reduce congestion, and link nearly 900,000 residents in Brooklyn and Queens to more than 17 transit connections.”
Gov. Hochul announced she would pursue the IBX in her 2022 State of the State address, crystallizing a longtime dream by rail advocates. The proposal was based on a long-floating plan by the Regional Plan Association called the Triboro, which would extend the line further into the Bronx, but the Boogie-Down portion was cut due to conflicts with the MTA’s Penn Access project on the same existing tracks.
The governor in 2022 directed the MTA to commence an environmental review for the project, which she has since described as her “baby,” and in the following year’s State of the State, she said the project would move forward as light rail.
Unlike a subway, a light rail can travel at the street level, and the MTA plans to briefly divert the right-of-way onto Metropolitan Avenue and 69th Street in Middle Village for about 2/3 of a mile before returning to the pre-existing tracks. How the MTA would actually go about doing that is one of the key engineering problems they must get to the bottom of, even before worrying about potential lawsuits from local residents.
