Results tagged “avenuesubway”

The MTA unveiled its 2008-2013 Capital Plan, which explained almost $30 billion will be needed to improve mass transit and complete projects like the Second Avenue Subway, the East Side Access plan and more by 2030 (many of those projects will also be delayed). Though the current MTA capital plan doesn't expire until next year, the MTA presented this plan because the state congestion pricing legislation required them to present a plan by the end of the first quarter of 2008.

One hundred years ago today, the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad opened for business with one mission – to get the passengers to and from the various railroad terminals on the Hudson County New Jersey side of the river to or from Manhattan who would otherwise have to take ferries. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the PATH, the Port Authority is giving free PATH rides today between 6AM and 11PM.

It was originally named the 8th Avenue Subway, but the 'A' train turns 75 today, having opened September 10th, 1932. Officials are holding a ceremony at the line's northernmost station––Inwood/207th St.––and will be running six antique railcars from the 1930s during the day to commemorate the event. This is more than the Eighth Ave. Subway garnered on its opening day: Back in 1932, just before midnight, transit workers simply dropped chains blocking access to turnstiles up and down the line and riders were free to pay the five cent fare at any of the original 28 stations between 207th St. and Chambers St., a total distance of 12 miles.

The MTA has actually done something to make the community along the in-progress Second Avenue Subway happy. They have decided not to acquire two Food Emporiums for space and will instead design around them. The NY Sun reported after community opposition, a station entrance at 86th Street will be redesigned while a ventilation system at 63rd Street and Third will be repositioned.

$3,000 - audio/video installation and operationIt's a MasterCard commercial waiting to happen! If you're wondering why the MTA needed to hire a contractor to clean and renovate, it's because they wanted to have the groundbreaking underground in the actual tunnel. While already built in the 70s, the tunnel had to be power-washed and made safe enough for all the people attending the groundbreaking.

usher the MTA into an era of high ridership and capital improvement and help ed set up many big projects (Second Avenue Subway, East Side Access). But he also oversaw the agency during the transit strike.

MTA Chairman Peter S. Kalikow announced that he is stepping down from his position as chairman of the MTA. Kalikow, who was appointed by then Governor George Pataki back in 2001, was reappointed to a 6-year term last summer, which suggested there might be battles ahead between him and new governor Eliot Spitzer. But at the end of 2006, Kalikow said he would step down during the second quarter of this year, after finishing up some projects, like the Second Avenue Subway. Here are some quotes from the MTA press release:

“I am a firm believer in setting aggressive goals, accomplishing those goals and then giving others the opportunity to both expand upon those initiatives and create new ones with fresh vision and new energy,” said Kalikow. “As both a longtime public servant and an avid supporter of term limits as a means to maintain healthy and effective government leadership, I believe the public will be best served by my decision.”

Continue reading "MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow Announces Resignation"

Spring is when we get busy here in the Ist-A-Verse. Very busy. But, after staying bundled-up indoors all winter, it's nice for us to be out, about, and collecting things to write about for you. Here's a glimpse at what's been keeping your favorite citybloggers busily away from home and out of bed.

Yesterday's Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking was notable for a few things: First of all, as we all know by now, it's was the fourth groundbreaking - three occurred in the 1970s, so yesterday's event was an introduction to the pomp and pageantry of subway groundbreakings for many of us. Second, it was pouring. When it rains at weddings, some people say that's lucky (though we suspect it's just to make the couple feel better). We say it's lucky that parts of the subway were already built, so the dignitaries and MTA official gathered could stay relatively dry.

Mayor Bloomberg missed the Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking yesterday morning because he was in Cincinnati to unveil the latest part of his campaign fight illegal guns. And, yes, Ohio is a swing state.

