MTA’s backward design process puts consultants in charge, adds millions of dollars in costs, insiders sayBy Nolan Hicks
Published Sep. 17, 2023
The MTA is going off the rails again!
One of the biggest issues that has been plaguing its Second Avenue subway extension — a pie-in-the-sky design that already saddled straphangers with millions of dollars in extra debt for oversized stations — is set to repeat itself with two projects, a Post investigation has found.
Experts and insiders say the MTA overbuilding is a result of its backward system for developing mega-projects: It hands consultants a blank sheet of paper without giving a budget, gets uber-costly and excessive designs back and then has its strapped review department pare them down.
A Post review of some of the agency’s planned current mega-projects uncovered at least $2.3 billion in proposed oversized or overengineered suggestions.
“It’s like ‘Groundhog Day’ — the same errors occur,” said a former MTA official, referring to the 1993 Bill Murray hit flick.
“If you keep doing the same thing, you keep getting the same results,” the source said. “If you tell a designer to go out and give us something glamorous, they will. Engineers with vague specifications, they’ll come back and give you things that are overbuilt or haven’t been tested.”
The MTA’s record-shattering construction costs are under renewed scrutiny as the Big Apple is set to begin a controversial congestion toll that will charge drivers in Manhattan who head below 60th Street — a move that is expected to raise $15 billion for transit and railroad improvements.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2023/09/17/mtas-backward-design-process-puts-consultants-in-charge-adds-millions-of-dollars-in-costs/
