Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel: Difference between revisions
Craig Bolon (talk | contribs) Expand "location and characteristics." Add "criticism." |
Craig Bolon (talk | contribs) Describe proposed West Maspeth site |
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==Criticism of rail tunnel plans== |
==Criticism of rail tunnel plans== |
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Some critics object that improving [[rail transport]] with a tunnel would provide little [[traffic]] reduction relative to its high cost.<ref>{{cite web | author=Peter Samuel | title=New York harbor rail tunnel pushed with special truck toll tax | publisher=Toll Roads Newsletter | year=Sep 29 2004 | url=http://www.tollroadsnews.com/cgi-bin/a.cgi/yqoqChcAEdmRW6r2jfFwDw }}</ref> |
Some critics object that improving [[rail transport]] with a tunnel would provide little [[traffic]] reduction relative to its high cost.<ref>{{cite web | author=Peter Samuel | title=New York harbor rail tunnel pushed with special truck toll tax | publisher=Toll Roads Newsletter | year=Sep 29 2004 | url=http://www.tollroadsnews.com/cgi-bin/a.cgi/yqoqChcAEdmRW6r2jfFwDw }}</ref> The [[Maspeth, Queens | West Maspeth]] facility has been heavily criticized. It is proposed for an industrial site about four blocks south of the [[Interchange (road) | interchange]] between the [[Interstate 495 (New York) | Long Island Expressway]] (I-495) and the [[Brooklyn-Queens Expressway]] (I-278), where Nichols Copper and later [[Phelps Dodge Corporation | Phelps Dodge]] operated a [[copper]] refinery for decades. The copper plant closed in [[1983]], and the site has been largely vacant since then, although a new food [[warehouse]] was completed at its eastern end in [[2005]]. It abuts the heavily polluted [[Newtown Creek]].<ref>{{cite web | author=Laura Stockstill | title=Planning Industrial Futures in West Maspeth | publisher=Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance | year=Mar 3 2005 | url=http://www.waterwire.net/News/fullstory.cfm?ContID=1656 }}</ref> Although the site is close to two major [[highway]]s, many access routes pass through residential neigborhoods. Based on the estimates of the rail tunnel's capacity, [[traffic]] to and from the site could reach thousands of [[truck]] trips per day. |
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Spokespersons for neighborhoods in [[Brooklyn]] and [[Queens]] strongly object to land being designated for a [[Transshipment | trans-shipment terminal]] or other railroad uses<ref>{{cite web | author=Rob McKay | title=Rally Rips Freight Tunnel Plan | publisher=Ridgewood Times Newsweekly (Queens, NY) | year=Sept 30 2004 | url=http://www.timesnewsweekly.com/Archives2004/Jul.-Sept.2004/093004/NewFiles/NO%20MORE%20TRUCKS.html }}</ref> and to the noise and vibration expected from passage of up to 1,600 rail cars per day.<ref>{{cite web | author=Leo King | title=Freight Lines: New Yorkers hear tunnel objections | publisher=National Corridors Initiative | year=Dec 6 2004 | url=http://www.nationalcorridors.org/df/df12062004.shtml }}</ref> Reacting to these criticisms, in March, [[2005]], [[New York City]] Mayor [[Michael Bloomberg]] announced that he opposed the rail tunnel project.<ref>{{cite web | author=David Cargin | title=Mayor Bloomberg Opposes Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel | publisher=Queens Chronicle, Mid-Queens Edition | year=Mar 10 2005 | url=http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=14120466&BRD=2731&PAG=461&dept_id=574995&rfi=8 }}</ref> |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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Revision as of 20:17, 20 May 2006
The Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel is a proposed underwater tunnel for rail transport of freight between central New Jersey and Long Island, including southern and eastern New York City beyond Manhattan, with a route running partly under New York Harbor. It is also known as the Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel.