It's been 33 years since the last Second Avenue Subway groundbreaking, so it's high time for new generations of straphangers to revel in the hope of a new subway line. We also expect the public -- especially the Upper East Side-residing public -- to become jaded with construction delays, traffic issues, and noise. Here's the press release from the MTA:

Tomorrow morning's historic groundbreaking ceremony for the Second Avenue Subway can be seen by all New Yorkers live on NY1, beginning at 10:30 a.m. The groundbreaking ceremony will take place in one of the subway tunnels built under Second Ave. in the 1970s but never used. Due to the limited capacity of the tunnel, the MTA arranged for the live broadcast with NY1 and will open its board room at 347 Madison Avenue for members of the public to join MTA staff for a public viewing and celebration.

Continue reading "Second Avenue Subway Groundbreaking Day!"

As we mentioned yesterday, it's wet today.

When the chief suits and ties take a few symbolic jackhammer swipes on Thursday to relaunch construction on the Second Avenue Subway, they won't exactly be breaking new ground. A 3-minute video from NY Times shows the history of three previous groundbreaking ceremonies held in the 1970s.

Since the MTA is close to signing a contract for the first phase of work for the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway (the T line), we were perusing MTA's presentation to Community Board 8 about the "Constructability Approach."

amNew York reveals that the MTA will sign a construction contract for the Second Avenue Subway on March 29. We can't believe that the MTA is actually signing a contract - it's only been about four years since the first of the recent-Second-Avenue Subway public hearings! Heck, the Second Avenue Subway was a cover story for New York in 2004.

Ah, the first rumble between MTA Executive Director Elliot Sander and the city! Sander has threatened to stop the 7 line extension if the city won't pay for cost overruns. Because Assemblyman Richard Brodsky asked about the project's budget, Sander wrote a letter to him (which he made public), stating, "It is M.T.A.’s position that we are under no legal obligation to absorb any additional costs or overruns." Ha! As we all know, MTA projects attract additional costs and overruns like honey does bees, and budgeting only $100 million for overruns (the city's current commitment is $2.1 billion) sounds low.

Telling us what most any subway rider suspected, City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. issued a review of the MTA's "State of Good Repair" capital expenditures and found that the MTA isn't very committed to making sure subway and bus service is in a "State of Good Repair." For instance, the MTA is 10-15 years behind making NYC Transit assets reach a State of Good Repair: 40% of lettered lines have 70 year old signals, which cause delays; many fan plants that are supposed to take out smoke in case of a fire won't be in Good Repair until 2028 (they were supposed to be fixed this year); and there is still lighting from the 1930s in some subway tunnels.

We all know the Second Avenue Subway project will be very costly. But we didn't know that the MTA was thinking about leaving the 300-foot tunnel boring machines underground when the project is done. The NY Sun reports that abandoning the $15-20 million machines may be "more efficient and cost-effective" rather than hauling them out. Apparently there's a precedent for this: The TBMs used for the Chunnel excavation were left there (however, other U.S. cities that have used TBMs aren't sure if theirs were left underground).

Op-ed pieces are always very hopeful, but we will remain optimistic that Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer will be able to take the one written by lawyer Gene Russianoff of Straphangers' Campaign seriously. Russianoff offers a roadmap to help navigate the MTA, given the huge deficits ahead and the reliance on mass transit that many New Yorkers enjoy. You should read the essay yourself, but here are the points:

In November, it was reported that, in spite of a lack of news, cell phone bids to wiring subway stations were still alive. But the Sun reports that they may actually be "dead in the tracks", as MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow isn't sure if the agency will pick a vendor:

The service providers want riders to make calls while in the tunnels. The MTA has remained adamantly opposed to chatting in transit.

Continue reading "Urban Legend in the Making: Subway Platform Cell Phone Service"

Whoa, is this an early holiday present to Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer? Or is this a fake-out to appease him for now? MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow told a state Assembly oversight hearing that he'll leave office "sometime in the second quarter": "There are things that I want to get finished. When they are finished I would like to resign." Those things being getting funding for the Second Avenue Subway and other capital projects secured.

