Looking to capture $3 billion of federal funding from the now-defunct ARC tunnel, New York City is mulling an unexpected extension of the 7 line, reports Eliot Brown.
The Bloomberg administration is pitching the preliminary plan, which would connect the subway system with a New Jersey Transit hub in Seacaucus, as a low-cost alternative to Access to the Region's Core. At an estimated $5.3 billion, the plan is over $3 billion cheaper than ARC, which New Jersey Governor Chris Christie killed in late October.
Construction is already underway on a Manhattan extension of the 7 line from Times Square to 34th Street and 11th Avenue in anticipation of new development on Manhattan's West Side. The Bloomberg administration believes routing the line to New Jersey could help spur growth, Brown writes:
"City officials have been particularly attracted to the possible benefits the subway extension could bring to the far West Side, an area the Bloomberg administration has been seeking to redevelop with new office and apartment towers. A four-page fact sheet on the tunnel plan circulated by the city advertised the concept as 'a major catalyst for development of commercial property in Manhattan.'"
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