NEW YORK CITY-Despite wild weather, budget deficits and other events in 2011, work on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s four megaprojects hasn’t slowed down yet. According to the MTA, the 7 subway line extension, the Fulton Street Transit Center, the Second Avenue subway and East Side LIRR access are all on track for their scheduled completions.
In Lower Manhattan, work on the Fulton Street Transit Center is more than halfway done, with all structural work on the mezzanine level for the A and C trains now completed. Outside, all structural steel for the transit center building has been erected and the dome cladding is ongoing, says the MTA.
Other components of the transit center have already been completed and opened for customer use, including the rehabilitated 2 and 3 train Fulton Street Station, new 4 and 5 train station southern entrances and the new entrance at 135 William St. In addition, restoration of the historic Corbin building is continuing inside the 1888 landmark and is expected to be complete in late 2012, according to the MTA. The entire complex is slated for a June 2014 completion date.
On the West Side, structural work on the 7 line’s 34th Street station has been completed, the same area where several ongoing developments are occurring, including Moynihan Station, Brookfield Office Properties’ 5.4 million-square-foot Manhattan West office project and Related Cos.’ Hudson Yards.
Contracts for the final mechanical and structural work for the 7 subway extension were granted in the third quarter of 2011. In September, a joint venture of Skanska USA and RailWorks Corp. were awarded $513.7 million from the Hudson Yards Development Corp. for completion of the construction, while further Uptown, a joint venture of Skanska and Evansville, IN-based Traylor Brothers Inc. received a $301-million contract to build the 86th Street Station for the Second Avenue subway project, with Skanska holding a 70% share in the deal.
According to the MTA, a tunnel boring machine reached the Lexington Ave-63rd Street station in September, breaking into the existing tunnel and marking the completion of tunneling for the project. Phase I of the construction—which involves three new stations at 72nd, 86th and 96th Streets along the Second Avenue corridor—is scheduled for completion in December 2016. It is projected to decrease crowding on the adjacent 4, 5 and 6 Lexington Avenue line by as much as 13%—or 23,500 fewer riders—on an average weekday, the MTA says.
In Midtown, the Long Island Rail Road’s expansion to Manhattan’s East Side is also underway. The MTA reports that two separate tunnel boring machines completed the excavation of tunnels under Manhattan in 2011, while on the Queens side, soft ground tunneling for the first tunnel was just completed in December.
After the completion of the overall project in 2018, LIRR trains traveling through Sunnyside will be able to travel directly to Grand Central. Commuters heading to the east side will save up to 40 minutes on their daily commute, the MTA estimates.
Earlier in the year, the MTA raised its debt ceiling by $6.9 billion to pay for these capital projects, while retiring $6.2 billion of existing debt for 2010-2014.
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