Transit

Back in January, Amtrak unveiled its $24B Gateway Program, a plan that would overhaul the Hudson River rail tunnels by building a brand new tunnel and repairing another that is currently in disrepair. Work under the plan would also encompass expanding Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan and replacing rail bridges in New Jersey. While details on the course of construction were previously thin, according to draft proposals obtained by Reuters, we now know that work on the new tunnel will begin in 2019, and the West Side Highway could be subject to three years of traffic jams as a result.
more details here

Transit

December 12, 2016

Governor Cuomo is ‘cautiously optimistic’ about Second Avenue subway opening deadline

Melissa DeRosa, the governor’s chief of staff, said Friday that Governor Andrew Cuomo was “cautiously optimistic” about a December opening for the long-awaited Second Avenue subway project, according to AM New York. After several weekly visits to the under-construction 72nd Street site, the governor appeared confident that the MTA would be able to meet the project's December 31 deadline. U.S. representative Carolyn Maloney had also expressed confidence in the Second Avenue subway meeting its year-end deadline.
Find out more

Transit

December 9, 2016

Public petition asks Mayor de Blasio to back East River Skyway

A month ago, U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, City Councilman Stephen Levin, and State Assemblyman Joseph Lentol drafted a letter to the Mayor, urging him to advocate for the East River Skyway as a solution for the impending L train shutdown. Building on this momentum, a digital petition addressed to de Blasio has launched on Change.org where the public can show their support for the plan, as well.
Find out more

Transit

December 8, 2016

George Washington Bridge bus terminal renovation misses December deadline

By Metro New York

The $183 million renovation of the George Washington Bridge bus terminal in Upper Manhattan, which began eight years ago, will not be completed by its December 2016 target, according to developers. Lawmakers and locals are stunned by the problematic delay that affects 5 million annual riders of NJ Transit buses and other carriers, as well […]

Transit

December 7, 2016

NYC will have free Wi-Fi in all underground subway stations by year’s end

NYC Subway riders will soon be less able to blame their subway commute for not being able to immediately answer that all-important email or text. Last January 6sqft highlighted Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to get all MTA subway stations connected with free Wi-Fi by the end of this year as part of a comprehensive plan to upgrade subway infrastructure. According to AMNewYork, plans to implement free Wi-Fi in all 279 of the city’s subway stations are on track for the end of this year; as of Tuesday, 250 of them are already up and running.
It's all part of an ambitious plan

December 6, 2016

Iconic JFK Terminal begins its life as the ‘TWA Hotel’ with new signage

After sitting vacant at JFK Airport for 14 years as a vestige of jet-age architecture, Eero Saarinen's iconic 1962 TWA Flight Terminal received a new life in the summer of 2015 when it was announced that the neo-futurist structure would be reborn as a high-end hotel. MCR Development teamed up with JetBlue and the Port Authority to develop a "505-room LEED-certified hotel with restaurants, 40,000 square feet of meeting space and a 10,000-square-foot observation deck," as 6sqft previously described. Initial reports referred to the project as the "TWA Flight Center Hotel," but the Times now confirms that it'll simply be the "TWA Hotel." And with construction four months in, Curbed noticed that signage for the hotel has gone up, preserving the airline's logo and font.
See the sign ahead

November 28, 2016

$1.7B BQE rehab will be Department of Transportation’s most expensive project ever

When it was built in the 1940s, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway became immediately notorious for the fact that Robert Moses planned it to rip through otherwise quiet, low-scale neighborhoods. Today, it's poor reputation has more to do with potholes, bumps, congestion, and pollution. But that will soon change, as the city is embarking on a five-year rehab of the heavily trafficked, 1.5-mile stretch of the highway that runs between Atlantic Avenue and Sands Street in Brooklyn and includes "21 concrete-and-steel bridges over local roads," according to the Times. And at $1.7 billion, it will be the Department of Transportation's most expensive project ever undertaken.
More details ahead

Transit

November 21, 2016

Shipbuilding companies work around the clock to meet 2017 ferry service deadline

City officials are pushing to have the $325 million citywide ferry service, helmed by Hornblower and managed by the city's Economic Development Corporation, up and running a few months before next November, when Mayor Bill de Blasio stands for re-election. As 6sqft reported in September, two bayou-based shipbuilding companies, Horizon Shipbuilding in Bayou La Batre, Ala. and the awesomely-named Metal Shark in Franklin, La., are racing to complete the 19 new boats scheduled to hit the water this summer. The ferry service will be the most extensive passenger ferry service of its kind in any U.S. city.
Get a sneak peek at the shiny new fleet-to-be

