M.T.A.'s Lack Of Leadership Delays 2nd Ave. Subway Yet Again

As of late much of the blame for the M.T.A.'s woes have been directed at the State Senate, and rightly so. However, when it comes to the completion of the Second Avenue subway line the fingers are being pointed squarely in the direction of the transit authority's management. It appears that division that oversees capital projects can't get their act together on a subway line that was originally planned for eighty years ago.

From The NY Daily News:

The MTA, which has pushed back the completion date several times over the last decade, recently predicted additional construction and design delays totaling 18 months, an internal document drafted in February reveals.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's handling of some aspects of its major construction projects has frustrated the Federal Transit Administration, The News has learned.

After extending the Second Ave. subway schedule in March 2008, citing higher than anticipated construction costs, the MTA was required to give the feds a recovery plan with options to make up some lost time and fill budget gaps.

The feds have "provided the MTA with a time period that is more than reasonable" regional administrator Brigid Hynes-Cherin wrote to the MTA in November. "Unfortunately, the MTA appears to have been caught up in a never-ending process of evaluating and reevaluating each program. The time for evaluation has taken far too long, and the time for presenting a recovery plan is now long overdue."

Supposedly this plan will be done in a couple weeks, but who knows if it will be comprehensive or meet the federal government's standards. The only thing about this project the authority has been good at is to promote the T line, though their ads about the first segment being done in 2015 have not-unexpectantly disappeared.

It really is sad to see that in the preeminent city in the United States, it takes a century (probably more though) to build a subway line, where in other countries entire systems are completed within a few years and with much higher quality.

Fun Facts Of The 2nd Ave Subway

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (my rep by the way), with all the talk of economic stimulus via infrastructure bouncing off the halls of Congress, has decided to get in the game. The massive project underway in her district is none other than the infamous 2nd Ave. subway and guess what, it needs money. Maloney took the time to spout off some facts about how it helps the local economy, but forgets about how it hurts in the short-term.

From The Gothamist:

Yesterday, Representative Carolyn Maloney released a report detailing how construction for the Second Avenue Subway, as well as the East Side Access plan, have helped out the economy. According to the findings, the Second Ave Subway has created 16,00 jobs, generated $842 million in wages, and produced $2.87 billion in economic activity, while East Side Access has created 22,000 jobs, generated $1.176 billion in wages, and produced $4 billion in economic activity. And by the endShe said, “The stock market may be slumping, but these two transit megaprojects are delivering a very healthy return on the federal and state investments in them... While these projects won’t cure everything that ails our economy, they are a huge help in getting us back on track.” Read the report (PDF). Last month, NY1 focused on 2nd Avenue businesses that have taken a hit since the dig—Second Avenue Business Association says, "Within the first six months of the construction process commencing, business declined between 15 and 20 percent."

The jobs and wages are great, the impact on local businesses is not so great, but the long-term impact of having a second subway line on the eastside is essential for NYC. Back when the project was initially started in 1929, the city was so eager for it that they tore down the El lines in anticipation of the underground route. Of course as we know now, eighty years later and we still do not have a working T train. So basically I feel for those suffering businesses, but then again thinking long-term is key here.

M.T.A. To Get Busy On Fulton St. With Fed Stimulus

Congress and Barack Obama have tentatively found $819 billion dollars to spread around to start the economy moving again. I'd prefer a higher percentage of it to be going to infrastructure than the tax breaks that were meant to appease Republicans but alas, that is another story altogether. Anyway, New York got a nice chunk of that money and subsequently, so did the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Out of the $1.5 billion or so dedicated to them, Elliot Sander and friends have decided to spend a third of it to finish the Fulton St. transit hub.

From The NY Times:

The additional financing would allow the authority to move ahead with plans to erect an architecturally dramatic glass building atop the transit hub, said Elliot G. Sander, the authority’s executive director. However, it was not clear if the final design would include the project’s signature feature, a conelike skylight, known as an oculus, that would channel daylight into the lower areas of the station. Mr. Sander said the oculus could add about $40 million to the cost.

“The pavilion has to be many things to many people,” Mr. Sander said, referring to the glass structure. “It has to be a building of vibrant design with as much new retail activity as possible.” He called it “a highly visible portal to a modern transportation complex.”

Mr. Sander, who spoke at a State Assembly hearing in Lower Manhattan, said that he estimated the authority would receive $1.5 billion to $2 billion from the economic stimulus bill that is working its way through Congress. He said he planned to spend $497 million of that to complete the downtown transit hub. He did not say how the remainder would be spent.

