Mamdani Announces Broadway Bus Lane for Laguardia Airport Q70
Mamdani announced on Wednesday that New York City will build a bus lane on Broadway for the free Q70 shuttle to laguardia airport before next month’s World Cup. The eastbound lane will run from 69th Street to Roosevelt Avenue and is designed to speed trips between the subway and the airport in Queens.
The Q70 serves about 9,000 daily riders, and the city said it moves at just 2.7 miles per hour during rush hour in the project area. Mamdani said in a statement, "Arriving in New York City should be fast, affordable and reliable all year round — not just during major events."
Broadway and Roosevelt Avenue
The Department of Transportation redesign will put a center-running bus lane on Broadway. The lane will serve the Q70 as it exits the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway toward the 74 Street-Broadway/Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Avenue subway hub, a stretch that links riders to the airport shuttle after they leave the subway system.
Mamdani added, "This new bus lane will help welcome visitors from around the world this summer while delivering faster commutes every day for the thousands of-working class New Yorkers who rely on the Q70."
World Cup Transit Plans
The Broadway project is the second transportation initiative Mamdani has tied to the upcoming World Cup so far. Earlier this year, he announced plans for a cyclist-only entrance to the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge, and last month his administration broke ground on a bus lane redesign of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn.
The new lane also puts a deadline on the work: the city said it will build it before next month’s World Cup. For riders on the free Q70, the practical change is narrow but direct — a faster path from the subway hub to LaGuardia Airport through a short section of Broadway that has been moving at a crawl.
Q70 Riders
That leaves commuters and airport travelers with a simple change to watch on Broadway: the lane will be on the eastbound side, and it is meant to move the Q70 through Jackson Heights faster than it does now. With 9,000 daily riders on the route, the project reaches far beyond World Cup visitors and into the regular trip many New Yorkers make every day.
