NYC ARC Alternative Proposed: Extend The Subway!

The $9 billion plan to build a new set of rail tunnels under the Hudson River from NJ to NYC, known as Access to the Region's Core (ARC), came to an abrupt halt Oct. 27 when NJ Gov. Chris Christie pulled the plug on account of his concern that his state would be responsible for what he projected to be massive cost overruns.

"The NYC plan envisions the No. 7 stretching from 34th Street on the Far West Side of Manhattan to Secaucus, N.J., where there is a connection to New Jersey Transit trains.

It would do so at about half the cost, an estimated $5.3 billion, according to a closely guarded, four-page memorandum circulated by the city's Hudson Yards Development Corporation. And the project would almost certainly serve as a boon for the planned $15 billion Hudson Yards residential and office development, to be built on platforms over the West Side railyards."

No word from DOT Secretary Ray LaHood on the project proposal, perhaps that's because he's busy "wrangling with New Jersey to repay $271 million the federal government has spent on the project."

From Hudson Yards Development Corporation website:"Key components of the development program (include) the extension of the No. 7 subway line from its current terminus at Times Square to a new terminal station at 34th Street and 11th Avenue."

If the project is clearly viable as opposed to a trial balloon, it would also have to compete with a possible Amtrak proposal, which might be viewed more favorably by both Secretary LaHood as it would be high speed rail- capable, and the incoming presumptive chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, John Mica (R-FL).

Thanks to Kenyon Karl