Q70 bus to LaGuardia Airport will get $160M revamp, including bus-only lane on BQE
The free bus to LaGuardia Airport would get a speed boost under a plan unveiled by transit officials Tuesday.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, the Port Authority and the MTA laid out $160 million worth of upgrades to the Q70 bus route, which connects a pair of Queens train hubs to the airport’s terminals.
The improvements include the installation of a bus-only lane on the shoulder of the northbound Brooklyn-Queens Expressway between Northern and Astoria boulevards, as well as traffic signals to reduce the time the Q70 waits at red lights on Roosevelt Avenue and Broadway. They also include increased service between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. starting June 1, a designated bus pick-up and drop-off area near LaGuardia’s Terminal C with exclusive road access, and new lighting and signage.
The plans have been in the works since 2021, when Hochul came into office and quickly quashed her predecessor Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $2 billion proposal for an AirTrain to LaGuardia. Many transit advocates panned Cuomo’s proposed rail link because it would have forced riders to travel east of LaGuardia to Willets Point and pay a second fare to double back to the airport. Hochul asked an independent panel of experts to come up with alternatives, and after years of analysis, improvements to the bus route won out.
The governor also made the Q70 bus free to ride in 2022. The route was first created in 2013 to better connect the airport with subway lines in Jackson Heights and the Long Island Rail Road in Woodside.
In a statement Tuesday, Hochul called the plan an “integral part of our bold vision for a new era in New York.” And Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chair and CEO, said the improvements would make the ride to LaGuardia smoother and faster.
“There’s no reason a first-class New York travel experience should be limited to the new LaGuardia Airport,” he said, alluding to accolades the air hub has received since it was redesigned starting last decade.
The Port Authority’s board of commissioners still has to vote on the funding proposal at its meeting Thursday, though the agency has been collaborating with the MTA and the city’s Department of Transportation throughout the process. Some of the work, including on the Terminal C loop, still has to be bid out to contractors, according to Port Authority officials.
