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Moving Midtown West, on Trains and Buses

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Mobilizing the Region has been reporting on increased developmentcommuter and pedestrian activity in the area west of Midtown Manhattan for several years now, but with the 7 train extension approaching completion and the Hudson Yards project now underway, it is becoming increasingly clear that a more unified strategy and plan is needed to accommodate and mitigate the impacts of these changes.

The New York Building Congress released a report this week titled Moving Midtown West which summarizes New York City’s most pressing transportation infrastructure issues, and outlines “four long-discussed, interconnected projects” that they assert would serve as solutions to these issues, while also providing recommendations for implementing the projects.

The report focuses largely on the limited rail capacity between New Jersey and New York City, which is practically bursting at the seams. “While these conditions are reason enough to expand the West Side rail network,” the report states, “two transformative events now make it imperative”: the approval of the Hudson Yards project, which is expected to add more than 30 million square feet of mixed residential and commercial space to the area; and Hurricane Sandy, which caused such extensive damage to New York City’s subway tunnels that some train service connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan is still down and more service is expected to be affected by the necessary repairs. But while there are several options for traversing the East River, this is not the case with trans-Hudson travel:

 [A]stonishingly, only two single-track tunnels connect the entire commuter rail system to points west of Manhattan. There is no alternative rail route if these tunnels fail. New tunnels capable of withstanding severe weather events must therefore be constructed.

The first of these projects is Moynihan Station, now under construction, which provides new space for Amtrak passengers and operations, and will help alleviate the “overcrowded, confusing conditions” across the street in Penn Station. Once Moynihan Station is complete, NYBC calls for a commitment to building the Amtrak Gateway Project, the addition of Penn Station access for Metro-North Railroad and the completion of the Penn Station Vision study, all of which are geared toward facilitating more “seamless travel throughout the region.”

Given the impact and interrelation of these projects, NYBC says that planning and funding must be a collaborative effort, and recommends that an intergovernmental working group “tasked with establishing priorities to advance concrete work plans for these projects” be convened. While NYBC acknowledges that the recommendations within Moving Midtown West are ambitious, they also stress that “the consequences of inaction are too high, and New York’s role as the nation’s economic center is too important to ignore.”

Noticeably absent from the report, however, is any mention of trans-Hudson bus service, which like rail service, is also over capacity. While NYBC’s suggested rail and station improvements are crucial to the long-term future of New York City and the region, bus infrastructure, like a p.m. westbound Exclusive Bus Lane in the Lincoln Tunnel, an overhaul of the PA Bus Terminal and the long-overdue West Side Bus Garage must be given priority attention too.

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Clark Morris
Clark Morris
9 years ago

You overlook the 4 tracks used by PATH to cross the Hudson. You also assume that the Moynihan Station will do much to alleviate the congestion in Penn Station which seems dubious it will be feeding into the same set of narrow platforms. Enabling through running between the LIRR and NJT could make better use of the tunnels by reducing reversing moves in the Penn Station area and investigation. If the East Side Kips Bay station could be built relatively quickly and serve both the LIRR and NJT, that also could relieve pressure on Penn Station.

On the bus side have a dedicated lane in each direction in the Lincoln Tunnel for buses. This could eliminate or at least drastically reduce the need to store buses in Manhattan for the evening rush hour. Also look at means to reduce the amount of dwell time at platforms in both directions.

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