Transit

November 17, 2016

In light of fare hikes, need for low-income Metro Cards becomes urgent

By Metro New York

Fighters for the Fair Fare initiative to secure half-priced MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers strengthened their resolve Wednesday as the Metropolitan Transit Authority announced plans to increase fares by 25 cents early next year. The group argues that the brunt of bus and subway fare increases fall on the city’s low-income residents who might forego food, […]

Transit

Triboro’s ‘Wrong Color Subway Map’ uses art as an antidote for subway confusion

David Heasty and Stefanie Weigler, the husband-and-wife team behind Brooklyn’s Triboro design firm, want you to spend more time looking at the New York City subway map. To that end, they’ve created versions of the familiar underground map in vibrant colors that definitely aren’t part of the official MTA version. Intended as less of a subway map replacement and more of a "beautiful memento of the city," Triboro introduced their Wrong Color Subway Map this fall, citing Massimo Vignelli’s iconic 1972 design as inspiration (h/t Wall Street Journal).
More maps, this way

Transit

November 16, 2016

MTA mulls increasing subway fare to $3.00 in 2017

By Metro New York

Swiping a MetroCard at a subway turnstile could cost an extra 25 cents in March, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Wednesday. The MTA finance chairman has suggested to raise on fares on subways, buses and commuter rails, and tolls on bridges and tunnels, to help curb increasing debt. The proposed change would go into effect in March 2017.
more info here

Transit

November 15, 2016

Down to the wire, 2nd Avenue Subway requires ‘unprecedented’ work to meet December deadline

There are just seven weeks left for the MTA to wrap works on the 2nd Avenue Subway if they want to meet their December 31st deadline. According to the Times, at yesterday’s MTA board meeting, officials relayed that an “unprecedented” effort would be required in order to wrap Phase 1 of the project on time.
read more here

Transit

November 11, 2016

It will cost a whopping $811M to repair the Brooklyn Bridge

When repairs on the 133-year-old Brooklyn Bridge began in 2010, it was estimated that the massive project would cost about $508 million. Now, that estimate has hit $811 million–$200 million higher than estimates from as recent as last year and almost 60 percent higher than the original number, the New York Post reports.
Why the price hike?

Transit

November 10, 2016

East River Skyway endorsed by local politicians as L train alternative

It looks like the East River Skyway is getting a big boost from local elected officials. Three politicians have jumped on the idea, including U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, City Councilman Stephen Levin, and State Assemblyman Joseph Lentol. The trio together drafted a letter to Mayor de Blasio, encouraging him to back the transit initiative as a solution to impending L train closure. "This is the coolest thing we could do for the neighborhood," Lentol, told DNA Info. "I don’t want to denigrate the BQX but this is even a greater plan to have a gondola going from Brooklyn to Manhattan forever."
find out more here

Transit

November 8, 2016

MTA to increase L train service as M train undergoes repairs in 2017

An unlikely hero has emerged to save straphangers from the brunt of yet another MTA closure: the L train. In a statement released this morning by the transit agency, beginning June 2017, another 50 roundtrips will be added to the L line while repairs are undertaken on the M line at the Myrtle Avenue stop in Bushwick.
find out more here

Transit

November 7, 2016

MAP: Here’s what the NYC subway system looked like in 1939

We often think of the NYC subway as a relatively modern marvel, a system that has expanded and evolved tremendously over 100-plus years, and a shell of what it was when it first debuted in 1904. However, the reality is that the majority of the lines that make up today's network were actually built before The Great Depression. In fact, as graphic designer Jake Berman's insightful throwback map depicts, it was pretty much all systems go by 1939.
see the complete map here

November 7, 2016

Proposed Penn Station-topping free-fall ride gets new video, details

When developers at Brooklyn Capital Partners and designers at AE Superlab revealed their proposal to erect the world's tallest free-fall ride atop Penn Station, it seemed like perhaps a commentary on Governor Cuomo's big-ticket overhaul of the station. But in fact, the team hoped their 1,200-foot Halo, as it's being called, would rise along with the renovations, serving as "an interactive beacon for the city." As 6sqft reported, "the ride’s 11 cars... could be modified to move as quickly as 100 miles per hour giving it a top-to-base free fall of about six seconds." A freshly uncovered video shows this in action, and a new project website provides more details on the logistical components, 20-month construction time period, and $130 million in annual projected revenue.
Plenty more details this way