Newsday has a good article looking at the transportation issues the next governor will deal with - the biggest being the MTA. The MTA, which already announced fare hikes for next year, faces insane budget deficits in the coming years: $905 million in 2008, $1.13 billion in 2009, $1.48 billion in 2010. The Straphangers' Campaign's Gene Russianoff says of the MTA, "They borrowed a ton of money to fix a system, and now the bill is coming due."

The year 2030 is in the MTA's sights, as it starts to work on solutions as the city will grow and change. AMNY was at the briefing panel, where director of planning William Wheeler said, "I've never seen a more exciting time in terms of growth in the region." Exciting, yes, but it's also scary when we think about what the MTA will need to do to accomodate for the expected 1.5 million increase in population that's expected in 25 years.

Sweet fancy Moses, MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow might leave the MTA to take a job as the head of the Real Estate Board of New York, the big real estate lobbying group! Sources tell the Daily News that Kalikow, a real estate developer in his own right (his MTA salary si $1), would only leave after securing Second Avenue Subway funding. Someone in the federal government - fund that project!

For those who plan on commuting to or from the Upper East Side many years from now, you have something to look forward to - oh, and those of you living along Second Avenue, you might be annoyed - the MTA is getting ready to award a tunneling contract for the Second Avenue Subway's first phase this year, with digging actually starting in 2008, which means there's still time to relocate! Phase 1 of the long-long-gestating project would start at East 96th Street and go down to East 72nd Street, and make a connection to the East 63rd Street tracks. The only thing standing in the way may be Native American villages and burial grounds. The Post reports that the MTA will have archeologists "on hand to halt the massive tunnel-boring machine at the first sign of artifacts dating back hundreds of years." The MTA probably learned their lesson after coming across the big wall in Battery Park while trying to expand the South Ferry station.

Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan is probably turning in his grave right now. Plans for the Moynihan Station have been "derailed" as plans to discuss it have been postponed. Officials had been hoping that the Public Authorities Control Board would approve the project this year, so it would happen under Governor Pataki's term. But with opposition to and many questions surrounding the project, the NY Times reports "the Pataki administration took the proposal off the table again yesterday rather than risk a vote against it." Hello, brinksmanship!

Hello and welcome to New York City. Today I'd like to introduce you to one of our city's crown jewels: the subway. A glorious municipal means of transport the subway and its siblings the bus and the ferry, can take you almost everywhere in Gotham. Literally from the canyons of Wall Street to the beaches of Rockaway all for the low, low price of $2.00 - even lower if you ride enough and purchase an unlimited Metrocard!

Attorney General - and frontrunner in the NY State gubernatorial race - Eliot Spitzer laid out his transportation priorities to the Regional Plan Association yesterday, and on the list: the Second Avenue Subway, the LIRR link to Grand Central, and replacing the Tappan Zee Bridge. But he's less enthusiastic about the JFK rail link from downtown Manhattan. Pataki's been hot on the idea of a rail link since 2004. Could it be because the federal government okayed $2 billion to go to the project? Anyway, showing his true optimistic political stripes, Spitzer also said he'd try to put the MTA on track. Well, we don't know how he could do worse than Pataki, unless we plumb our nightmares.

The Federal Transit Administration has approved the first part of the Second Avenue subway, and the Post reports that it means the MTA can start using $1.3 billion (of the $5 billion it'll take to create the 63rd to 96th Streets part; $13 billion for an entire East Harlem to downtown Manhattan) for design and engineering. The quote the Post has from Representative Carolyn Maloney is "The wheels are turning on the Second Avenue subway project, that's for sure. This is another sign of the progress we're making," but Gothamist has to say the wheels are very, very slow - public hearings for the Second Avenue subway began back in 2003 (okay, we're impatient). We really doubt the 63rd-96th Street part will be done by 2012, as hoped, but what's cool is that the Q train will be connected to what we think may be the T line at 72nd, 86th and 96th Streets. In the end, the Second Avenue subway will be a good, if semi-Quoixotic experience - it'll make things like the 4/5 construction issues easier to bear, even if we'll be wearing orthopedic shoes by the time it's ready.