View from Underground

Photo of the Day: 96th St. from above

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 18, 2010

In April, the MTA held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new stationhouse at 96th St. and Broadway, but at the time, the project wasn’t finished. Transit had to open the new entrances to be able to overhaul the old ones, and much of the exterior work was yet to be completed.

Recently, Drew Dies a photographer who keeps his portfolio at Structures:NYC had the opportunity to snap the new stationhouse from above. Dies’ photo expertly captures the station amidst the movement of Broadway and the light that emanates from it. I love the way it highlights the new and the old along the city’s most famous street. For more, check out Dies’ gallery.

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MTA ConstructionMTA Economics

Solving the problem of skyrocketing costs

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 18, 2010

Costs for the Second Ave. Subway could skyrocket before Phase 1 is completed.

Over the last four years, I’ve burned a lot of pixels writing about the MTA’s capital budget woes. One of the major problems with which the authority has grappled, seemingly unsuccessfully, involves cost overruns. Nearly every capital project — from the station rehab at 59th St./Columbus Circle to the Fulton St. complex to the Second Ave. subway — have suffered cost overrun ranging in dollars from the tens of millions to the billions. As the MTA struggles to convince Albany that it deserves more money for the next five years of capital investment, keeping costs on par with initial estimates has become a priority.

Yet, there’s a missing piece to this puzzle. Although the authority has pledged to keep spending under control, it hasn’t yet been able to explain why costs soar. Why does the Second Ave. Subway cost nearly $1.5 billino more today than it did when first proposed seven years ago? Why has the price tag for the Fulton St. complex doubled in five years?

In the Wall Street Journal today, Numbers Guy Carl Bialik tackles that question. Why, he asks, has budget-busting become “the norm for infrastructure work”? According to a 2002 study, planners understated construction costs in nine of ten projects, and Bialik offers up a few explanations:

Economists and behavioral scientists say the pattern of budget excess echoes findings in other areas where people allow their best hopes to dominate the planning process. Irrational optimism afflicts even individuals who have experience with a given situation, and should know better. Researchers have linked it to business analysts’ earnings forecasts and to students predicting when they will finish assignments. Irrational optimism, for example, is at work when a commuter is consistently late for work because she estimates her travel time based on the assumption that traffic and transit always will run smoothly…

Prof. Flyvbjerg, who now heads the University of Oxford’s BT Centre for Major Programme Management, sees another factor in problems with cost estimates—the political process for project approval. “Government agencies like to justify what they do [with] numbers,” he says. And sometimes officials engage in what he calls “strategic misrepresentation” when producing those numbers.

Other researchers have identified similar levels of inadequate monetary estimates but disagree with Prof. Flyvbjerg’s explanation. Dr. Merrow has compiled a database of thousands of projects, and finds a similar pattern of cost overruns. This extends to the private sector, he says, even though corporate employees who botch a budget might suffer more as a consequence. Among large private-sector projects with some tricky building element, the average cost overrun was 32%. Dr. Merrow’s firm advises clients to increase their forecasts by a factor roughly equal to the typical historical cost overrun of similar projects.

Other experts say that the public demand for more amenities as projects are built can also lead to increased costs. Yet, that’s not really the problem in New York City because we see our projects’ budgets balloon before the first shovel breaks ground.

While speaking with Bialik, Neysa Pranger of the Regional Plan Association called for a third-party auditor, and that appears to be the path New York politicians will take. “An independent validator should be established,” she said. “But they’ll need to establish a track record.” Anything has to be better than the track record of skyrocketing costs and delayed timelines we’ve seen lately.

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New York City Transit

Another playoff series, another Bronx-bound Nostalgia Train

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 18, 2010

Transit will send the Nostalgia Train up to Yankee Stadium this week as the ALCS continues. (Photo courtesy of NYC Transit)

As they did with the Yankees’ ALDS match-up against the Minnesota Twins, New York City Transit will be rolling out the Nostalgia Train three times this week as the Major League Baseball playoffs continue in New York. For railfans and Yankee fans looking to capture a bit of the past, Transit will send the Nostalgia Train from Grand Central up to the Bronx for the American League Championship Series tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday afternoon.

The four-car train is scheduled to leave an hour before game time. Tonight and tomorrow, the trains will depart Grand Central at approximately 7 p.m., and on Wednesday, the vintage subway will leave at 3 p.m. Transit says these cars were Interborough Rapid Transit company originals from 1917 and were in service through the early 1960s. Many Yankee fans can remember taking these subway cars up to the Bronx as kids decades ago.

