East Side Access Will Shave 40 Minutes Off Commute
BY LIZ GOFF

State, federal and MTA officials this week announced an agreement for $2.6 billion in federal funding of a $6.3 billion plan that will ease the commute for tens of thousands of people who travel from the suburbs to work in Manhattan each day. The plan also calls for a new Long Island Rail Road station to be located just blocks from the Queensboro Plaza transportation hub in Long Island City.

Governor George Pataki was joined by federal and MTA officials and local politicians at a press conference on December 18 where U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters announced that the agency will provide $2.6 billion toward the construction of the East Side Access, a network of tunnels that will bring Long Island Rail Road trains into Grand Central terminal via the 63 Street line.

Peters said the project will give Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) commuter trains direct access into the lower level of Grand Central, cutting the daily commute for tens of thousands of people by more than 40 minutes when the project is completed in 2013.

Peters said the East Side Access is, needed to the fix the current problem faced by Long Island commuters, who must travel to Penn Station and then ride back-to-back on the subway to reach their destination in midtown.

“Anyone who has spent hours stuck in trains and subways traveling west just to get east will tell you how necessary the East Side Access is,” Peters said.

MTA spokesperson Tim O’Brien, said crews are currently working 75 feet below Long Island City on a site at Northern Boulevard and 31st Street, where the 63rd Street tunnel, (formerly dubbed the “tunnel to nowhere”), will connect with LIRR trains. O’Brien said the new LIRR station will be located near the site where Queens Boulevard intersects with the Sunnyside rail yards.

A Long Island Rail Road station on Northern Boulevard “adds yet another link to the unique transportation hub in downtown Long Island City,” Pataki said.

Commuters at the LIRR Hunters Point station had mixed reactions to the announcement. Janice Heaton, an administrative assistant who travels from Hempstead to Midtown each workday said, “I hope the project will really save me time, without costing a fortune.” Heaton, 31, said she will travel on the new line “if the cost is less or the same as I’ll be paying by the time it’s completed. Otherwise, they can forget about it.”

Ed Wheeler, 47, of East Islip, disagreed completely with the proposal. “There are so many other things they could be doing with that money to make the trip safer, on time and overall more reliable,” Wheeler said. “It’s a shame they’re wasting so much money on something that won’t keep the trains running when a few snowflakes start to fall.”

Police at an MTA K-9 Unit recently relocated to Long Island City, however, welcomed the prospect of being able to leave their cars at home.

“I wish it was operating now,” said one officer. “It would be great not to worry about parking after the long drive from Long Island.”

Local residents and neighborhood activists applauded the prospect of a Long Island Rail Road station in the Dutch Kills neighborhood. “We’ve been saying the same thing for more than 25 years,” said Gerald Walsh, president of the Dutch Kills Civic Association.

“Dutch Kills is the center of it all, with direct access to subways, highways, airports and other means of transportation. You can get anywhere from here.”

“A Long Island Rail Road station in the center of our community will only add to the appeal Dutch Kills already has for both residents and businesses.”

The MTA has slated $3.7 billion of its own capital funding toward completion of the $6.3 billion project. Peters described the plan as the most aggressive transportation project ever proposed in the U.S.