Well it sounds nice that the M.T.A. can actually go ahead and finish the hub but doesn't Mr. Sander think that there are other projects that are just a little more pressing than a giant glass dome? I know, it'll look nice and fill in the giant hole down there created by the demolishment of several long-standing buildings. I get that argument.

I also get the argument that the Lexington line is ridiculously overcrowded (especially since I ride it) and that the never-ending saga that is the Second Avenue line is just a little more important. The money for that is about to run out and this is the perfect opportunity to ensure that at least Phase I can be completed. Aesthetics are important to the downtown folk and the millions that pass through the hub down there but they can manage without for now. It would be much better and make a lot more sense for the M.T.A. to finish the underground portion of it and opens Phase I of the T line to ease the overcrowding on the Lexington line.

The Sad Story Of The Second Avenue Subway

I caught a link to SecondAvenueSaga's latest post on, you guessed it, the ill-fated subway line that the MTA continues to attempt and fail at building. The speed of construction is terribly slow and the funding for the project is tenuous at best, possibly running out by the time we reach year's end. They mentioned a Crain's article talking about the suffering businesses on 2nd Ave due to the construction, but the misery we all will have from not having a better MTA system is just too much to handle.

From SecondAvenueSagas:

In an article in Crain’s that explores how business along Second Ave. is suffering due to the ongoing construction, Kira Bindrim hints at some fiscal troubles ahead for the seemingly cursed subway line. She writes:

The city is preparing to break ground on the stretch from East 68th to East 73rd streets. Construction is currently moving in three-month intervals on alternate sides of the avenue, and Phase I is slated to be finished in 2015. But three months has become six months in some locations, and work between East 83rd and East 86th streets could be stalled by lawsuits over displaced residents. The MTA has funding for contracts through year-end, but additional money must come from its next capital plan. Prospects for that budget are grim.

Indeed, economic crises have derailed the line’s building twice, in 1929 and in the 1970s. The completion date for the $3.8 billion Phase I has been postponed two years. “I’m afraid they’re going to run out of cash,” Mr. Pecora says. “We might be faced with just a hole in the road.”

In reality, based on what we’ve learned in the past, this dire report isn’t quite true. With the Feds kicking in so much money for this project, Phase I will, at some point, become a reality. Considering that a tunnel running north of 96th St. already exists, there’s a good chance that Phase II — the extension north to 125th St. — will see the light of the day sometime over the next fifteen years.

Fifteen years is a long time, a decade and a half on top of nearly eighty years of promises for this T line. It is nice that the author has some hope, but frankly I do not see it. If there was anytime to fully fund the line and get it done in a respectable ten years (Shanghai built a full system in that time), it would be now. With President Obama in office and a Democratic Congress behind him, all the Senate has mustered is $9.5 billion for mass transit...across the country. Unless that is all going underneath 2nd Ave, I doubt we'll see much progress in fifteen years. A safer bet is hoping for completion in fifty.

T For Travesty

I know that AM New York went with T for Tardy this morning on their frontpage, but that doesn't do the situation justice. Yet again, the MTA is delaying the Second Avenue subway line, some day to be the T line running up and down the east side of Manhattan. The project was to have its first leg completed by 2013 (63rd-96th St.) but now they're tacking on two more years. You can add that to the 79 years we've been waiting so far since the project was started initially. But this isn't a technical issue, its a money issue and that is ticks a lot of people off.

From AM New York:

Commuters on the packed downtown platform at the 51st and Lexington station were in no mood to sympathize during the Wednesday's evening rush hour. "It's bordering on incompetence at this point," said Max Chee, 35, who was trying to get home to Park Slope. "By the time it's eventually ready I'll be retired."

The one-year delay - the second such postponement in recent months - affects the first stage of the Second Avenue line that will connect 96th Street to 63rd Street.

David Guin, a lawyer who lives in the West Village, sat on a bench watching the shiny metal No. 6 trains that resembled sardine cans rumble past.

"I wait for at least one or two, sometimes three trains to go by before I get on," Guin said. "Anything that would relieve the congestion on this line would do a lot."

By the time this is done, Max's grandkids will be retiring and David will have to let six or seven trains go by. Damn, if I was time-warped to 1929 when they proposed this thing, I'd be 106. I hope to God almighty I'm not a straphanger by that time in my life (if I get there). Enough griping about that though, there is plenty more on this plate.