Transit, meanwhile, took the time to remind Bronx-bound baseball fans that extra playoff-special trains will run along the 4 and B/D lines after the games are over. “For generations, Yankee fans of all ages have relied on the Jerome Avenue Line or Concourse Line to gethem to the Stadium during post-season play, and this playoff series is no different,” Thomas Prendergast, president of NYC Transit, said. “By taking the train, Yankee fans can save their energy for more important things, like rooting the Bombers on to victory.”

A Yankee victory or three sure do sound good to me.

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Metro-North

For the Tappan Zee, renderings with rail but no funding yet

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 18, 2010

The two final proposed replacements for the Tappan Zee Bridge.

Because the Tappan Zee, Bridge wasn’t built to accomodate rail access, Metro-North routes must pass through New Jersey to feed areas of west of the Hudson River, and this quirk of planning represents one of the greatest impediments to transit-oriented development in this potentially exurban area. The state along with the MTA, though, has a plan — for $16 billion — to outfit the aging bridge’s replacement with a new structure replete with transit. The plans are out there, but the money isn’t.

Inevitably, this story begins in 1990 when Metro-North requested $5 million to study connections that would span the Hudson River. Part of that plan included a new crossing south of the Tappan Zeen with a connection to Stewart Airport as well. In 1999, then-MTA Chair E. Virgil Conway chaired a task force charged with examining solutions to Tappan Zee congestion. The group, he said, planned to explore “the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge as well as solutions that combine a new bridge with various rail alternatives.”

More recently, though, the state has tried to move the Tappan Zee project along quicker. The bridge is 55 years old and suffering from overuse, and two years ago, the MTA unveiled a $16-billion replacement project complete with plans to make room for rail access on the bridge and to build a new Metro-North spur from Suffern to the Hudson Line. Instead of trying to repair the bridge, the state would simply build a new one.

On Friday, this ambitious project took another step forward as the state whittled down its six replacement options to two. With these proposals on the table, the MTA, New York State Department of Transportation and the State Thruway Authority will publish a Draft Environmental Impact Statement in early 2011. “Refining the options to be further analyzed in the environmental study now underway is a crucial step in progressing this project,” Metro-North Railroad President Howard Permut said. “We are closer than ever to a consensus and I’m pleased with the progress made so far on this very complex project, which will affect the region for the next 150 years.”

The plans for the bridge are ambitious. In both versions, the Tappan Zee replacement would include eight lanes for private auto travel, two dedicated bus rapid transit lanes, a pedestrian and bike lane and a two-track rail line. Plan 5, above on the right, would allow for the expansion of up to four rail lines. That plan, reported The Journal-News, would have just 66 supports instead of 118 and would thus take less time to build. (It’s worth noting that the rail aspects of the project would not happen at the same time as the road. Both designs allow for the road to open first and the rail to be added later.)

Ideally, construction on this project would start in 2015, but therein lies the rub. No one knows how this project will be funded. The current price tag for this project is $16 billion, and state officials claim this cost hasn’t risen in two years. It would add 30 miles of BRT to I-287 and the rail line, but the costs for each piece are high. The bridge by itself costs $6.4 billion with another $1 billion ticketed for BRT and $6.7 billion for the rail. Officials say they are looking at “traditional and innovative” funding sources.

“There will need to be multiple funding resources,” Phil Ferguson, one of the project’s financial gurus, said. “There’s no single source that can pay for the whole thing. It’s unrealistic to think we can get 100 percent federal funding for project.” Cautioning that starting construction sooner rather than later will keep costs down, he later added, “We would have only been able to bond $2 billion — far less than than the $8.3 billion needed to just build the bridge.”

This Tappan Zee replacement will right some of the wrongs of the 1950s. It will improve mobility and access to parts of the state that aren’t far from Manhattan but seem it. It will be one of the best transit-oriented developments outside of the core of New York City in years. But who will fund it?

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MTA Construction

Dyckman St. northbound platform to close until August

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 17, 2010

A rendering of the Dyckman Street rehab.

New York City Transit is preparing to unleash over 10 months of inconvenience on 1 train customers at Dyckman St. as the agency announced that the northbound platform will close tomorrow for a station rehabilitation. The northbound side of the station is expected to be out of commission until August 2011. The southbound platform will be closed from September 2011 through July 2012 for similar work.

The authority first announced these plans back in July, but now the work is here. It is not without controversy however. A group of disabled riders has filed suit in an effort to stop the proposed rehab. They allege that the MTA’s plans, which do not include the legally required spending on improved access, violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. For now, though, the work will go on as planned.