November 7, 2016

The W train returns today, see the MTA’s new service map

When it came to reviving the W train, the MTA surprisingly stuck to their timeline, with restored service from Astoria to lower Manhattan beginning at this morning. The train will now run from 6:30am to 11:30pm no weekdays, but this means changes on the N, R, and Q lines, which account for the Q train getting rerouted once the Second Avenue Subway opens next month. To make things a little simpler, the agency has created a handy map detailing the new service and changes, along with an infographic of station-specific information (h/t Gothamist).
See the full map here

Transit

November 2, 2016

14th Street and Williamsburg no-car zones proposed for L train shutdown

Transit advocacy groups and politicians who have been promoting the idea of ridding Manhattan’s 14th Street of private car traffic during planned L subway tunnel repairs, and only allowing bus, bike and pedestrian traffic, have also suggested that the no-auto plan would be good for Grand Street in Williamsburg, the New York Post reports. Grand Street is a major neighborhood thoroughfare similar to 14th Street, and advocates say giving the streets to bikes, pedestrians and shuttle buses would be one way to lessen the impact of the shutdown.
Find out more

Transit

City reveals maps of proposed routes for Brooklyn-Queen streetcar

Rendering of the streetcar on Berry Street in Williamsburg

November 2, 2016

City reveals maps of proposed routes for Brooklyn-Queen streetcar

When the plan for a streetcar from Brooklyn to Queens was officially announced by the city in February, we knew that the $2.5 billion line would run 16 miles along the East River, from Astoria to Sunset Park, but the exact routes have remained a mystery, up until now. The Times reports that yesterday the city released a 25-page report that outlines these key details, as well as how the streetcar would traverse bridges to cross Newtown Creek and the Gowanus Canal and more logistical details. It also includes maps for the various routes through each neighborhood with a list of pros and cons (road width, proximity to existing subway stations, street and pedestrian traffic) for each possible street.
See the maps

Transit

October 31, 2016

12 experts suggest creative ways to handle 9 million future New Yorkers

With New York City's population on its way to nine million, the city's infrastructure may be impressive, but it has its limits–including red tape and resource shortages–that will make it difficult to withstand the projected surge. Reminding us of the transformative innovations of Robert Moses–he of the big ideas and ego to match–Crains invited 12 firms who make their living wrangling infrastructure to hit us with some big ideas. Ahead of the upcoming summit, "Getting Ready for 9 Million New Yorkers," they've shared these visions for future (bigger, better) New York from top architects, designers and real estate experts. Ideas include some that have already proven themselves (repurposing existing track beds) and some already in the works (Bushwick's Rheingold brewery project) to others that Robert Moses might not love (shrinking the city's highways).
Take a look at these futuristic ideas for moving the city forward.

October 27, 2016

Independent engineer says two Second Avenue Subway stations are still far from ready

Despite MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast's seemingly unwavering optimism that the Second Avenue Subway will open on time, it's still not clear if the line's stations will be ready for their December ribbon cutting. According to the Times, following a Wednesday MTA board presentation outlining some of the outstanding issues (and the agency's commitment to smoothing them out over the next eight weeks), Kent Haggas, an independent engineer for the project, offered up a very somber outlook. As he told the paper, two of the three stations set to open December 31st have fallen behind, and that the system's "rigorous testing schedule was not being met." More alarmingly, he added that progress to date would need to be almost tripled on a weekly basis if the MTA is to meet its deadline.
Yikes

Transit

October 24, 2016

MTA puts up flyers touting the W train’s November 7th return

6sqft revealed last month that the W train would be making its triumphant return on Monday, November 7th, restoring service from Astoria to Lower Manhattan. Now that the date is only a couple weeks away, the MTA is putting up flyers touting the new re-instated line, reports Pix 11. Designed to look like a flashy Broadway marquee, the poster was spotted by a Reddit user over the weekend at the 34th Street-Penn Station platform of the A,C,E train.
Learn what this means for subway service

Transit

October 24, 2016

Second Avenue Subway will open in December without delay, officials say