7 Train To Jersey Idea Is Alive! Alive!

Watch out Jersey, the 7s might be coming your way (via mr geneko's flickr).

Remember the hot minute when it looked like the derailed ARC tunnel project connecting Jersey and the city was going to be replaced by a 7 train extension? The dream isn't dead yet! The Daily News is reporting that the city has given a quarter-million dollar no-bid contract to an engineering firm to look at the idea. And the decision if this is a good idea or not should come in "a matter of months, not years," according to Deputy Mayor Robert Steel.

One plus for the project is that the really expensive part—digging under Manhattan—is already being done as part of the the current $2.1 billion 7 train extension to 34th Street and 11th Avenue. The total rough estimate to extend the line to Secaucus is around $5 billion, less than half of the $11 billion ARC project Jersey Governor Christie so gleefully killed.

The biggest problem for the proposal? Money. Everybody is cash strapped (the MTA in particular) and coming up with funds will be tricky. But we won't know how tricky until there is a real report on the project to work with. Parsons Brinckerhoff, got the no-bid contract to analyze the idea (looking into things like how many riders it could serve, how it could connect to NJ Transit in addition to cost) because they worked up the studies for the current 7 extension.

So maybe Secaucus is the next Bushwick?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in News on February 4, 2011 11:16 AM

Comments [rss]

GalBklyn

"And the decision if this is a good idea or not should come in "a matter of months, not years," according to Deputy Mayor Robert Steel."

From the same guys who want to fire teachers and close fire houses.

God help us.

hb78

Make NJ pay for it. The train extending there isn't a benefit to any New Yorker.

stoop_pooper

Like making it easier for NJ commuters to get to the city so they can pay NY state income tax.

Oh you must be one of those people that didn't know that. Whatever money NJ residents make in NY state is taxed and paid to NY state not NJ genius

Steven Harris

Staten what?
If you move to an island you shouldn't expect modern day comforts like easy transportation. Island people deserve what island people get, mangoes.

xgeyiph772

Yeah, I'm hating my $950/mo rent for a large studio in a nice co-op bldg. And what's up with those SI supermarkets charging like half what B'klyn and Manhattan do? God, I hate that. But the worst is the quiet nights--no screeching frat boys or bums pissing outside my window at 3AM. Man, it sucks out here.

ogie

you mean like Manhattan island? or long island?

GothamExtremist

Chicago and LA too!

clipper321

Only one of the five boroughs (the Bronx) is not - or part of - an island.

matteus

it is, for now: http://gothamist.com/2011/01/0...

Guest

I love this idea. Of course the key is, once Staten Island succeeds from NYC - then NYC should succeed from the union and become its own country.