Wednesday, May 23, 2012

East side access project now more than $8B

From the CBS New York:

The project to link the Long Island Rail Road to the East Side of Manhattan now has a price tag of more than $8 billion.

The final cost is more than 30 percent above the original estimate.

Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials also reiterated Monday that the new completion date for the project is August 2019. The East Side Access project was supposed to wrap up by 2016.

MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota had revealed the delay earlier this month at a meeting of business leaders on Long Island.

He said there have been problems tunneling underneath a rail yard in Queens. The MTA has brought in experts from Europe to help with developing a plan going forward.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

When Boston's Big Dig tunneled under an active rail yard, the contractor firmed up the earth by pumping in freezing brine, a Japanese technique. Maybe the MTA should have looked in the opposite direction for expertise.

Anonymous said...

The freezing technique has been used in sections of the Second Ave subway project.

As I understand it, the weights involved here are just too great for that method to be safely used.

Anonymous said...

Why are we wasting so much money so Long Island yuppie douches can get into our city easier????

Anonymous said...

The MTA has brought in experts from Europe to help with developing a plan going forward.

Such bullshit. We have plenty of expertise in this country!