Mayor: Let's Build a New Subway Line Through East Flatbush on Utica Avenue!
Mayor de Blasio will propose building a new subway line running under Utica Avenue in a speech today about sustainability, according a report in Capital New York. The avenue, currently served by the B46 bus, is “one of the densest areas in the city not directly served by the subway,” said a draft of the…
Mayor de Blasio will propose building a new subway line running under Utica Avenue in a speech today about sustainability, according a report in Capital New York. The avenue, currently served by the B46 bus, is “one of the densest areas in the city not directly served by the subway,” said a draft of the speech quoted by Capital New York.
The B46 bus currently runs along Utica from Marine Park up through East Flatbush and then through east Bed Stuy on Malcolm X Boulevard to Williamsburg near Marcy Avenue and Broadway. A story in the Daily News said it’s all posturing and will never happen.
Our take: Any new subway service through central Brooklyn and beyond is welcome, but seems unlikely to actually happen. The proposed Triboro RX line already has a right of way and would knit together the outer parts of Brooklyn from Sunset Park to East New York and connect to subway-starved parts of Queens and the Bronx. As the center of the city changes, the transportation system needs to adapt.
What do you think?
Mayor to Ask M.T.A. to Study Brooklyn Subway Expansion [Capital NY]
Map by MTA
Sure! Let’s do it! Omg, how many more years do we have left with this incompetent???
also, stop advocating the Triboro RX plan! numerous experts have said it’s impossible and also we badly need that freight line for more freight trains! if you wanna talk about sustainability, it starts by getting those horrible gas guzzling 18 wheelers off the roads
this is a great idea.
any fool looking at a map of brooklyn knows that’s where the big empty space is. because any fool knows that the Utica ave subway was planned numerous times over the last century. and no, it wouldn’t only benefit to the people of East Flatbush, but also Williamsburg and Bed Stuy, the latter of which is crucially underserved by trains in stark contrast to how the property values there have skyrocketed.
so yes, this is actually a fantastic idea. but no. it won’t happen. the MTA won’t even have to capital to complete the 2nd ave line, mark my words. that thing is gonna struggle to open it’s first phase and then the rest of the plan will die in a mess of albany bullshit
YES good god please do this YES. Call it the U train.
Given all the new development proposed for East Flatbush, perhaps this announcement is just a sop to REBNY, to give naive potential buyers the impression that better public transportation in this area is on the way.. Anyone looking at the history of the new east side subway line would realize it wouldn’t happen in their own lifetime, even if approved and funded….
This won’t happen, but it’s a good idea. There are a lot of good subway expansion plans that won’t happen. That doesn’t mean that we can’t fantasize about them. For instance, Bloomberg’s plan to take the 7 to NJ, or the original 2nd ave subway plan that was to go through Governor’s Island to Staten Island!
Yes, trams are cool, but even more realistic, and cheaper to implement, is Select Bus Service. I live off the B44 and when it works properly, it’s extremely useful and fast. Street level service, pay in advance, all doors open, has a dedicated lane most of the time, proof of payment system, runs on a schedule, stops every 1/2 mile or so, connects neighborhoods from Sheepshead Bay to Flatbush to PLG to Bed Stuy all the way to Williamsburg.
Regardless of what they implement this will mean even more interest in East Flatbush.
Well, De Blasio has a history of saying stupid things, so no big surprise. Why not use the money to fix up current dysfunctional subway lines, such as the C line, worse trains in NYC for 6 years in a row!!
And why waste the money on the useless Fulton Center. Is it because of kick backs between contractors and politicians? Fix the broken subway lines now!!! Make it more frequent and stop wasting our public money!!!
Yes – the focus on the entire region (vs. just NYC) is a nice touch. It’s the right approach too, since we are much stronger as a region. The “reverse commuting” phenomenon (highlighted in the report) is true as well – more and more of my friends are getting jobs in NJ and CT and doing the reverse commute on PATH and Metro North.
Thanks, that’s a great read. Page 90 shows that there are seven much higher-priority projects ahead of this one (and no mention of the Triboro thing). Ah, if only Brownstoner took the time to research the context instead of reacting to Daily News.