Last night the Second Avenue Subway Task Force of Community Board 8, which represents the Upper East Side in Manhattan, hosted a presentation by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of its proposed construction of a Second Avenue subway.
The long-delayed project is designed to alleviate overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue Subway and make subways more accessible to the far east areas of the Upper East Side. The new line will run from 125th Street to Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan with construction in four phases.
Last night¿s meeting focused on the first phase, which is to include new stations from 96th connecting to the existing station at 63rd and Lexington and will also involve cutting into Second Avenue between 95th and 91st streets to insert the tunnel burrowing machine (TBM) needed to create the subway line. The Design Manager for the project described the machine as being ¿like a giant earthworm, and said that it is 22 feet in diameter.
Some members of the community felt that this area was taking a ¿major beating¿ in the proposed plan as the above-ground work is expected to impact residents and businesses for 18 months during construction. The MTA representatives responded that the area was picked as the site for the initial excavation because the soil in the area was ideal compared to others in the ¿geographical profile¿ of the proposed route.
The MTA representatives said that sidewalks may be reduced to a width as narrow as 7 feet so that automobile traffic can still be accommodated on the avenue. During the above-ground construction phase, building awnings and canopies, public telephones, fruit stands and sidewalk cafes that lie within the construction zone will have to be removed.
In addition, MTA plans to close some side streets in order to create temporary ¿delivery loading zones¿ for businesses during rush hour and then keep those streets open during subsequent hours of the day.
According to Chapter 12 of the submitted Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), noise from the construction will be monitored and controlled by means of noise dampening equipment, and the noise is not allowed to exceed five decibels above the ¿ambient noise level.¿
In 1995, the MTA began a Manhattan East Side Alternatives (MESA) Study and the MTA Board allocated $1.05 billion in its 2000-2004 Capital Program to complete the planning design and initiate construction and in April, 2004 a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) was published for the project and the very lengthy document can be viewed at http://www.mta.nyc.us/capconstr/sas/index.html under the ¿Documents & Presentations¿ section.
Numerous area residents at the meeting at the New York Blood Center maintained that the FEIS needs to be updated because of significant recent real estate activity in the vicinity of the project and many others expressed concerns about compensation for lost business revenues, noise, pest control and building safety.
Community Board 8 will hold another meeting about the huge project in the fall.
Under a best case scenario, the new subway line is expected to be completed about 2014.
The long-delayed project is designed to alleviate overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue Subway and make subways more accessible to the far east areas of the Upper East Side. The new line will run from 125th Street to Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan with construction in four phases.
Last night¿s meeting focused on the first phase, which is to include new stations from 96th connecting to the existing station at 63rd and Lexington and will also involve cutting into Second Avenue between 95th and 91st streets to insert the tunnel burrowing machine (TBM) needed to create the subway line. The Design Manager for the project described the machine as being ¿like a giant earthworm, and said that it is 22 feet in diameter.
Some members of the community felt that this area was taking a ¿major beating¿ in the proposed plan as the above-ground work is expected to impact residents and businesses for 18 months during construction. The MTA representatives responded that the area was picked as the site for the initial excavation because the soil in the area was ideal compared to others in the ¿geographical profile¿ of the proposed route.
The MTA representatives said that sidewalks may be reduced to a width as narrow as 7 feet so that automobile traffic can still be accommodated on the avenue. During the above-ground construction phase, building awnings and canopies, public telephones, fruit stands and sidewalk cafes that lie within the construction zone will have to be removed.
In addition, MTA plans to close some side streets in order to create temporary ¿delivery loading zones¿ for businesses during rush hour and then keep those streets open during subsequent hours of the day.
According to Chapter 12 of the submitted Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), noise from the construction will be monitored and controlled by means of noise dampening equipment, and the noise is not allowed to exceed five decibels above the ¿ambient noise level.¿
In 1995, the MTA began a Manhattan East Side Alternatives (MESA) Study and the MTA Board allocated $1.05 billion in its 2000-2004 Capital Program to complete the planning design and initiate construction and in April, 2004 a final environmental impact statement (FEIS) was published for the project and the very lengthy document can be viewed at http://www.mta.nyc.us/capconstr/sas/index.html under the ¿Documents & Presentations¿ section.
Numerous area residents at the meeting at the New York Blood Center maintained that the FEIS needs to be updated because of significant recent real estate activity in the vicinity of the project and many others expressed concerns about compensation for lost business revenues, noise, pest control and building safety.
Community Board 8 will hold another meeting about the huge project in the fall.
Under a best case scenario, the new subway line is expected to be completed about 2014.
Architecture Critic
Carter Horsley
Since 1997, Carter B. Horsley has been the editorial director of CityRealty. He began his journalistic career at The New York Times in 1961 where he spent 26 years as a reporter specializing in real estate & architectural news. In 1987, he became the architecture critic and real estate editor of The New York Post.
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