Fourteen miles of new light rail connecting Brooklyn and Queens just moved a step closer to construction, though not the step most coverage suggested. The MTA and Gov. Hochul announced Sept. 9 that the Interborough Express's Draft Environmental Impact Statement is now targeted for release in the fourth quarter of 2026, ahead of prior guidance, alongside design-phase progress on the $5.5 billion project -- 17 subway connections, 18 new stations, and links to more than 50 bus routes and the Long Island Rail Road, serving an estimated 160,000-plus daily riders across 900,000 residents.
The design contract itself was awarded in late July 2025 to a joint venture of Jacobs and HDR, which is running a roughly two-year process. Worth separating what's actually biddable from what's spoken for: that design work already has a contractor. Construction on the line itself -- track, stations, systems -- doesn't go out to bid until the project clears environmental review, which is what makes the Q4 2026 DEIS date worth watching: it starts that clock.
The funding picture so far: $45 million in the state's FY2026 budget, plus $2.75 billion committed through the MTA's 2025-29 Capital Plan -- a down payment against the $5.5 billion total, with the rest still to be identified as the project advances.
Four subway stations along the corridor are getting accessibility upgrades as part of the same push. Broadway Junction, where the A, C, J, Z and L lines meet, is funded through the MTA's 2020-24 Capital Plan and estimated to finish by the end of 2027. Junius Street, on the 3 line, is getting both its ADA upgrade and a new connection to the L train's Livonia Avenue station, funded the same way, wrapping by the end of this year. Avenue I, on the F line, is funded through the same plan and targeted for early 2028. Wilson Avenue, on the L line, is the one worth circling: its accessibility work was expedited into the 2025-29 Capital Plan, and the MTA says a construction contract for the job will be awarded by mid-2027.
For GCs and subs who do ADA and transit-station retrofit work -- platform and mezzanine upgrades, elevator and escalator installs, the kind of job MTA Construction & Development lets separately from line-level work -- Wilson Avenue is the one to start tracking now. A mid-2027 award means design and procurement activity well before that date arrives. Junius Street is the opposite case: with a completion target of the end of 2026, whatever contract built it is already in the ground, not on anyone's bid list.
The bigger picture: if it opens as planned, IBX would be the first new end-to-end rapid transit line built entirely within New York City since the IND Crosstown line -- today's G train -- opened in 1937, and the first new transit stations in Queens since the 1988 extension of the Archer Avenue line. MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber, Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer, and Chief Accessibility Officer Quemuel Arroyo all appeared alongside Hochul at the announcement, alongside Assemblymember Claire Valdez.
None of this puts a shovel in the ground. The DEIS starts a public review process, not construction, and the line-level contracts that will actually employ trade contractors at scale remain years out. The near-term, biddable work is the accessibility package -- and of the four stations, Wilson Avenue is the only one still ahead of its contract award.