Transit says that uptown 1 trains will bypass Dyckman St. at all times as the northbound platform is completely demolished and rebuilt. Transit will reconstruct the platforms and canopies, adding new windscreens and repairing guardrails. The work also includes repairing the stairs into the station, restoring the concrete wall along Hillside Ave. and replacing damaged tiles. The station originally opened in 1906 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

For service from points south to Dyckman st., customers are urged to take the train to 207th St. and transfer to a southbound 1 train. A second fare, says Transit, will not be deducted.

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AsidesPublic Transit Policy

Weekend Reading: The debate over high-speed rail

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 16, 2010

Throughout the world, countries are building or already enjoying high-speed rail networks, but America, once the home of the world’s first railroad barons, has been left in the dust. Now, the Obama Administration is trying to get regional high-speed rail networks off the ground, but poor state finances along with a skeptical public beholden to the auto industry and crushingly high price tags have left these proposals surrounding by question marks.

Not helping the matter is inherent skepticism in the press coverage of the high-speed rail initiative. Take, for instance, a Room for Debate feature from the opinion pages of The Times. Six commentators offered up their views on the future of rail in the U.S., and most of them were bearish on the idea. Robert Puentes from Brookings wants sensible investments that offer smart connections; Jan Brueckner, a U.C. Irvine economist, doubts that Americans will change their transportation patterns; and Sam Staley from the Reason Foundation calls a high-speed rail network “infeasible and not cost-effective.” It’s designed to fail before it even gets off the ground.

Only Bob Yaro, head of New York’s own Regional Plan Association, seems to understand the need for high-speed rail. At $500 billion, a comprehensive rail network “won’t come cheap,” he says, but “we can’t afford not to build a national high-speed system. It’s not the only infrastructure investment needed to secure our economic futures. But it’s one that will be essential to our future mobility and competitiveness.”

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Service Advisories

Weekend Service Advisories

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 15, 2010


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, October 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, 1 service is suspended between 242nd Street and 168th Street due to rehab work between 242nd Street and Dyckman Street stations and is also suspended between Chambers Street and South Ferry due to Port Authority work at the WTC site. The 2, 3 and A trains, free shuttle buses and the M3 bus provide alternate service. Free shuttle buses run in three sections:

  • On Broadway between 242nd Street and 215th Street stations, then connecting to the 207th Street A station.
  • On St. Nicholas Avenue between 191st and 168th Street stations.
  • In lower Manhattan between Chambers Street and South Ferry.

1 trains run local between 168th Street and 34th Street then express between 34th Street and 14th Street where it terminates. (2 and 3 trains run local between 96th Street and Chambers Street.)


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, 2 trains run local between Chambers Street and 96th Street due to track work at Franklin Street and Port Authority work at the WTC site.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, October 16 and Sunday, October 17, 3 trains run local between Chambers Street and 96th Street due to track work at Franklin Street and Port Authority work at the WTC site.


From 11 p.m. Friday, October 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, downtown 4 and 6 trains skip 33rd, 28th, and 23rd Streets due to track work south of 33rd Street.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, October 16 to 10 p.m. Sunday, October 17, the last stop for some Pelham Park-bound 6 trains is 3rd Avenue due to track panel installation between Middletown Road and Westchester Square.


From 4 a.m. Saturday, October 16 to 11 p.m. Sunday, October 17, Flushing-bound 7 trains skip 82nd, 90th, 103rd, and 111th Streets due to switch renewal at 111th Street.


From 10:30 p.m. Friday, October 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, free shuttle buses replace A trains between Far Rockaway and Beach 98th Street due to station rehabilitations. (A trains replace the S shuttle between Broad Channel and Rockaway Park.)


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, there is no A train service at Broadway-Nassau/Fulton Street in either direction due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, October 16 and Sunday, October 17, there is no C train service at Broadway-Nassau/Fulton Street in either direction due to work on the Fulton Street Transit Center.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, E trains run on the F line between Roosevelt Avenue and West 4th Street due to switch renewal work at Lexington Avenue. The platforms at 5th Avenue, Lexington Avenue/53rd Street, and 23rd Street/Ely Avenue are closed. Customers may take the R, 6 or shuttle bus instead. Free shuttle buses connect Court Street (G), 23rd Street/Ely Avenue (E), Queens Plaza (R) and 21st Street/Queensbridge (F) stations.


From 10:30 p.m. Friday, October 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, free shuttle buses replace G trains between Court Square and Bedford-Nostrand Avs. due to track work at Metropolitan Avenue.


