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MTA: Major projects will continue but at slower pace

January 31, 2008

As construction costs soar, the MTA assured New Yorkers Wednesday its large projects like the Second Avenue Subway will move forward, but possibly at a slower pace.

Earlier this week, the Fulton Street Transit Center’s glorious glass building became the first victim of booming construction prices, and the MTA could be looking at $1 billion in cost overruns on other major projects.

While the agency is looking at cutting back on parts of its large projects, halting them is not an option, officials said “Nobody anticipated this kind of increase,” MTA Board Chairman Dale Hemmerdinger said. “This is just a reality of doing business in 2008. You just have to get used to it.” Ramifications of soaring prices have been felt worldwide, he added.

Gene Russianoff, attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, said a delay is far easier to swallow that scrapping projects altogether.

“I don¹t think we’re on the cusp of abandoning the Second Avenue Subway again like we did in the 70s,” he said. “I’d rather delay some of these megaprojects than cut down the vital program to get the system to a state of good repair.” The agency budgeted for cost overruns on all of its projects, but it was hit with increases well beyond what anyone expected, according to officials.

In February, the MTA will announce how it will scale back projects, and possibly delay them by months to a year.

Some transit advocates said the MTA could have done more to prevent the high price tags on its major projects. Joseph Clift, an advocate who used to work for the Long Island Rail

Road, said an outside transportation consultant suggested the MTA could have used existing facilities in Grand Central for its East Side Access project to bring Long Island Rail Road into the terminal.

The MTA rejected the suggestion, according to Clift, and moved forward with building a new concourse below Grand Central.

“It’s like deciding to remodel a kitchen or deciding to build a brand new one,” Clift said.

Last year, a single bid for the concourse came in at $980 million, but the MTA negotiated it down to $734 million after dropping some of the work.

Source: AMNY

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Written by NY Politics · Filed Under Transportation 

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