Tag: ARC

Government Accountability Office says Chris Christie lied about Access to the Region’s Core

the tunnel project study map

For those of you following at home, we have been following the trials and tribulations of the now canceled Access to the Region’s Core transit rail tunnel – a new pair of tunnels under the Hudson River for New Jersey Transit. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie famously canceled the project in favor of shifting the more than $4 billion to the road transportation trust fund, eliminating the need to raise gas taxes (presently one of the lowest in the nation). The New York Times reports that Report Disputes Christie’s Reason for Halting Tunnel Project in 2010:

The report by the Government Accountability Office, to be released this week, found that while Mr. Christie said that state transportation officials had revised cost estimates for the tunnel to at least $11 billion and potentially more than $14 billion, the range of estimates had in fact remained unchanged in the two years before he announced in 2010 that he was shutting down the project. And state transportation officials, the report says, had said the cost would be no more than $10 billion.

Mr. Christie also misstated New Jersey’s share of the costs: he said the state would pay 70 percent of the project; the report found that New Jersey was paying 14.4 percent. And while the governor said that an agreement with the federal government would require the state to pay all cost overruns, the report found that there was no final agreement, and that the federal government had made several offers to share those costs.

In fact, the GAO report1 makes clear that the State of New Jersey was on the hook for 32% of the total cost – less than half of Gov. Christie’s exaggerated claim.2 The report also makes clear that the project cost did not materially change, but rather was being refined as more detailed information came to light.

While ARC had some flaws – chiefly being composed as a deep-cavern terminal which was not directly connected to the existing Penn Station – the project was necessary to relieving the Hudson River crossing bottleneck: currently one 15-minute train disruption in the existing tunnel can delay as many as 15 other NJT and Amtrak trains. The chief beneficiary was New Jersey Transit riders who would now have a one-seat ride to Manhattan; secondary effects would be less cars on the road (meaning faster commutes and less pollution) and an increase in demand for housing in New Jersey communities close to NJT stations. All of this was a net-positive for New Jersey.

But Governor Christie3 killed the project under the aegis of fiscal responsibility, but was really all about keeping taxes low:

Canceling the tunnel, then the largest public works project in the nation, helped shape Mr. Christie’s profile as a rising Republican star, an enforcer of fiscal discipline in a country drunk on debt. But the report is likely to revive criticism that his decision, which he said was about “hard choices” in tough economic times, was more about avoiding the need to raise the state’s gasoline tax, which would have violated a campaign promise. The governor subsequently steered $4 billion earmarked for the tunnel to the state’s near-bankrupt transportation trust fund, traditionally financed by the gasoline tax.

Canceling ARC was nothing more than a naked political gambit, and the GAO called the Governor on his deceit. In Gov Christie’s world, it is better to spend the money on short-term gains, than to invest in an infrastructure project which would create long-term stability in a state which depends on New York for its survival.

At what point do we carve the New York-Connecticut-New Jersey MSA4 out of New York and New Jersey to create the 51st State – the State of New York City? Because trying to coordinate rational land use and transportation policy across state lines is not working at all.

State of NYC map

  1. Potential Impacts and Cost Estimates for the Cancelled Hudson River Tunnel Project, GAO-12-344, Mar 9, 2012 ↩
  2. Table 2: Proposed Funding by Source, as of April 2010, page 19 ↩
  3. I originally so much wanted to call Governor Christie the Corpulent King of Jersey, but that didn’t sound nice. So here it is, in a footnote ↩
  4. What’s a Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Area? ↩

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.

Access to the Region’s Core in NY Times

the tunnel project study map
I’ve written about Access to the Region’s Core – the new two-track rail tunnel under the Hudson River, but today The New York Times has an extensive write-up of the project, Tunnel Milestone, and More to Come:

But the tunnels reached their peak-hour capacity in 2003 when the Secaucus transfer hub opened. So New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are planning to spend $7.6 billion to build a second set that will more than double, to 48 an hour, the number of trains that can traverse the Hudson.
The project, called Access to the Region’s Core, or ARC, is in some ways as monumental as the first tunnels, which cost the Pennsylvania Railroad $111 million, a price tag that included the old Pennsylvania Station and four other tunnels under the East River. (It’s about $2.5 billion now when accounting for inflation.)
If federal approval is given this summer and grants are secured later this year, construction will begin in early 2009 and take eight years. Contractors will deploy boring machines the length of football fields to drill through granite, schist and other materials, use laser-guided satellite signals to pinpoint their location, and carve a path under 34th Street so wide that commuters will be able to walk underground to 14 subway lines, and to PATH, Amtrak, New Jersey Transit and Long Island Rail Road trains.

Also see a multimedia explanation about the two different tunnels and what the Future Stewart Express Might Look Like which would utilize the new tunnels.

