The East Side Access Project
Steve Duncan, 2002

The Second Avenue Subway is only part of the story of transportation improvement needed on the East Side of Manhattan. The other half of the story is the LIRR, which could assist in creating a more intelligent network of connections between Queens and the East Side of Manhattan. And the East Side Access Project not only answers questions about commuting from Queens, but also helps explain the ideas behind the design for some of the transit infrastructure that currently exists in the area, such as the unused level of the 63rd Street connector tunnel between Queens and Manhattan.

It turns out that the need for improved transit between Queens and the East Side of Manhattan was already well-enough understood in 1951 that the city issued bonds that year for a Second Ave Subway, and the development plan called for a new subway tunnel to Queens as well.

This did not happen. Eventually a connection was created to the existing East River tunnel at 60th Street, and then later, when the tunnel at 63rd street was built in the 70s and 80s, it was built with two levels so that Manhattan-bound trains could use the upper level to get to the west side and the proposed Second Ave Subway, while the lower level would give the Long Island Railroad access to the East Side of Manhattan.

However, a reconsideration of the original plans by the Transit Authority led to the lower level of this tunnel being left unused. Even the utilization of the upper level of the tunnel was not particularly effective, as the connections bypassed much of the developing area around Queens Plaza.

The federal government paid for three studies on the possibilities for subway developments in the 1990s, and it was clear that more reliability and better access to both eastern Queens and the East Side of Manhattan was needed. The further development of Queens as well as Brooklyn neighborhoods like Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Fort Greene also means that the G line has seen vastly increased ridership.

Further studies have helped to show what subway developments would be most useful to the businesses and residents in Queens and Manhattan’s East side. However, another important element of an adequate transit system in this area would be the utilization of the LIRR for improved local service to Manhattan’s east side. This plan for the LIRR, called the East Side Access project, is centered around connecting the LIRR to Grand Central, using the left-over lower level of the 63rd street tunnel.

In 1998, as part of a six-year, multi-billion dollar transportation bill, congress authorized $353 million for this project. Authorization is only the first step in getting money appropriated, though, and New York’s Congressional Representatives have not been able to get much actual money appropriated. In fact, from 1998 and 2000, New York received only $54 million, and only $8 million in 2000.

In 2001, the House approved only $10 million for the a 2nd Ave. subway line and the planned extension of the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central Terminal combined. This was very little compared to the $170 million state leaders in federal funding that state leaders had requested. Why such a failure? Is the federal government simply unable to help fund transit developments? It seems particularly puzzling because the same year, Denver (with one-eighth the residents of New York) got $60 million in federal appropriations for a new light-rail system.

Late in 2001, after September 11th had brought the national focus to New York, the House of Representatives passed a Transportation Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2002 which allocated $14.7 million for the East Side Access project and $2 million for the Second Ave. subway.

Today, after so many years of delays and setbacks due to inadequate funding, the MTA has declared that the current schedule is for the East Side Access Project to be complete in 2011. This project will cost $4.3 billion, and as always, funding is a difficult thing. However, this project is tremendously important, both to Manhattan’s East Side and to New York City as a whole. Simply connecting the LIRR to Grand Central will shave 15-30 minutes off of the journey of a commuter traveling from Queens to Manhattan’s East Side. This project will also better utilize Grand Central, which currently only serves Metro North, and the project will also finally put to good use other elements of the infrastructure, such as the 63rd street tunnel, that have already been built but that were abandoned in the budget crunches of the 80s.

Estimates today are that the East Side Access project will cost $4.3 billion, and that the Second Ave Subway will cost $10-12 billion.
After so many years of relative inaction and inadequate funding on the project, it seems clear that if it’s going to happen, quite a bit of funding will be needed at all levels—federal, state, and municipal. In fact, New York state already receives about $860 million of federal funds annually for transportation in standard "formula" aid, which is driven by population density and other factors. This might seem like a lot, but New York also has one-third of the nation’s entire number of mass-transit riders. And, in fact, the East Side and Queens have received only a small portion of this money, because most of it goes to maintenance and the drastically needed new developments have therefore been without funding.

Download this article in RTF format by clicking HERE