From 6 a.m. Saturday, October 16 to 6 p.m. Sunday, October 17, Manhattan-bound J trains skip Flushing Avenue, Lorimer Street and Hewes Street due to switch work north of Myrtle Avenue.


From 11:30 p.m. Friday, October 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, free shuttle buses between Metropolitan Avenue and Myrtle Avenue-Broadway replace M service due to platform edge rehabilitation.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, Manhattan-bound N trains run on the D line from Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue to 36th Street due to track replacement between just north of Kings Highway and north of Bay Parkway and conduit/cable work. As a result, there will be no Manhattan-bound N trains at 86th Street, Avenue U, Kings Highway, Bay Parkway, 20th, 18th Avenues, Ft. Hamilton Parkway and 8th Avenue.


From 11 p.m. Friday, October 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, Queens-bound N trains skip Prince, 8th, 23rd, and 28th Streets due to track work north of Prince Street.


From 12:01 a.m. Saturday, October 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, Brooklyn-bound N trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to track and grouting work at Cortlandt Street.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, October 16 and Sunday, October 17, Brooklyn-bound R trains are rerouted over the Manhattan Bridge from Canal Street to DeKalb Avenue due to track and grouting work at Cortlandt Street. Trains skip City Hall, Rector Street, Whitehall Street, Court Street and Lawrence Street stations. Customers should use nearby 4 stations instead.


From 6:30 a.m. to midnight, Saturday, October 16 and Sunday, October 17, Queens-bound R trains skip Prince, 8th, 23rd, and 28th Streets due to track work north of Prince Street.

(Rockaway Park Shuttle)
From 11 p.m. Friday, October 15 to 5 a.m. Monday, October 18, A trains replace S shuttles between Broad Channel and Rockaway Park due to station rehabilitations.

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ARC Tunnel

Report: ARC Tunnel will cut 15-30 minutes off NJ commute times

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 15, 2010

An interactive map from the RPA shows by how much commute times will be reduced with the ARC Tunnel. Click the image to view the interactive map.

As New Jersey politicians and rail advocates work to convince Gov. Chris Christie to restore the ARC Tunnel, the Regional Plan Association and Sen. Frank Lautenberg have released a study touting the benefits of the project. According to the latest report, the tunnel will have a significant impact on the commute times from New Jersey to Manhattan. It will double the number of households within a 50-minute train ride to the city, cut travel time by 15-30 minutes and shave up to 35 percent off many commutes.

“The ARC Tunnel will not only allow more New Jersey residents to work in New York, but it will significantly cut the amount of time it now takes to get to Manhattan,” the Senator said in a statement. “Make no mistake: With the ARC Tunnel, commutes will be shorter, but without this tunnel, commutes will become intolerably long.”

In an effort to highlight the impact that a transfer-ride ride into Manhattan for riders on the eight New Jersey Transit lines that current require a transfer to reach the city, the RPA explored how the timetables would change with this new one-seat ride in 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. “The project will increase the reliability of NJ Transit trains, reduce traffic and greenhouse gas emissions, create jobs, drive economic growth in the right places and boost home values. Perhaps most significantly, ARC will cut commute times for NJ Transit riders on average between 15 and 30 minutes per day.”

By comparing the Spring 2010 train schedules with trends in NJ Transit operations and the project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement, the RPA assessed savings on a station-by-station basis. Travel between Trenton and New York City would speed up by nearly 20 minutes, and the ride from Orange to the Big Apple would take 36 minutes less than it does now. Those coming in from the North Jersey Coast would see travel times reduced by over 45 minutes. (Information by each station is available on this interactive map.)

Currently, Gov. Christie and the Federal Transit Administration are undertaking a two-week study of the ARC Tunnel’s finances, and on October 21, the two sides will again meet to determine the fate of the tunnel. Lautenberg urged them to find a solution.

“We are already at near capacity with the current 100 year-old tunnel,” he said, “and demand for rail service in New Jersey to midtown Manhattan is expected to double over the next two decades. If New Jersey is to remain competitive for jobs in New York in the future, we must build this tunnel. If this project is cancelled, New Jersey’s transportation system will become a parking lot — isolated from job opportunities in Manhattan. Jobs that would have gone to New Jerseyans will instead go to people in Connecticut, Westchester County and Long Island. We can’t let that happen.”

