Federal Dollars Still Erasing Sandy's Footprint

For New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Hurricane Sandy is an ongoing threat. Benjamin Kabak writes, "[a]lthough it's been nearly 2.5 years since the storm and its surge swept through New York, the MTA has repaired only two of the damaged subway tunnels, and the rest are seemingly on borrowed time. The agency simply can't spend the money fast enough and can't take multiple tunnels out of service at the same time."

A good deal of the repair work depends on federal grants: "in a statement released earlier this week, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand along with Congressman Jerry Nadler announced $343 million for South Ferry, a new federal grant in addition to the nearly $200 million in federal dollars they had delivered last winter."

Kabak notes that the press release includes what is "essentially a tacit admission that the MTA's contractors royally screwed up the job the first time around. Due to Sandy, the MTA has a do-over, but it's not one they ever wanted." And there's still the question of readiness when the next Sandy hits.