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Downtown stops along the proposed 2nd Avenue line
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In addition to providing a host of other benefits, a new subway line under Second Avenue would be a boon to Lower Manhattan, said a series of public officials who spoke on the project's behalf at a hearing Monday evening at the Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a key Washington advocate for the project, cited redevelopment officials in noting that the project is "a key long-term component in rebuilding downtown after 9/11 and preserving the region's economic competitiveness."
The proposed 8.5-mile line running from Harlem almost to the Battery would most directly benefit subway-deprived eastsiders who currently live up to three-quarters of a mile -- about a 15-minute walk -- from Lexington Avenue, where existing subway lines are located. But a closer, faster direct link between downtown and the far east side would contribute, too, to the revitalization and continued health of Lower Manhattan.
Ellyn Shannon, transportation planner for the Permanent Citizens Advisory Council to the MTA, said at the hearing that the new line would "no doubt play an important role in the revitalization of Lower Manhattan." She also suggested that a connection to the Second Avenue subway should be incorporated into the planned Fulton Street Transit Center downtown.
Shannon told LowerManhattan.info that the Second Avenue line is "an integral component for [downtown], because it is one more means of accessing Lower Manhattan from the further east side." She said walking or taking a bus to Lexington Avenue from points east of Second Avenue adds substantial commuting time for a large population of New Yorkers.
Overcrowding on subways running along Lexington Avenue, one of the most heavily utilized subway lines in the United States, hinders growth downtown, explained Shannon. Crowding leads to longer loading times, she said, which reduces the number of trains that pass through each station each hour.
Adding more 4 and 5 trains during the peak of rush hour is impossible because capacity is already at its ceiling, with all conceivable signaling and frequency improvements having been made. And the M15 bus line, which originates at Whitehall in Lower Manhattan and runs up First Avenue and down Second Avenue, is the nation's most heavily used bus line.
"As Lower Manhattan does become more of a 24-hour community [it] will need more capacity and service," Shannon said. "There's not really another alternative for getting people down [from the east side] to Lower Manhattan."
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| MTA officials fielded public comments |
"There's a lot of far east real estate development that will be filled in with people, and there's no place to bring them to the jobs downtown," she added. Given the MTA's plans to bring Long Island Rail Road commuters to Grand Central Station in a few years, she said, "you put that all together and you have a real problem going toward the future."
In her remarks, Maloney suggested that the southern end of the planned line -- the segment running from Hanover Square north to Grand Street -- be built first. From there the subway would run under Second Avenue until its terminus at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. Other downtown stops would include Houston Street (at Second Avenue), Chinatown's Chatham Square (Worth Street and the Bowery), and Seaport (Fulton and Water Streets). For a complete list of all 16 planned stations, click here.
Among other officials advocating the project were Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz; U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner; State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver; Manhattan Borough President Virginia Fields; State Assemblyman Scott Stringer, and State Senator Liz Krueger. Gotbaum, Markowitz, and Weiner attended in person; the others were represented by staff members.
Markowitz was one of several speakers who called for the proposed line, tentatively designated as the 'T' train, to be extended, suggesting that it was the "connections to the [outer] boroughs that led to Manhattan's growth." Noting the proximity of downtown Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan and the existing transit connections between them, Markowitz said the two business districts should be viewed as complementary parts of a single unit.
Officials also called on the MTA to be mindful of a variety of concerns, ranging from the impact of construction to the temporary loss of park space.
Ordinary New Yorkers took the opportunity to speak as well. Most endorsed the long-planned subway line, although many questioned some of the details, echoing Markowitz's suggestion that the line be extended into the Bronx, Brooklyn, and/or Queens.
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| Public hearing attendee studies MTA plans |
One speaker, Florence Craddock, who lives at St. Margaret's House, a residence for elderly located on Fulton Street, suggested that the proposed Seaport station be relocated one block north or south so that people traveling from the subway to tourist locations wouldn't clog streets that the area's elderly population needs to navigate. Another said that building just two tracks rather than four would be foolish -- foreclosing the possibility of express service.
All told, the hearing regarding the supplemental draft environmental impact statement represented the latest step in a process that in some ways stretches back to the 1920s, when a Second Avenue line was first discussed seriously. (For previous coverage of the project, click here.)
After a series of stops and starts over the decades, construction actually began in the early 1970s, only to be derailed by a budget crisis. The project was taken up again in earnest in the mid-1990s, and officials hope to begin construction again by the end of 2004. The cost is currently slated at $16 billion.
To see official MTA documents concerning the Second Avenue subway, including the complete draft environmental impact statement, click here.
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