Background
Direct connections for railroad freight between Long Island and nearby areas of the United States have long been very limited. Less than three percent by weight of the area's freight is said to be moved by rail. The former Pennsylvania Railroad planned a freight railroad tunnel between Brooklyn and Staten Island in 1893, but the project was never carried out. Attempts by government planners to revive the project from the 1920s through the 1940s did not succeed.[1] The Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad tunnels through New York Penn Station, generally used only for passenger trains, were used for freight during World War I to relieve congestion at the barge transport docks.[2]
In the early 1990s U.S. Rep Jerrold Nadler revived interest in direct connection of rail freight to Long Island, hoping to reduce truck traffic through Manhattan.[3] With support from the City government, the New York City Economic Development Corporation commissioned a study of rail freight traffic across New York Harbor. The Cross Harbor Freight Movement Major Investment Study received $4 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation and $1 million from the New York City Industrial Development Agency. Edwards and Kelcey, a transportation engineering firm in Morristown, NJ, was hired to study the feasibility of alternative approaches to increased rail access for freight.
Studies of feasibility and environmental issues
In its summer, 2000, report Edwards and Kelcey evaluated proposals for rail tunnels between Brooklyn and Staten Island and between Brooklyn and Jersey City, plus increased barge transport of railcars across New York Harbor. It estimated a pair of tunnels between Jersey City and Brooklyn to cost US$2.15 billion, not including costs of tracks connections or track improvements. Despite the length of the tunnels being considered, up to 17,000 ft (5 200 m), the study found that providing enough ventilation to operate diesel locomotives would be practical.[4]
Probably mindful of environmental issues that were key elements in the 1985 cancellation of the Westway project, the New York City Industrial Development Agency commissioned an environmental assessment. This assessment found that immersed tube construction would be environmentally more hazardous as well as more expensive than bored tunnel construction. Ventilation was confirmed as practical and found unlikely to present greater hazards than fumes from trucks that would otherwise be used to transport freight.[1]
Following the feasibility and environmental studies, two organizations formed to plan and promote a tunnel project and to seek government funding. They are the Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project, hosted by STV Group, a construction firm in New York City and Douglassville, PA, and the Cross-Harbor Tunnel Coalition, also known as "MoveNYNJ" or "Move NY & NJ," headed by Marnie McGregor, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Pratt Institute, Center for Urban Development in Brooklyn. The Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project is supported by funds from the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration and the New York City Economic Development Corporation, while the Cross-Harbor Tunnel Coalition is a voluntary organization of business, union and political leaders. Political activity led to authorization of US$100 million for a Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel as a federal transportation project in the U.S. Transportation Equity Act of 2005.[5]
Rail tunnel location and characteristics
The proposed Cross Harbor Rail Tunnel cross-sections would be large enough for one double-stacked container car per tube.[6] As of 2004, according to the Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project, the alignment favored for a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel was between the Greenville Yard in Jersey City and the Bay Ridge line at 65th St. in Brooklyn, crossing the middle of the Upper Harbor with a length of of 5.5 mi (8.8 km).
During the period of environmental assessment existing rail infrastructure was surveyed for compatibility with a Cross Harbor Rail Tunnel. Parts of the existing trackage need repair. Some rights of way have been reduced to single-track width or were never wider. Some track segments lack enough clearance above the tracks for the heights of double-stacked container cars.[7] [8] Such factors limit the effective capacity of a rail tunnel and add substantial cost if they are to be overcome. Rail yards east of New York Harbor lack a trans-shipment terminal with enough capacity to transfer the freight coming through a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel to trucks. A proposal was generated to acquire 100 acres of land to build one in West Maspeth, Queens. [9] According to the Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project, project costs, including rail line connections and upgrades, will be substantially more than costs given in summer, 2000, for just tunnels. They have been estimated at between US$4.8 and US$7.4 billion.[10]
Studies performed for the Cross Harbor Rail Tunnel say about 30,000 trucks per day cross the George Washington Bridge and the Verrazano Narrows Bridge going to or from parts of Long Island, including Queens and Brooklyn, or about 10 million trucks per year, and they say the capacity of the proposed rail tunnel to carry freight is equivalent to between 0.5 and 1.0 million trucks per year.[11] If these estimates are accurate, then at full capacity the proposed rail tunnel could reduce truck traffic between 5 and 10 percent.
