MTA wasting millions in Second Ave. subway extension, Post probe finds

[Kamaji]

MTA wasting millions in Second Ave. subway extension, Post probe finds

By Nolan Hicks
March 27, 2023

Beneath the shadows of the Colosseum in Rome, hard-hats and engineers are digging out space for the Italian capital’s newest metro stop.

Across the Alps in Paris, planners are building a new subway station near towering apartment blocks in a dense city neighborhood.

And London has bored miles of tunnel at depths of more than 100 feet to construct a new express line through the heart of its financial district.

Yet these complicated projects in Europe’s biggest, densest and oldest cities are getting built for a fraction of what the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it needs to extend the Second Avenue Subway to East Harlem, a Post investigation has found.

The MTA is digging the endless money pit with design decisions for building stations twice as big as necessary, the investigation showed.

MTA officials plan to spend $7 billion, a figure the federal government warns could grow to $7.7 billion. And that’s the stripped-down plan.

The three European capitals could build an apples-to-apples project for just $2-$2.3 billion — price tags The Post calculated to include worst-case engineering scenarios.


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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/03/27/mta-design-decisions-fueling-second-ave-subways-record-price-tag-post-probe-finds/

[Kamaji]

No surprise there.

[Kamaji]

Follow  up:


MTA says it may change new designs on NYC subway stations after Post exposé

By Nolan Hicks
March 27, 2023

The MTA’s top boss said Monday the agency may change the designs of subway stations planned for East Harlem — after The Post revealed their excessive size, which has fueled the project’s massive cost.

A Post investigation found that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s current plans would build stations twice as long as the platforms needed to serve the Q train — part of a design decision that expert say contribute to the staggering $7 billion to $7.7 billion price tag for the Second Avenue Subway’s extension.

“We are going to use the design-build process to figure out ways in which we can adjust the design,” CEO Janno Lieber told the MTA board during a committee meeting at the agency’s headquarters in Manhattan, hours after The Post report.

“We can make it easier and faster to build,” Lieber said.

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Source:  https://nypost.com/2023/03/27/mta-says-it-may-change-new-nyc-stations-after-post-expose/