Governor Cuomo Finally Approves MTA’s $27B Capital Plan
Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio, notorious for their icy relationship, have been squabbling for well over a year about the MTA’s $27 billion, five-year capital plan. Last October, they reached an agreement where the state would contribute $8.3 billion and the city $2.5 billion, neither of which would come from increasing taxes. Seven months later, the Daily News reports that Albany has finally approved the plan, which covers track and station repairs, new train cars, new high-tech buses, a MetroCard replacement, the Long Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project, and, of course, the beginning of the Second Avenue Subway‘s phase two into East Harlem.
Second Avenue Subway construction
In a statement, Governor Cuomo said:
The MTA is the lifeblood of the New York metropolitan area’s transportation network and we must ensure it has the capacity to meet the travel demands of the next generation and fuel one of the largest economies on the globe. By investing in the most robust transportation plan in state history, we are reimagining the MTA and ensuring a safer, more reliable and more resilient public transportation network for tomorrow.
As the Mayor explained in October, the city would “take $1.9 billion from city funds and the rest from sources that could include development rights or rezoning.” The specifics of this haven’t been determined or confirmed, but before the state and city contribute funds, the MTA will have to exhaust its financial resources, which shouldn’t be a challenge for the debt-ridden agency.
[Via NYDN]
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