Remember way back when (November-December '07) the fare increase was being mulled? The MTA said that they wanted to raise the fares for operational costs and save the state allocated money for large projects like....the T line and the Grand Central LIRR connection. Well now both items are delayed and the only thing that changes is that we, the straphangers, pay more starting next week.

And then there's the plan to solve our transportation needs with congestion pricing. Charging more to those that drive into the city so that we can have better mass transit would have been a great idea. Unfortunately many are seeing it now as a way to finance the M.T.A. as is instead of the improvements we were promised. On top of that, there are discrepancies between the Mayor and the M.T.A. on how the funds will be used. So not even the Mayor is able to say with certainty what those additional funds would be used for.

Meanwhile, we keep wasting billions in Iraq......wouldn't it be nice to have a week or two's worth of that to make New York move in the 21st century?

How Would You Artistically Describe The 2nd Ave Line?

While the MTA, politicians and the public battle the fare increase out, the transit authority is busy in other areas. One project involves creating underground reservoirs where flood waters on the tracks can go after being pumped, alleviating rain delays that are more on schedule than the MTA can hope their subway trains can ever be. In other, lighter news, the MTA is calling all artists for their new subway stations on the to-be-completed 2nd Ave. subway.

From The NY Post:

The massive public-art commissions for the 96th, 86th, 72nd, and 63rd street stations are expected to attract artists from across the country, officials told The Post.

"We're looking for work that melds with the architecture and with the community of the new stations," said Sandra Bloodworth, director of MTA Arts for Transit.

The new stations will be much brighter and sleeker than those in the rest of the system, and the works, which will cover as much as 2,200 square feet of wall space at each station, should reflect that, said project manager Lester Burg.

The four commissioned "pieces" will cost up to $4 million for the four stations and artists have until December 21st to submit their designs. The applications should be interesting to see and review, perhaps the MTA might let the public in on the decision-making process, possibly with more say than they allow for the fare increases. Time will tell if New York's brand new stops will come close to the unique designs that Los Angeles installed in their one subway line.

2nd Avenue Subway Gets Huge Boo$t

Congress has come through for Manhattan's East Side in a big way. Though they suck in general, providing $1.3 billion for the future T line is a tremendous boon for the city. Like many Eastsiders, I hate having to use the Lexington local at rush hour. If you are so lucky, you have to pack yourself in with the herd to get a spot on the 4, 5 or 6 trains. If not, its another couple of minutes wait to try again with the next cattle car. The line has been overcrowded for years and is only getting worse.

The promise of a Second Avenue line has been a dream for nearly eighty years now. Funding woes have been the primary reason that we haven't been able to wake up to the T line. Little things like the Great Depression and the bankruptcy of the city in the 70s have hampered the effort. Now with federal funding, all we need to do is get it built.

As a selfish New Yorker, I would love to have it started down here in the Murray Hill/Gramercy area, but I am glad progress is being made. Perhaps by the time I am eighty it'll work its way down here.

Hey MTA, The Ground Was Already Broken On Second Ave!

As an eastsider in the city, I always thought it unfair that the Westside had more subway lines than over here by the East River. All you need to do is look at an MTA map and you can see the difference. Riding the 4-5-6 is almost always packed to the brim and although every subway line can get crowded, the Lexington Local is the only line east of 6th Ave. So naturally I think that building a 2nd Ave. line is a great idea. In a perfect world it would have been done decades ago, but hey, this is New York.

There is a great blog that is covering all things related to the proposed line called Second Avenue Sagas. It is a great name because the saga of the line is quite lengthy. The entire project has an estimated cost of $17 billion dollars, but way back when the first ground-breaking ceremony was conducted, the price tag was far lower. Of course the beginning of the T line was first brought forth in September 1929 and then the Great Depression came, ending any hope of an additional Eastside line. Then it was tried again in 1951, 1968 and 1972 to no avail.

So 78 years later the project begins again, yet it is still in doubt. It seems that the project is now $800 million short with blame being passed around to all parties. Even the feds are wary about giving money to cover their part. If a miracle occurs and the expenses are covered, the first section from 96th to 63rd St. will be finished by 2013. If the MTA builds the next section to the south then I expect to have service in my neck of the woods somewhere around 2020. Of course, that would be in the perfect world scenario, so I think I'll just walk for now.