Category: General

Tuesday, My Earnings Report is Late, Links

Q1 2009 Current Major Transportation Capital Projects in New York City


Over the weekend I was in a conversation discussing the different transportation capital improvements currently in process in the New York City Region. Below is a current list as of the First Quarter (Q1) of 2009 for all major capital improvements by the MTA and the Port Authority. If you step back, there are an amazing amount of infrastructure and transportation capital projects occurring in the NYC Region. Note: capital campaigns are separately funded from the operational budgets. The current MTA budgetary issues are operating, not capital. But without additional funding, in both operating and capital budgets, the current level of service the MTA provides will degrade back in to the 1970’s level of service.
Current Major Transportation Capital Projects in New York City:

South Ferry Terminal

  • Status: Grand Opening Today
  • New York City Transit (MTA)
  • Budget – $530 million (Federal Transit Administration)

The South Ferry Terminal is a new station of the 1 Line in Lower Manhattan replacing the original turn-back loop which can only fit the first five cars. This project was slated to open in early 2009 but has been plagued with accessibility issues and other performance issues.
Today is the official Grand Opening

Second Avenue Subway

  • Status: Phase 1 est. completion 2015
  • New York City Transit (MTA)
  • Current Budget – $337 million (Phase One only)

The first new subway line in over 30 years, the Second Avenue Subway is halfway through Phase One. Phase One includes new tunnels from 105th Street and Second Avenue to 63rd Street and Third Avenue, with new stations along Second Avenue at 96th, 86th and 72nd Streets. Once Phase One is complete, the Q train will be extended from its current terminus at Lex/63rd Street up Second Avenue stopping at 72nd, 86th, and 96th Streets. Phase Two (125th St. to 96th St.) is scheduled for 2014-2017, Phase Three (63rd St. to Houston St.) for 2015-2018 and Phase Four (Houston St. to Hanover Sqr.) 2017-2020. The main reason the project’s schedule is so long is the lack of secured funding.

7 Line Extension

  • Status: tunnel boring began – est. completion 2010
  • New York City Transit (MTA)
  • Extension of the 7 Line west to Tenth Avenue then South to a new 34th Street Station.
  • Current Budget – $2 billion (financed by NYC bonds)

Extension of the 7 Line to service the existing Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (the extension was originally proposed for the failed 2012 Olympic Bid and the failed NY Jets Stadium at Hudson Yards). Currently, there is a tunnel boring machine running north from 29th St/11th Ave.

East Side Access

  • Status: Tunelling
  • Project Completion 2015
  • Long Island Railroad (MTA)
  • Current Budget – $6.3 billion

East Side Access will bring Long Island Railroad service to Grand Central Terminal using the existing 63rd Street Tunnels and two new sets of tunnels connecting both ends of the 63rd Street Tunnels. One set of approach tunnels pass under the existing Sunnyside Yards while the other tunnels pass under the existing Metro North Tunnels on Park Avenue and terminate at Grand Central. Project is estimated to be complete in 2015.

Fulton Street Transit Center Project

  • Status: Unknown
  • New York City Transit (MTA)
  • Linking 12 Downtown Subway Lines
  • Current Budget – $1.4 billion ($497 million from HR-1 Stimulus Package)

Stations served by the 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, E, J, M, R, W and Z services will be rehabilitated and connected via an east-west underground passageway designed by Grimshaw Architects. A high-visibility Transit Center will be constructed, with entrances on Broadway between Fulton Street and John Street. The station will be handicapped accessible.

World Trade Center Transportation Complex

  • Status: Construction of subsurface tunnels
  • Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
  • New Commuter Rail Station
  • Current Budget – $3.2 billion

Designed by Santiago Calatrava, this transit center will house the terminus for the PATH trains at World Trade. Initial foundations are complete and sections of the structure have been erected.

Access to the Region’s Core

  • Status: initial contracts
  • Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
  • New commuter tunnels under the Hudson River to Penn Station
  • Current Budget – $8.7 billion (NJ State $2.7 billion, PANYNJ $3 billion, $3 Federal)

ARC is a new two-tunnel (single track) project creating a single-seat trap for New Jersey Transit riders to Penn Station doubling the current capacity. Creation of two new Hudson River tunnels and new deep-cavity terminal connected to Penn Station. The first contracts were announced last week.

Moynihan Station

  • Status: unknown
  • Amtrak, New Jersey Transit

This project has a particular place in my heart, a project which typifies large capital construction in New York City. Last week Senator Schumer was seeking federal funding for Moynihan Station with Amtrak moving into the future Moynihan Station. Currently the project is in negotiations between the City, State, Federal governments and the two developers involved in the project Related and Vornado. Keep wishing.

Snakebit – A Film About Samuel Mockbee & the Rural Studio

Mockbee Rural Studio - Mason Bend CommCenter-01Mockbee Rural Studio – Mason Bend CommCenter-01, originally uploaded by greco2104

Snakebit is a documentary film on Samuel Mockbee and the Rural Studio:

Snakebit is a documentary film on the late architect Samuel Mockbee and the radical educational design/build program known as the Rural Studio that he co-founded deep in poverty-stricken Hale County, Alabama. Awarded a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant and the American Institute of Architects’ Gold Medal Award for his work at the Rural Studio, Mockbee was an artist, builder and educator who instilled his passion and philosophy in those he believed will become a new generation of “citizen architects.” Snakebit is a 60-minute film for PBS that explores the effort by Mockbee to inject architecture’s future practitioners with the knowledge and passion to improve their community’s quality of life by putting compassion and ethical responsibilities at the heart of their design.

Monday, Are You an AIG Counterparty?, Links

Earmarks Are a Trivial Percentage of the Budget – So Stop Whining

Again – Earmarks are not bad and are a structural effect of our system. And guess what!? That $8 billion of earmarks in the Omnibus Spending Act signed into law, a mere 2% of the budget, won’t evaporate with the end of earmarking as we know it; that $8 billion wouldn’t be erased but rather folded back into the budget as discretionary appropriations by federal agencies.
All this whining about earmarks is a fucking joke and a distraction from issues which actually matter.
If you really care about earmarks – Senator McCain and all the talking heads (with faux outrage) please take it up with Article V of the Constitution and propose an amendment. If not, STFU.

United Pipes in ATC Chatter

Manhattan Skyline

For flight nerds only:

My United ORD-LGA flight yesterday had the option to listen into the ATC chatter which seemed to be a feed tap from the cockpit (so that the frequency always changed to whatever the pilots we using). I’ve listened to ATC chatter before, but this was the first time I’ve ever listened into the ATC feed during a commercial flight I was on. What was most interesting was how the different center controller’s attitude reflected their location: Cleveland Center was typically Midwestern nice with a slow cadence while New York Center was hurried with a fast cadence which, while cultural, has more to do with the huge amount of flight volume New York Center is tasked to handle.

What I found most enjoyable was the approach to LGA listening to all of the different flights departing and arriving in the tri-state area. Our aircraft was ordered by ATC to proceed to the Verrezzano Bridge then turn north up the Hudson – the Verro-Hudson Visual Approach. After crossing the Verro the co-pilot radioed to ATC asking if our heading was correct because they weren’t from around here. After proceeding up the Hudson the co-pilot radioed ATC again, this time asking what that bridge was in front of them; ATC replied, GW Bridge – confirming my suspicion that just as I crane my neck against the window to get a good look at the New York skyline, pilots do the same thing (but with better views).

Predictably, I think all airlines should have this feature on all flights – bravo to United for keeping me occupied throughout the 2 hour flight.