NYC to create dedicated bus lane for Q70 to LaGuardia Airport
A Q70-SBS travels along Broadway in Jackson Heights, Queens. Credit: NYC DOT
A new dedicated bus lane along Broadway in Queens will speed commutes to and from LaGuardia Airport, just in time for an influx of visitors ahead of the FIFA World Cup this summer. Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) would begin installing a center-running eastbound bus lane along Broadway between 69th Street and Roosevelt Avenue, a busy corridor used by roughly 9,000 daily riders on the Q70-SBS, also known as the “LaGuardia Link.” The plan would maintain one travel lane in each direction for general traffic while improving bus speeds, which currently drop to as low as 2.7 mph during evening rush hour, slower than walking pace.
“The World Cup may come and go, but the investments we made to our streets and public transit must serve New Yorkers for decades to come,” Mamdani said. “Arriving in New York City should be fast, affordable and reliable all year round—not just during major events.”
“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,” he added.
DOT will present the proposal to the local community board later this month and expects to complete the project before World Cup matches begin in June.
The project is one of several street upgrades the Mamdani administration has advanced in anticipation of the World Cup. The tournament, hosted at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, includes five group-stage matches on June 13, 16, 22, 26, and 27, a round of 32 match on June 30, a round of 16 match on July 5, and the final on July 19, as 6sqft previously reported.
Other initiatives include the redesign of Ninth Avenue from West 34th to West 50th Streets in Hell’s Kitchen, and new bike and pedestrian entrances to the Brooklyn Bridge in Manhattan.
The plan also builds on a broader series of bus lane upgrades undertaken by the administration since January. In March, the DOT broke ground on Bronx crosstown bus service upgrades and street safety improvements around Yankee Stadium, adding westbound bus-only lanes and converting the 161st Street underpass to bus-only use.
In April, the DOT began work on the long-delayed redesign of Madison Avenue with dedicated bus lanes and restarted the redesign of Brooklyn’s Flatbush Avenue with center-running bus lanes.
That same month, the agency also announced that parts of Brooklyn’s Linden Boulevard, one of the borough’s most dangerous corridors, would be redesigned with center-running bus lanes and other safety upgrades by 2027.
It also follows the release of a $160 million plan in March 2025 to fund the expansion of bus service to and from LaGuardia. Recommended by an expert panel in 2023, the proposed upgrades include creating a bus-only lane, installing traffic signals that prioritize the Q70 bus, increasing service during peak hours, adding a dedicated pick-up and drop-off zone at LaGuardia, and improving lighting and signage.
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