Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar Will Advance To Next Phase: Report

QUEENS, NY - A $2.7 billion plan for a streetcar connecting Brooklyn and Queens, known as the BQX, will advance Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The executive committee of the city's Economic Development Corp. is expected to approve a contract for a consultant to oversee the streetcar's environmental review, the newspaper reported.

An agenda for the Wednesday morning meeting, reviewed by the Journal, said a contract of up to $7.2 million will be awarded to VHB, a land-use and planning consultant.

Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen said in an interview with the Journal that she expected the contract to be approved. The environmental review would be complete in spring 2020, Glen told the Journal, and the next planning stage, a land-use review, would be complete by the end of 2021.

The Brooklyn-Queens Connector, or BQX, would travel 11 miles from Astoria to Red Hook and Gowanus — shorter and cheaper than the original design, which included Sunset Park. The streetcar is estimated to generate $30 billion in gross economic impact over 40 years, according to the Economic Development Corp.

Read the full Wall Street Journal report here.

(Lead photo by Kathleen Culliton/Patch)