What the Future Stewart Express Might Look Like

Virgin Wing
I’ve discussed the Port Authority’s new Hudson tunnel project for Stewart International Airport before but there is a new, if fluffy, article in the WSJ, Sending Fliers Up the River To Ease Traffic:

Stewart Airport, an abandoned Air Force base 60 miles up the Hudson River from Manhattan, is being transformed into a fourth airport for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New York’s airport operator.
…
Chicago proposed creating a third airport in Peotone, Ill., but airlines fought the proposal vehemently. Los Angeles has pumped lots of money into Palmdale, Calif., hoping to make it a reliever for the congested LA Basin, but so far only United Airlines is offering limited, subsidized service.
The idea has worked elsewhere. London’s satellite airports in the countryside have been growing rapidly, driven largely by discounters easyJet and Ryanair. Boston is ringed by several competing airports with commercial service, from big operations at Providence, R.I., and Manchester, N.H., which have become major destinations for Southwest Airlines and others, to fledgling development at Worcester, Mass., and former military bases in Portsmouth, N.H., and Bedford, Mass. Skybus now flies to Portsmouth, formerly Pease Air Force Base about 44 miles from Boston.

What is missing in this cheerleading is investigating why exactly the the airports noted above work. The difference between successful reliever airports, moderately successful reliever airports and unsuccessful reliever airports has everything to do with transportation. London’s Gatwick, Stansted and Luton airports are all successful because they have direct rail links to Central London which takes 30 minutes (Gatwick) to 45 minutes (Luton & Stansted). Additionally, for anyone who has repeatedly flown in and out of London’s Heathrow airport, the chance at flying to a different airport and take a similarly long train to centre London is greatly appealing.1 The Boston airports, Providence, Manchester & Portsmouth all have direct bus connections with Boston’s South Station with an under-hour trip.
For Stewart to become a fully-functioning reliever airport, two things must happen: the three New York airports, La Guardia JFK & Newark must continue their slide into chaos and delay, thus making the trip to Stewart palatable; or, a dedicated single-seat (and quick – a trip of no more then 45 minutes) train service from Stewart-to-Penn Station must be built. Both have costs: time and lost revenue for the airlines, and the cost of connecting Stewart with Penn Station.

Gatwick Express photo by Les Chatfield

Here is how it could be done:
It currently takes 1 hour 33 minutes from Salisbury Mills/Cornwall, the closest Metro-North station, to NY Penn Station with a change at Secaucus Junction.2 The future Stewart Express, would not only need to connect from Salisbury Mills/Cornwall. Suffice to say, this travel time would be trimmed by the Access to the Region’s Core tunnel project, but one problem which will hamper this line is the existing two track right of way. This will need to be upgraded to a minimum three track, but realistically, four track ROW in order to safely operate the Stewart Express to and from Penn Station. An additional staging/repair yard would need to be located somewhere in the system for the additional Stewart Express trains. This is all predicated on being able to purchase, or use the State’s power of eminent domain, to acquire the additional ROW to access Stewart and appropriating the capital expenditure required to build and upgrade the line.
Stewart Express map

ROW of the mythical Stewart Express

All of this adds up to a very long-term project, which in today’s political climate doesn’t have a great deal of chance without a strong support throughout all levels of government.

  1. I deeply love waiting in the cattle pen-like security line, or the three different security checks LHR presents current travellers &#8617
  2. Current riders travel 69 minutes on a local train from Salisbury Mills/Cornwall to Secaucus Junction, wait approximately 10 minutes and then take a NJ Transit train an additional 15 minute NY Penn Station. See complete timetable (pdf) &#8617

Port Authority to give $3B to new Hudson tunnel project

, originally uploaded by michael cinque

Another $1B slated for tunnel for the new Hudson rail tunnel named Access to the Region’s Core:

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will provide another $1 billion to build a tunnel to carry trains under the Hudson River, bringing its total contribution to the $7.5 billion project to $3 billion.
The authority had committed $2 billion to the tunnel, which is scheduled to be completed by 2017. The agency operates the region’s airports, the bridges and tunnels that carry automobiles between New Jersey and New York City, and the PATH train system.
New Jersey Transit says the tunnel will almost double the number of trains that can travel into Manhattan at rush hour, easing congestion as more commuters switch to mass transit amid rising gas prices and more crowded highways, and reducing travel time into the biggest city in the United States.
…
The authority also will ask the board today to approve a toll increase of $2 on its Hudson River and Staten Island crossings and a 50-cent raise on PATH train fares, the Star-Ledger of Newark reported Wednesday, citing unidentified transportation officials.

the tunnel project study map
The project aims at connecting the Main/Bergen/Pascack Valley Lines of New Jersey Transit with the North East Corridor service. Passengers will be able to take a “one seat journey” to NY Penn Station instead of transferring at Secaucus. A new 6 track terminal facility will be constructed under 34th Street with connections to the existing Penn Station. Additionally, the two new single-track tunnels will be linked to the existing Penn Station facility to facilitate periodic repairs and maintenance on the existing 1917 Hudson Tunnels.
the_tunnel NY Penn Station Cross Section
Taking the long view, the linking of the NJ Transit Main/Bergen/Pascack Valley Lines to Penn Station will allow rail service to the Port Authority’s newest airport acquisition, Stewart International Airport, some 55 miles north of NYC via the Port Jervis Line. This rail link will be necessary to make this facility commercially viable, much like the rail links to London’s Gatwick, Stansted and Heathrow airports.