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AsidesSecond Avenue Subway

Second Avenue’s a gas

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 15, 2010

After a construction mishap underneath Second Ave., hundreds of residents at the George Washington Houses, a New York City Housing Authority project, are without gas, The Times reports today. Per Joseph Berger’s reporting, Cruz/Tully Joint Venture, a Second Ave. subway contractor, accidentally turned off a gas valve that feeds the building at 1905 Second Avenue. When the gas lines were inspected, the pipes were found to be faulty, and thus gas could not be turned back on until all of the gas pipes are replaced. This is yet another example of how shoddy building work and landlord negligence has led to problems for the Second Ave. subway.

The MTA has so far pointed its finger at the contract. “This was an inexcusable mistake on the part of the contractor working on the Second Avenue Subway project,” an MTA spokesperson said to Metro. But at the same time, NYCHA has to take responsibility for their gas lines. Had they properly maintained the building, Cruz/Tully could have reactivated the gas shortly after accidentally shuttering it.

While the gas hiccup won’t impact work on the subway, it has left neighbors even more resentful of the project, and residents are concerned that the gas could be out for as much as two months. The Housing Authority has issued two-valve hot plates in the meantime, and the contractor will distribute Visa gift cards ranging from $600-$1200 for those customers impacted by the outage. Yet, as one asked, “Who’s going to cook a Thanksgiving dinner on a hot plate?”

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Paratransit

Disabled riders file suit against Dyckman St. rehab

by Benjamin Kabak
written by Benjamin Kabak on October 15, 2010

A rendering of the refurbished Dyckman Street station.

When the MTA announced in July that they would be spending $45 million on the Dyckman Street station rehabilitation, the project drew the attention of disabled advocates because the plans did not include ADA upgrades. Now, these groups are filing suit. In a complaint filed earlier this week in federal court, the United Spinal Association charges the MTA with ADA violations and has requested an injunction halting the Dyckman Street work until it complies with federal law.

“If the MTA is not required to make the Dyckman Street Station accessible, it is unlikely that the people with disabilities will ever be able to use the station because once this major renovation is complete, no project of this scope is likely to be undertaken at the Dyckman Street Station for decades,” the complaint says.

The battle over this station first came up over the summer when Transit officials responded to complaints from disabled groups about the scope of the work. The MTA said that they didn’t have the money to install elevators or ramps at Dyckman St. and weren’t required by law to do so. At the time, they claimed that the station “does not fit the criteria for a key station” and is not on the list of 100 “key stations” to become ADA-compliant by 2020. The stop, Transit spokesperson Deirdre Parker said in July, is “not a terminal point, is not a transfer point to other bus or subway lines, is not near any major activity centers and ranks 185th out of 422 stations in ridership.”

The United Spinal Association disputes these claims. They say that even if Dyckman St. cannot be made fully accessible right now, the Americans with Disabilities Act still requires the MTA to spend 20 percent of the project budget on what they term access improvements. “By making incremental improvements to accessibility now,” the complaint says, “even great accessibility can be achieved when future projects are considered at the…station.”

Despite the United Spinal Association’s focus on the Dyckman St. rehab, their complaint touches upon issues more serious than that and stems from what many disabled riders believe is institutional neglect on the part of the MTA. When Congress enacted the ADA — an unfunded federal mandate — the New York Senate delegation, federal regulators and the MTA worked out a compromise. The authority signed a consent decree to make 100 key stations fully ADA accessible by 2020. So far, they’ve completed 73 key stations and 16 non-key stations.

Yet, advocates for disabled riders say this isn’t enough. “It is an absolute disgrace that twenty years after the ADA was passed, more than 80% of the subway stations in New York are inaccessible,” Julia Pinover, a lawyer with the Disability Rights Advocates who is representing the United Spinal Association in its case, said.

The MTA does not comment on lawsuits in progress, but in the past, the authority has spoken about issues of cost. The ADA is, as I mentioned, an unfunded federal law. Congress has required state and state entities to pay for these costly upgrades but has not provided federal dollars for the projects. When the MTA upgrades a station, it must include more money than it would to ensure compliance with the ADA. Even though the authority says it doesn’t have the money for upgrades to Dyckman St., the complaint — embedded below — makes a strong case for the plaintiffs.

In related news, the MTA plans to cut back Paratransit service to the minimum required by law. The service costs $470 million a year, and by eliminated some door-to-door service and cutting the driver rolls, Jay Walder believes he can save up to $80 million annually.

Advocates too are up in arms, but again, they recognize that the MTA’s fiscal problems are a high barrier. Still, they want the authority to do more. “The Americans With Disabilities Act,” Mike Godino of the Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled said to New York 1, “should be viewed as a floor, not a ceiling, to accesibility.”

After the jump, a copy of the complaint filed in United Spinal Association v. MTA.

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