MTA says they never promised to mitigate noise in Sunnyside

From PIX11:

They have heard enough.

Sunnyside residents are asking the MTA to add noise mitigation aspects to the East Side Access project bringing the LIRR into Grand Central.

“Yet again, the MTA has failed to keep its promises,” said NYC Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer who lives in the neighborhood and represents the district. “Given the engineering challenges the MTA has faced in the East Side Access project, it’s difficult to believe they can’t build a simple noise barrier.”

The big interlocking and connection point is in Sunnyside, Queens. The $10.8 billion project has faced cost overruns and delays. It's set to be done by the end of 2022.

The MTA says a sound wall was not promised.

MTA won't stick to sound barrier promise

From Sunnyside Post:

The MTA is reneging on its promise to put up noise mitigating plants next to the railroad tracks on Barnett Avenue, according to community leaders.

Two MTA representatives spoke to members of Community Board 2’s Land Use committee Wednesday and said that the plants were no longer part of East Side Access project.

Eric Zaretsky, director of community outreach for the MTA East Side Access Project, said that once the retaining walls were built there was nowhere for any plantings to be rooted.

“There is no soil, it’s all rock,” Zaretsky said. “There’s no irrigation… and there is no budget to maintain it.”

Lisa Deller, chair of the Land Use Committee, said that there are constant complaints about noise stemming from the railway line and that this was promised when the MTA took on the task to build the $10 billion East Side Access, which will connect LIRR riders to Grand Central.

How's this for spooky?

From WPIX:

A giant drill bit narrowly missed drilling right through a packed subway car in Queens Thursday morning.

The machinery, being used for the East Side Access project, was being operated by a contractor above ground near the 21st St. Station in Long Island City.

The drill bit, measuring 10 inches in diameter, broke through the tunnel’s roof at about 11:45 a.m., grazing the top and side of an ‘F’ train with approximately 800 people aboard, according to the MTA.

No one was injured, and passengers were led to the station via a relief train.

Construction work has since been suspended in the area pending an investigation by the MTA.

East Side Access project damages a business

From CBS New York:

An $11 billion construction project is on track to improve commutes on the rails, but some residents and business owners in Queens have said it is making a mess.

As CBS 2’s Dave Carlin reported exclusively Tuesday, the East Side Access Project is intended to create a new railroad and tunnel to link Manhattan to Long Island.

But caught in the middle are Marc Newman and his business, Standard Refrigerators.

As CBS 2′s Dave Carlin reported, Newman blames construction for the East Side Access Project, which has involved blasting and tunneling across Queens and under Manhattan, with rattling and ripping apart his business.

“When they could have taken care of us, they didn’t,” Newman said.

Newman showed Carlin his property line, abutting the tracks with loose soil on a hill that sends water into his business.

He claims the damage estimate from cracks and flooding is up to $60,000 and counting.

East Side Access Project faces further delay

From the Times Ledger:

The already long awaited day that Long Island Rail Road trains finally pull into Grand Central Terminal has crept even further into the future along with a higher price tag.

Craig Stewart, senior director of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Projects Plan, said the massive project is again over budget and once more running late.

In remarks before an MTA committee Monday, Stewart said the cost of the East Side Access, now estimated at $8.3 billion,“ could cost more” and he expressed doubt the latest completion date could be met.

The East Side Access was originally estimated to be a $4.3 billion project with a completion date of 2009. The latest date for the trains to start rolling underneath the East River had been 2019.

Sunnysiders hoping for more restful nights

From WPIX:

Learning to live with noise is part of life in the city.

But some neighbors got out their camerasafter the noise kept them up late at night along the MTA’s East Side Access project in Sunnyside.

Hear what they heard in the video story.

The MTA got their message.

Yes, they'll "see what they can do." They just might as well buy some earplugs.

NYC gets money from congress for transportation projects

From NY1:

The city is getting more than $338 million from the federal government for its two main infrastructure projects.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney said Tuesday that the Appropriations Committee's budget for the 2013 fiscal year includes more than $123 million for the Second Avenue subway.

The amount represents the final funding of the government's overall $1.3 billion support for the project, promised in an agreement signed in 2007.

Meanwhile, the East Side Access project connecting the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central Terminal will receive $215 million.

What Dizzy Lizzy stands for in her own words

From the Queens Chronicle:

The two-term councilwoman is seeking the Democratic nomination for the new 6th Congressional District.

Crowley is in the midst of her first full term. She served a year prior to that after winning a special election.

On transportation, she said she is tired of projects such as the Long Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project and the 7 subway line extension, “projects that pass through here that we don’t benefit from.”

Actually, quite a few of her potential constituents would benefit from this project. LIRR runs east of Flushing and would bring all those folks into Grand Central. As for the 7 subway line extension, that doesn't run through her potential district, it's in Manhattan only.

Crowley said the 7 could be extended in other directions, such as to connect LaGuardia Airport and the future development at Willets Point to Manhattan.

When did the 7 train STOP going to Willets Point?

In addressing the nation’s $16 trillion deficit, Crowley could not identify any non-military programs that she would eliminate from the budget.

“I would cut parts of programs,” she said. “I’m sure there is waste and fraud.”

Wow, now there's some deep thinking.

She did not directly acknowledge that saving the money by pulling out of Afghanistan, where the Taliban allowed al-Qaeda to hatch its 9/11 attacks on New York City and Washington, DC, could once again leave a dangerous vacuum where terrorists could plot more attacks on the United States. “I don’t know where it ends over there,” she said.

What a fine grasp of foreign policy and homeland security!

While demographics in the Unites States have changed dramatically since Social Security’s inception in 1935, Crowley said that there is no need to restructure the program, even with President Obama’s own experts saying the fund is unsustainable at its current ratio of workers to benefit recipients.

“I think when more people get back to work and begin paying into the system again that will fix itself,” she said.

And there you go. Stupid is as stupid does. Or in this case, doesn't do.

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.

East Side Access project is very loud