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Grand plans for the 7 line extension have run into the harsh reality of budgetary constraints. Originally, the 7 line was going to be extended westward from its terminus at 42nd St. and 7th Ave. to a stop at the Javits Convention Center at 41st St. and 11th Ave., before heading south to 34th St. and the proposed Hudson Yards development site. Construction for the $2.1 billion project is going to be paid for by the MTA, which hopes to recoup its investment with proceeds from development of those Hudson Yards. MTA officials are now conceding that the project will be less ambitious.
The MTA is prepared to approve a $1.1 billion contract to S3 II Tunnel Constructors next week. It's the same consortium digging the 2nd Ave. subway line. Plans for a station at 41st St. and 11th Ave. have already been scrapped, with the train now planned simply to head west from 7th Ave. to 11th Ave. and then south to 34th St. There is a $500 million option for the tunnel building consortium to at least create a shell where a future station could be installed, but the MTA is begging off, after the city refused to pick up the tab on any cost overruns on the project. With cost overruns about the only concrete expectation involved with any MTA project, the Authority realized that it couldn't risk or afford even building a shell of a future station.
This means that the addition of a single station to the 7 line is going to cost $2.1 billion. If the MTA ever decides to go ahead with the plan for a station at 41st St. and 11th Ave., the cost of that project will be significantly increased for lack of building a station shell now, when tunnel boring equipment is already underground.
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It amazes me that there hasn't been more written about this wasteful "train to nowhere." So now our $2billion is going to get us exactly one (1) new subway station. Once boarded, you will be able to go across 42nd streets three stops before leaving Manhattan. The fact that there is literally nothing where this stop will be located, except Mayor McCheese's wet dream of yet another trillion dollar playground/workspace for the fabulously wealthy, doesn't seem to register. And are the future Rockefellers who will live/work over there really the most likely users of such a limited subway line? Not to mention that the "extension" will increase the time of EVERY
7 train ride by five minutes. For this? Remember this when the MTA does its do-and-pony show pretending to listen to public outrage over their next (already set in stone) fare increase.
Wow. I had naively imagined that the extension would connect to the river -- i.e. the ferries, the greenway, the destinations there. In other words a multimodal link. Now it's just a private line to the development. This is robbery.
Rexlic....What are u talking about? The money isn't public money, it is privately funded through a bond offering from the future yards development. which won't happen unless there is the subway. And rich people wont be using it employees and residents will.
And lower manhattan...the new stop will be located in the new greenway.
Islander...We will pay the bill somewhere down the line for this. The MTA clearly can't manage its finances: they underestimated the value of this property by $800million when Mayor Mike wanted his friend to have it for football ten times a year. And what will arise there? Another Doctoroff-style doozy, a megabucks megacity for wealthy companies (already Conde Nast, NewsCorp and Morgan Stanley are talking about the space) and rich residents (show me any Chelsea condo project currently going up not priced for millionaires). So $2billion for ONE stop that makes every single ride on the line take longer? Thanks but no thanks.
Lots of mis-information here. The plan to build only one new station on the 7 extension has long been public knowledge. What is new is the extremely high cost that the winning construction team is asking for to build the shell at 41st and 11th Ave. Previous shell estimates were a very high $250 million. Part of the super high cost of stations is that MTA is designing ancillary facilities such as substations and ventilation plants to be below ground rather than above ground.
The City of NY and it's taxpayers are funding the extension via tax-increment financing. The extra property taxes from development in Hudson Yards over some baseline will be used to repay the bonds for the 7 extension.
Thank the Chinese for a portion of the inflation in construction costs. It's not the MTA's fault.