(The following story by Joie Tyrrell was published in the January 8 issue of Newsday.)
NEW YORK — The projected cost of the East Side Access project that would connect the Long Island Rail Road to Grand Central Terminal has jumped by almost a billion dollars.
The price tag, according to Metropolitan Transportation Authority documents, has increased 21 percent from $4.35 billion to $5.27 billion after estimates from a pre-1998 study were recently revised.
Some commuter watchdog groups questioned yesterday if the increase would affect the project’s scope. Connections are expected to be built to the existing 63rd Street tunnels under the East River, allowing LIRR trains to travel between Jamaica and Grand Central.
Currently, the LIRR has no access to Grand Central, which now serves Metro-North. The LIRR shares Penn Station with Amtrak and New Jersey Transit.
“The big thing about it is the MTA has always said they will fund 50 percent, but they are hoping for the federal government to fund the other 50 percent,” said Beverly Dolinsky, executive director of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council. “You are asking the feds for almost $3 billion for this one project, and my question is: Is it realistic?”
Peter Haynes, president of another commuter group, said he wasn’t surprised the project’s costs have jumped.
“Just about everything that the railroad or the MTA does ends up over budget,” said Haynes, president of the Long Island Rail Road Commuters Campaign. “The bigger it is, the more over budget it seems to end up.”
The original budget, released in April 2001, was based on a planning study done before 1998, according to briefing papers for the MTA’s capital program oversight committee. The Army Corps of Engineers reviewed the project last year and found that the cost could be up to 20 percent more than originally budgeted, fueled partly by a $616 million increase in construction costs and $48 million more in engineering and management costs.
Mitch Pally, vice president for government affairs for the Long Island Association, the region’s largest business group, said he expects the project will receive federal funding because it is vital for Long Island. Members of Long Island’s congressional delegation have continually lobbied for East Side access.
“From our perspective, it still is one of the most important transportation infrastructure projects for Long Island, and we would hope the funding would continue to be pursued by our congressional delegation,” Pally said. “Obviously as the design and engineering gets closer to completion, one is provided with much better costs of [the] project. I don’t think anyone is surprised that the estimate is higher in 2003 than it was in 1998.”
MTA officials did not return calls for comment yesterday.
The project, expected to be complete around 2011, would serve an estimated 150,000 commuters-most of whom now travel to Penn Station or Brooklyn before catching a subway or bus to their final destinations.
The hefty price tag for East Side Access makes the competition for resources among major mass transit expansion projects a little more crowded, according to the Tri-State Transportation Campaign, a transit advocacy group. LIRR-Grand Central access is at the head of the line, because its planning, engineering and environmental reviews are all furthest along, according to the group.
But the need for more cash is likely to make the jostling for city, state and federal funding for the Second Avenue subway, the No. 7 train extension and other transit projects even rougher, said Kate Slevin, communications coordinator for Tri-State.
“We’re concerned how these projects are going to get done and would like to see what the agenda is for getting them done,” Slevin said.