LIRR's East Side Access Project
The MTA is in the midst of an ambitious project to bring Long Island Rail Road trains into the terminal via the East Side Access Project. The project was spurred by a study that showed that more than half of LIRR riders work closer to Grand Central than Penn Station.
A new bi-level, eight-track tunnel will be excavated under Park Avenue, more than 90 feet (27 m) below the Metro-North track and more than 140 feet (43 m) below the surface. Reaching the street from the lowest level, more than 175 feet (53 m) deep, will take about 10 minutes.
LIRR trains will access Park Avenue via the existing lower level of the 63rd Street Tunnel, connecting to its main line running through Sunnyside Yard in Queens. Extensions are being added on both the Manhattan and Queens sides.
Cost estimates jumped from $4.4 billion in 2004 to $6.4 billion in 2006. The MTA said that some small buildings on the route in Manhattan will be torn down to make way for air vents. Cardinal Edward Egan criticized the plan, noting concerns about the tracks, which will largely be on the west side of Park Avenue, and their impact on St. Patrick's Cathedral.
The project is scheduled for completion by 2019.
Read more about this topic: Grand Central Terminal
Famous quotes containing the words east, side, access and/or project:
“We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken. Maugre all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world, the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)
“The only way to win is to fight on the side of your adversaries.”
—Francis Picabia (18781953)
“Power, in Cases world, meant corporate power. The zaibatsus, the multinationals ..., had ... attained a kind of immortality. You couldnt kill a zaibatsu by assassinating a dozen key executives; there were others waiting to step up the ladder; assume the vacated position, access the vast banks of corporate memory.”
—William Gibson (b. 1948)
“... one of art photographys most vigorous enterprises[is] concentrating on victims, on the unfortunatebut without the compassionate purpose that such a project is expected to serve.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)