7 line extension costs on the rise, one station axed?
Once upon a time, the planned extension of the 7 line was all the rage. Serving the far West Side, the new 7 stops at 41st and 10th Ave. and 34th and 11th Ave. were going to usher in a new age of residential life for those people who may one day live on the current Hudson Yards site.
And oh yeah, that 7 line extension was supposed to serve the most ill-fated of ill-fated ideas: the Jets’ stadium on the West Side. When the stadium went down in flames, the plans to extend the 7 line went with it. In fact, earlier this year, one transportation advocacy group wondered whatever happened to the 7 line extension plans.
Well, according to amNew York, the costs of the project are on the rise, and one of the two planned stations may need to be axed:
The MTA estimates it will need an extra 110 subway cars to go along with its planned No. 7 extension, according to agency documents.Those new cars — which could cost $176 million — will not be paid for by City Hall under its agreement to fund the No. 7 extension, Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesman Tim O’Brien said yesterday.
But the cost rises are hardly the compelling story here. According to amNew York, a dubious source at best, one of the planned stations has been officially cut from the plans:
Most vexing to some MTA members is the 10th Avenue station has been officially axed.“The smart thing to do is finish the station at 10th and 41st,” said Barry Feinstein, the longest-serving MTA board member and chairman of the New York City Transit committee on Monday. “[But] we don’t have money in the the capital plan to do that…”
“It’s crazy,” said Andrew Albert, a rider representative on the MTA board, who promised to keep fighting for the 10th Avenue station.
Right now, amNew York is the only paper of note to pick up this story that I’ve found. It’s hard to believe that if the tales of the 10th Avenue station being dropped were completely accurate, no one else would cover it. For now, take it with a grain of salt. But as the costs of all the other recent MTA capital improvement plans have continued to rise, can this story really be that far off the mark?
