The new cross-Hudson River tunnel under construction as part of the effort to improve access to the New York region’s core could generate nearly $18 billion in property value increases, the Regional Plan Association said yesterday. A new study of the ARC Tunnel found that home values could increase by an average of $19,000 if homes are within two miles of a commuter rail stop and nearly $30,000 if homes are within walking distance. Additionally, ARC will double the number of residents west of the Hudson River who are within a 50-minute train ride to Midtown and increase those who are within 70 minutes by 25 percent.
RPA officials were quick to praise the project. “There is not a more clear-cut instance of a project with tremendous public benefits
that will improve the region for decades to come,” Bob Yaro, association president, said. The ARC Tunnel is expected to be completed by 2018 and will carry a price tag of $9 billion. The RPA’s full report is available here as a PDF.
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I can never read that number without realizing anew that public transportation has zero future in the US unless we can cut construction costs by at least 90 percent and increase the speed by at least a factor of four. Guys with shovels built the first tunnels faster than that — with shovels! — and they did it for well under a billion inflation-adjusted dollars. Barring an end to the bureaucracy, corruption, NIMBYism, fake bidding and general incompetence that inflates costs and times so many times over, it’s all for nothing. How can a relatively bright and well educated citizenry fail so badly?
Go back to 60-70 hour work weeks (not worrying about the local community, traffic concerns etc.) and we can cut the time in half right there. Go back to wages so low that workers live 10 to an apartment and the costs will be a lot lower. The first tunnels also used dynamite (in rock) and deaths were just an accepted part of the deal. Why should workers lives matter? Dropping all those pesky safety concerns would certainly cut costs and time further.
If you can do better, found an engineering company and go for it. But if you have no knowledge or experience with engineering and construction (which I suspect to be the case) it’s going to be harder than you think.
It’s true that building safely and humanely costs money. But technology has gotten better and should save money. Spain and France aren’t building infrastructure like early 20th century New York did and they still appear to be building tunnels and subways for significantly less than modern New York. Why is that?
Europe has shorter workweeks than the US across the board, stronger labor protections, stronger (but less militant) unions, and more generous benefits for workers.
We don’t really need to found engineering companies that build subways at reasonable cost. They already exist, by the dozens, in the rest of the developed world.
I think these property value estimates are a bit optimistic. I will have to wait and see what they actually build and what its like to use it, but the dead end station 7 stories underground with no easy transfers does not sound appealing. I think there will be a fight by influential communities to get their trains into the real Penn Station and the losers will get stuck in this 2nd rate terminal.
Like the deep underground station the same set of New Jerseyans use every day down at the World Trade Center… nay no one uses that one…
The WTC station is located right next to the local CBD, so it can get away with absolutely shitty transfers to the subway somewhat more than Penn Station does. But even it isn’t nearly as deep as Alternative P.
and compared to coming in on track 1 getting to the subway is going to be faster from track 22. Especially if you want the Sixth Ave IND or the BMT.
Are you including the 175-foot elevator trip?
Yes. 31st and 8th and four flights down is bit farther away than 34th and 7th and 8 or 9 flights down when you are trying to get to 34th and 6th.
Don’t be so sure. With ESA at least, the plan is that getting upstairs should take about five minutes. ARC is located at about the same depth.
[…] place. It is the companion piece to a study released earlier this year showing how ARC will lead to an $18-billion increase in property value. “The benefits of ARC are far-reaching and well-defined,” Bob Yaro, president of the RPA, said. […]
[…] In addition to increased cross-Hudson capacity, one of the primary benefits New Jersey commuters would have derived from the ARC Tunnel concerned travel speeds. As New Jersey Transit, its equipment and its lone Hudson river crossing are configured, riders along the Raritan Valley and North Jersey Coast Lines do not enjoy one-seat rides into New York City. Through a combination of equipment upgrades and capacity increases, commute times would have dropped and property values would have increased. […]
[…] Originally Posted by HalfFull I'd love to see proof of that. I don't doubt that having a station in walking distance would boost value. But next door…? That also goes for some bus lines to Urban Jersey / NYC….. RPA: ARC tunnel will cause spike in property value :: Second Ave. Sagas […]