Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel Awakes From Bloomberg-Induced Coma

Well, Jerry Nadler has to be beaming today. The NYT reports that moribund plans for a Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel are seeing new signs of life:

Two years after turning its back on $100 million in federal funds for planning better ways to move freight, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has spun around and decided to accept the money.

This is good news. The CHFT would provide a much needed way to efficiently move freight east of the Hudson River. Currently, rail freight has to go hundreds of miles out of the way (north, and back south) or be barged across the harbor, which is inefficient. The unfortunate result for us is excessive truck traffic on our roads and bridges, which severely damages our infrastructure, creates traffic jams, and leads to health problems due to exhaust levels.

This is a plan whose time has come. The tunnel would run from an existing rail yard in Jersey City to an existying rail yard in Sunset Park.

And wikipedia has a good primer on the proposed tunnel here.

Image credit http://www.moveny.org/

For rail geeks, here's a pdf on the history of the CHT idea.

EPA questions Bayonne Bridge environmental assessment by Coast Guard | NJ.com

This is a false dichotomy:

"Proponents of the $1 billion bridge project proposed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey say it is critical to the port's health in the so-called post-Panamax era, when ever-larger ships will travel directly to East Coast ports from Asia upon completion of a Panama Canal expansion sometime next year. If the bridge remains an obstacle, they say, cargo will shift to other East Coast ports, jeopardizing thousands of jobs and billions in economic activity.

The healthy ports coalition, the New Jersey Sierra Club and others say they support the bridge project, but want safeguards to insure that the largely poor, minority neighborhoods surrounding ports in Newark and Elizabeth do not raise asthma rates and cause other health consequences. The coalition, in conjunction with the Newark-based Eastern Environmental Law Center, has threatened a lawsuit if its concerns are not addressed, a move that could significantly delay the time-sensitive bridge project.

Environmentalists have also called on the Coast Guard to produce a more in-depth, farther-reaching study of the project's consequences, known as an environmental impact statement."

No one is looking to block this project. The Coast Guard and various other interested parties are trying to slide the project through on the cheap without considering what mitigating measures should be taken. 

Of course there will be impacts. And there are things that can be done to ameliorate those impacts. Be grateful the EPA is around to keep these people honest. 

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/02/epa_questions_bayonne_bridge_e.html

Speaking of mitigating measures, when will we see the Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel resurrected?  

http://www.panynj.gov/about/cross-harbor.html

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-Harbor_Rail_Tunnel

Would be great to get started on it before the Port Authority (formed with the purpose of building the cross harbor freight tunnel) celebrates its 100th birthday. Only eight years away. 

Mayoral Candidate Transit Forum Nugget

The NYT posted a thin article on last night's mayoral candidate
transit forum. Not a lot of news in the article. However, Capital
New York's @danarubinstein tweeted a piece of welcome news (above).

Long term (and even new) readers may know that I've been a supporter
of the Cross Harbor Rail Tunnel for almost ten years. I learned about
the tunnel when I was working on a Clean Water Act case at the Rutgers
Environmental Law Clinic as a law student. Ten years. I'm getting
old.

In any event, it was Mayor Bloomberg who planted the knife in The
Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel in 2005. We could use a Mayor who sees getting
trucks off our roads as a priority. Kudos to deBlasio for supporting
it.

Updated:  Gothamist now has a post up with photos, links, and more coverage.

Exciting Times for Transit Planning in New York City

The prospect of bringing back the F express seems to have captured the imaginations of many, which has been very gratifying. Thousands of people are eager for a better, faster, more comprehensive mass transit system.

Credit where due, the PlaNYC proposals have stimulated people's way of thinking about transit and our city. The voices in the wilderness for the past several decades have suddenly been handed a megaphone. Suddenly it seems we're taking a fresh look at the way New York gets around, and open to making big changes for the better. I'm excited about what's going on in this city today.

