The New York Metropolitan Transportation Council, the NYC-area metropolitan planning organization, is looking for feedback on its 2010-2035 regional transportation plan. It is titled “A Shared Vision for a Shared Future” and includes demographic forecasts and funding strategies for the next 25 years. Overall, however, the plan reads less like a long-term planning document and more like what it is: A federally required piece of paperwork focusing on projects that are underway or will begin study in the next 5 years.
The plan lists 10 growth areas that NYMTC partners have previously identified, and 4 “foundational projects” that are being built and will have major impacts on the region’s growth: Access to the Region’s Core, the Second Avenue Subway, LIRR East Side Access, and the extension of the No. 7 train to Hudson Yards.
The plan then includes a laundry list of projects planned in the region, such as the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement, increased bus capacity on the East and Hudson River crossings, and extending Metro-North’s New Haven and Hudson lines to Penn Station. Notably, the plan includes the LIRR Third Track despite an apparent lack of progress on the project’s environmental review and the nomination of Third Track opponent Sen. Craig Johnson to the state legislature’s MTA Capital Program Review Board, which signs off on the MTA’s five-year capital construction programs. Perhaps bowing to the politics of Long Island, the plan foresees construction of the Third Track beginning no earlier than 2020.
A lengthy appendix includes even more projects. As usual, Suffolk County stands out by calling for 11 road widenings while other counties are reconstructing roads, putting in safety infrastructure, and improving transit.
Given how extensive the list of projects is, one omission is puzzling. Though the plan includes all-electronic tolling on Port Authority crossings, it does not mention bringing similar tolls to the MTA’s bridges and tunnels. The MTA began studying cashless tolling earlier this year.
NYMTC will accept written comments on the plan until 4 pm on July 31. They can be sent to Jan Khan at Jkhan@dot.state.ny.us.
