New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo unveiled a transportation resiliency program to help prepare the region for future emergencies, reduce storm impact on vital transportation infrastructure, and improve the long-term resiliency of the public transportation network.
At Cuomo's direction, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Moynihan Station Development Corp. collaborated on a plan that considered transportation needs and priorities on a regional level.
A key element of the plan, according to a Cuomo statement on March 27, is protecting commuter railroad access into Manhattan by hardening Penn Station's railroad service and providing alternate service to Penn Station for MTA Metro-North Railroad customers in the event of a single-point failure along its existing network through upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
"Our response to the billions in damage Superstorm Sandy caused our transportation system is to build back stronger, better and smarter than before," Cuomo said.
Within days, Cuomo officials will submit a plan to the Federal Transit Administration, which has made $3 billion available for resiliency programs throughout the region affected by Sandy.
The New York plan includes projects worth $4.9 billion. The state's applications exceed available federal funding because the projects represent the extensive need New York faces.
The Penn Station Access Network Resiliency effort would give Metro-North an alternate means to enter midtown Manhattan if its four-track main line through the Bronx or the Harlem River Lift Bridge were disrupted for a prolonged period. Cuomo called for this measure in his State of the State address in January. Such an outage would halt commuter rail travel in New York's northern suburbs and southeastern Connecticut. It has a $516 million estimated cost, of which $387 million is eligible for federal funding.
The River-to-River Rail Resiliency effort would protect the East River Tunnels and Penn Station, used by the MTA Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. It has a $321 million estimated cost, of which $241 million is eligible for federal funding.
The plan would also harden infrastructure and improve network resiliency for all forms of transit in New York. Other projects would mitigate flood risk at New York City Transit subway yards and bus depots by hardening structures; seal entrances to subway tunnels and ventilation plants; make the World Trade Center site more resilient against water intrusion; and enhance Port Authority Bus Terminal operations to provide alternate service during rail outages.
Cuomo's plan also includes projects to improve the Port Authority Trans Hudson, or PATH, rapid transit line through Manhattan , the John F. Kennedy International Airport AirTrain station at Howard Beach in Queens, and the Staten Island Railway.
