(Newsday posted the following article by Jennifer Maloney on its website on February 1.)
NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will review the cost and timing of “mega projects,” such as East Side access for the Long Island Rail Road, which could be impacted by rising costs that have pushed the MTA’s $21-billion, 5-year capital program significantly over budget, MTA executive director and chief executive Elliot “Lee” Sander said Wednesday.
Sander said it was “very premature” to say whether the East Side Access, Second Avenue subway or No. 7 subway line extension projects would be eliminated or postponed.
Rising construction costs and a dearth of contract bidders have contributed to the overrun in the MTA’s 2005-09 capital program — which includes projects to expand and improve subway, bus and rail systems, Sander said.
“It’s a serious problem,” Sander said after an MTA board meeting in which he was voted in as permanent executive director and chief executive. “We’re doing everything we can to deal with this.”
But MTA officials downplayed a published report that the program could be $1.4 billion over budget.
“That number is a number that may be the sum of all fears,” said MTA chairman Peter Kalikow.
Sander said an MTA panel will consider measures to cut costs and attract more bidders. Its review will take two to three months, he said.
Gene Russianoff, staff lawyer for the Straphangers Campaign, a transit riders advocacy group, said he worries that the mega projects will take precedence over much-needed smaller initiatives such as station repairs.
“If there are really serious cuts made to the capital program, the riders will feel it,” he said.
But Sander stressed that the MTA’s first priority is funding capital projects aimed at keeping its subway, bus and train systems in a state of good repair.
More than half of the program’s budget is allocated for New York City Transit projects. About 10 percent of the funds — or $2.2 billion — is slotted for Long Island Rail Road projects, including cyclical rail and tie replacements and the $122-million project to construct a third track between Queens Village and Hicksville.
LIRR spokeswoman Susan McGowan said it is too early to predict whether rising construction costs will affect that project, as they have elsewhere: The LIRR expected a plan to build an entry pavilion and ticket office at its Flatbush Avenue station in Brooklyn would cost $22.8 million, but the winning low bid came in at $25.7 million.