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DOT 117-06
Contact: Paul Griffo, Tel.: (202) 366-4064
Monday, December 18, 2006
U.S. Transportation Secretary Signs Record $2.6 Billion Agreement to Fund New
Tunnel Network To Give Long Island Commuters Direct Access to Grand Central
Station
The federal government will provide $2.6 billion to help build a new network of
train tunnels under New York City designed to connect trains from Long Island to
Grand Central terminal, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters announced
today. She added that the largest-ever federal investment in a single transit
project, known as East Side Access, would help keep New York’s crowded
transportation network moving for decades to come.
“For a city that gives meaning to the phrase time is money, hundreds of
thousands of commuters shouldn’t have to waste both being caught in a daily
cross-town shuffle,” Secretary Peters said. “In a city famous for straight
roads, straight talk and straight buildings, we’re making sure that New Yorkers
have a straight route to work and home again.”
The Secretary said the project will give Long Island Railroad commuter trains
direct access into the lower level of Grand Central, shaving more than 40
minutes off the daily commutes for tens of thousands of passengers once it is
completed in 2013. She added that the project will include the construction of
new tunnels under Manhattan and Queens that will connect to the existing 63rd
Street Tunnel below the East River.
Secretary Peters said the project was needed to fix the current problem many
Long Island commuters face of having to ride trains into Penn Station and then
back-track via subway to jobs in and around eastern Midtown. “Anyone who has
spent hours stuck in trains and subways traveling west just to get east will
tell you how necessary East Side Access is,” she said.
The Secretary added that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s support was not
limited to this one New York City project. She noted that the Department’s
Federal Transit Administration was providing $4.5 billion to help construct the
Fulton Street Transit Center and build a permanent PATH terminal in lower
Manhattan.
She also announced today that the Department would allow the MTA to commit up to
$693 million in funds to begin construction of the Second Avenue Subway Line and
that the federal share of such costs would be reimbursed with FTA transit funds,
subject to appropriations and final labor certification. “Our commitment to New
York is broad in its scope and grand in its ambition,” Secretary Peters noted.
The Secretary was joined by Metropolitan Transit Authority and LIRR officials,
members of the New York congressional delegation, and local leaders in signing
the Full Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) for the $2.6 billion, which will be
provided between now and 2016.
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