Here are some other proposals that are under consideration:

• Connecting the BDFV & 6 trains at Broadway-Lafayette
• Pedestrian and bike lanes on the Verrazano Bridge
• Demolishing the Gowanus Expressway after building a tunnel along the seawall - a pet project you'll here lots more about here at FirstandCourt
• Building the Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel to get truck traffic off our streets and highways; trucks are destructive to infrastructure, pollute our air, and dangerous to others sharing the roadspace; a freight tunnel from New Jersey to Sunset Park would allow the movement of millions of tons of freight east of the Hudson without trucks.

Those are some of the things that get me excited about the future. We need the type of dedicated, responsible leadership that will make these proposals a reality.

Resurgence of Rail In US

The WSJ has a good article up on the surge in railroad building and improvement throughout the United States, after many years of neglect.

After World War II, though, cars began wiping out passenger-train service. New interstate highways unleashed trucks as a freight competitor. By the 1970s, U.S. railroads were deep into a decline, other than adding new track to the coal fields of Wyoming.

The tide is starting to swing back after decades of overinvestment in highways and underinvestment in rail facilities. This article is about freight; now let's see the logical next step and get the Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel back on New York's priority list.

We are witnessing a sea change in transportation modes; for 50 years and more, it has been all about trucks and automobiles. Now the tide is turning back to more efficient means. We need leadership that will have the courage to push boldly back into rail for freight and transit.

Replacing the Gowanus Expressway

Brooklyn's chapter of the AIA has come out with an alternative plan to replace the derelict Gowanus Expressway with a suspension bridge down 1st Avenue.

Details are sketchy so far. I've written the group to request more details. The most palatable part of the proposal, a Greenway down 3rd Avenue, would also be a key ingredient to the proposed Gowanus Expressway Tunnel.

While I think a tunnel is the best alternative, one thing is clear: the Gowanus Expressway is a hulking blight across South Brooklyn's landscape that must be erased. Removing this obsolete structure and replacing the grimy shadows with a greenway would not only spawn a renaissance of the 3rd Avenue corridor, but also yield tremendous health benefits from improved air quality.

In addition to the suspension bridge, the AIA plan includes support for the Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel, another much-needed improvement that would remove thousands of trucks from Brooklyn Streets.

AIA Proposal
Daily News Article

On the Prospect of Federal Infrastructure Funding

The Observer has a good piece today on state and local officials seeking out federal infrastructure funds.

City and state officials are positioning themselves to garner funding from any new federal stimulus package for various transportation and infrastructure projects. Most of the projects are smaller-scale and nearly ready to start development.

Longtime readers know that I am a believer in federal funding for transit, sewer, energy and communications infrastructure, especially in tough times. As we stand at the edge of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, we need sensible infrastructure spending to provide jobs and set the conditions for our next generation of growth.

One of the lasting lessons I took away from "The Power Broker", Robert Caro's fantastic biography of Bob Moses, was that those who were ready with plans for their dream projects were the first in line for funding when stimulus was available. Bob Moses secured a fortune for New York public works from the WPA and related agencies, and we are still enjoying the fruits of those investments today. It happens that Moses's vision for what to do with that money was disastrously flawed, but there can be no question that he was effective in getting things built.

New York needs leadership that will seize the opportunity in this crisis to make our city better and more sustainable, to preserve New York's preeminent stature as a world class city. But now is not the time for small thinking. It is a time for bold initiative. We have a once in a lifetime opportunity here to dramatically improve our city. Let's aim high.

Our city and state leadership must avoid the trap of thinking small and focusing only on quick fixes. We could: Extend the Second Avenue Subway. Connect La Guardia to the rail transit system. Connect Penn Station to Grand Central. Build the Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel. Bury the Gowanus Expressway, with dedicated transit facilities. Fix our outdated combined sewer systems. Turn Third Avenue into a green oasis. Build the Vision 42 light rail connector in mid-town. Create true high-speed intercity rail. Regionalize our subway system and commuter lines.

You can get a flavor for what I would do with the money here, here and here.

Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn/Queens) Brings Home Some Goodies

The Brooklyn Eagle has a list of $3.2 Million of projects inserted in the Omnibus Spending bill by Congesswoman Velazquez. Of note:

• Hudson Raritan Estuary — Gowanus Canal, New York, Environmental Restoration Project: $214,000 to continue the feasibility study for the environmental restoration of Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal.

• Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation’s Red Hook Green Roof Project: $250,000 for a project aimed at promoting the use of green roof design as a cost effective and viable strategy for increasing energy efficiency and reducing heat reflection that contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Kudos! Now, if we can get the funding for burying the Gowanus Expressway in the next TEA bill, that would be great. And while we're at it, funding for the Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel.

City Planning GIS Map

This is a pretty cool tool - a wealth of information to be visualized citywide.

http://gis.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/

As always I'm struck by how much parts of NJ fit with NYC - but due to political boundaries, we don't do regional planning as well as we should.  The Port Authority is a decent model (never mind that 90 years on it's founding purpose of a Cross-Harbor Freight Tunnel remains a dream).  Perhaps down the road we will see more coordination between the states, or even a shuffling of portfolios among authorities.

All right, I've now wandered way off topic.  Go check out that map. 

Esquire: Chris Christie Is In Deep Samson

Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys.  I still blame Jon Corzine for being a lousy governor and allowing the rise of Chris Christie as a result.  But Corzine looks like a prince next to the amoral back-slapping crook that succeeded him:

Paul Fishman, the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, wades through the sewage of Christie’s stewardship. Two sources with intimate knowledge of the case say Fishman’s pace is quickening -- he has empaneled a second grand jury, and the U.S. Justice Department has sent assistant prosecutors and FBI agents to work the case.  

“What’s taking the most time,” according to one source, “is separating what's viable from all the bad stuff they’re finding that may not be viable.”

Fishman’s challenge is to nail down specific criminal charges on several fronts -- the diversion of Port Authority money to fund New Jersey road and bridge projects; the four-day rush-hour closures of George Washington Bridge lanes in Ft. Lee; and a web of real-estate deals spun by David Samson, long a Christie crony, when he chaired the PA’s Board of Commissioners as Christie’s appointee. (One such deal, a stalled office-tower development in Hoboken, New Jersey, is central to a claim that Christie’s lieutenant governor told the town’s mayor that the state would withhold Hurricane Sandy relief aid from Hoboken if the mayor didn’t sign off on the development project.)

 And then there is this:

Fishman has cut no deals with anyone so far, and the looming indictments have encouraged Christie’s PA appointees to sing. “Don’t underestimate what Wildstein has on Christie,” says one source. “And Wildstein and Baroni have both turned on Samson. If Samson doesn't give Fishman Christie, Samson is toast.” 

. . . .

 “They’ve got [Samson] cold,” says one source. “He got sloppy, arrogant, and greedy. Samson will want a deal. This way, he’d get one or two years. He’d have a future on the other side. He won’t want to die in jail.”  

These guys are as dirty as it gets.  And they're going to go down for it.

Now, supposedly we're going to get a bi-state report on suggested reforms for the Port Authority Christie abused so baldly and badly.  Any substantive effort to change the authority should be free of any influence from the corrupt influence of the Chris Christie administration.

The PANYNJ is a vital and important organization; what this region needs is more interstate cooperation, not less.  It takes regional planning and regional cooperation to effectively manage the needs of the New York City metropolitan area.  We need to prevent more Chris Christies from raiding the Port Authority for their own selfish purposes, but we also need strong bistate cooperation to further the PA's core mission of moving people and goods efficiently through the region.  Our port and transportation infrastructure is the vital economic engine of the region.  We can and must do better.  The Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel (freight) and the Gateway project (passenger) are vital to the future prosperity of New York City.  With the WTC project finally nearing substantial completion, the PANYNJ must return to its roots and drive the next phase of economic growth with a focus on those two key infrastructure projects.