Criticism of rail tunnel plans
Some critics object that improving rail transport with a tunnel would provide little traffic reduction relative to its high cost.[12] The West Maspeth facility has been heavily criticized. It is proposed for an industrial site about four blocks south of the interchange between the Long Island Expressway (I-495) and the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (I-278), where Nichols Copper and later Phelps Dodge operated a copper refinery for decades. The copper plant closed in 1983, and the site has been largely vacant since then, although a new food warehouse was completed at its eastern end in 2005. It abuts the heavily polluted Newtown Creek.[13] Although the site is close to two major highways, many access routes pass through residential neigborhoods. Based on the estimates of the rail tunnel's capacity, traffic to and from the site could reach thousands of truck trips per day.
Spokespersons for neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens strongly object to land being designated for a trans-shipment terminal or other railroad uses[14] and to the noise and vibration expected from passage of up to 1,600 rail cars per day.[15] Reacting to these criticisms, in March, 2005, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he opposed the rail tunnel project.[16]
See also
- Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal Railroad. The passenger tunnels to New York Penn Station.
- New York Cross Harbor Railroad. The current car float (barge transport) operation.
External links
- Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project Several planning documents at this site.
- Cross-Harbor Tunnel Coalition Also known as "MoveNYNJ" or "Move NY & NJ."
- U.S. Federal Railroad Administration
Notes and references
- ^ a b Gareth Mainwaring (2002). "The development of the New York Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project" (PDF). Hatch Mott Macdonald (Toronto, ON).
- ^ Christopher T. Baer, Ed. (Jun 2004). "PRR Chronology" (PDF). Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) (1993). "HR 2784, New York Harbor Tunnel Act of 1993". Library of Congress.
- ^ Michael G. Carey, President (2000). "Cross Harbor Freight Movement Major Investment Study" (PDF). New York City Economic Development Corporation.
- ^ Marnie McGregor (Jul 29 2005). "Cross Harbor Tunnel receives significant funding in federal transportation bill". Cross-Harbor Tunnel Coalition.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Steve Anderson (2006). "Holland Tunnel historic overview". Eastern Roads. The diameter of a 2-lane tube for the Holland Tunnel is slightly less than the diameter for a tube with one rail line in a Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel, as shown in reference [1] (Mainwaring).
- ^ Jon Orcutt and Kate Slevin (May 17 2004). "Long-Awaited Cross-Harbor Rail Tunnel Environmental Report Released" (PDF). Tri-State Transportation Campaign.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Dredged Material Management Interagency Workgroup (Feb 5 2003). "Meeting Notes" (PDF). NY/NJ Clean Ocean And Shore Trust.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project (2004). "Brief History of Cross Harbor Rail". Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project.
- ^ Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project (2004). "Frequently Asked Questions". Cross Harbor Freight Movement Project.
- ^ Marnie McGregor (Feb 2 2006). "The Cross Harbor Rail Freight Tunnel" (PDF). Cross-Harbor Tunnel Coalition.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Peter Samuel (Sep 29 2004). "New York harbor rail tunnel pushed with special truck toll tax". Toll Roads Newsletter.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Laura Stockstill (Mar 3 2005). "Planning Industrial Futures in West Maspeth". Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Rob McKay (Sept 30 2004). "Rally Rips Freight Tunnel Plan". Ridgewood Times Newsweekly (Queens, NY).
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Leo King (Dec 6 2004). "Freight Lines: New Yorkers hear tunnel objections". National Corridors Initiative.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ David Cargin (Mar 10 2005). "Mayor Bloomberg Opposes Cross Harbor Freight Tunnel". Queens Chronicle, Mid-Queens Edition.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link)