queens blvd aka the boulevard of death bikeway to be finished soon:


“The Boulevard of Death becomes the Boulevard of Life,” hizzoner said at a press conference next to the newly-green-painted lanes on Queens Boulevard near 70th Road. “The final phase of Queens Boulevard, the final act of Vision Zero on Queens Boulevard will be completed next month, October 2021, once and for all.”


more:
https://www.amny.com/news/queens-bou...t-month-mayor/

https://www.amny.com/wp-content/uplo...fVcAsgHqr.jpeg

MTA completes environmental review for Metro-North Penn Station Access and four new stations in the Bronx

Mass Transit
Sept. 28, 2021

"The environmental review process for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) Metro-North Penn Station Access Project has been completed.

The milestone makes four new stations in the Bronx as well as direct Metro-North service to Penn Station from the Bronx, Westchester and Connecticut a step closer to reality.

"This is an important milestone for a project that will give people in several transit-deprived areas of the East Bronx with access to jobs, education, health care and everything New York and Connecticut have to offer,” said Acting MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “By making use of existing infrastructure, we are connecting people to these opportunities at a fraction of the cost it would take to build a new rail line. The next step is to award a contract to one team that will manage both the design and construction in a coordinated way to deliver the project on time and on budget..."

https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/...s-in-the-bronx

mayor deblasio joins chorus to review lga airtrain:




De Blasio joins calls to review Cuomo’s LaGuardia AirTrain


By Nolan Hicks and David Meyer

September 30, 2021 3:23pm

Updated




Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday joined growing calls to re-evaluate disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $2.1 billion pet project “AirTrain” between LaGuardia Airport and eastern Queens.


Speaking at his daily City Hall press briefing, Hizzoner said the controversial “wrong-way” monorail has “some virtues,” but needed to be reassessed now that the notorious bully ex-governor is out of the picture.


“We were dealing with an aberrant situation — a governor who would not work with anyone, who created fear, who rushed through projects whether good or bad,” the mayor said.


“Now we get a chance to look at this thing in the clear light of day, where, actually, there’s a much more mature, humane environment where we can look at this and decide on the merits, ‘Does it make sense?'”


The proposed AirTrain connection to LaGuardia Airport was one of Cuomo’s top priorities.


“Let’s do that assessment now,” he said. “Let’s reassess it and figure out — if there’s a better way, let’s go in that direction; if there’s not, go with the original plan. But it’s no longer an imperial building project, it can be looked at objectively.”



more:

https://nypost.com/2021/09/30/de-bla...rdia-airtrain/


https://nypost.com/wp-content/upload...y=90&strip=all

great news! hopefully they can restore the old hunts point station. probably not, but it would be cool if they would do it:

https://static01.nyt.com/packages/im...isable=upscale


1908
https://ephemeralnewyork.files.wordp...tation1908.png

yaaaassss

Statement from Governor Kathy Hochul on Transportation to LaGuardia Airport

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/sta...uardia-airport

thank the lord, there's hope

yay!

ny gov houchul cancels cuomo’s wrong way airtrain to lga — tells them to find an alternative:

https://nypost.com/2021/10/04/hochul...rdia-airtrain/

Survey says? What is everyone's top option to connect LGA?

Extend the N. Create dedicated access for MTA busses in the terminal area and camera enforced bus lanes for the M60 and Q70 routes where possible.

A new Paris RER style express train linking JFK, La Guardia, Grand Central, Penn Station, and Newark International with subway connections. A boy can dream.

an airtrain connection to the N/Q on ditmars in astoria.

sensible, quiet, cheaper, quicker to build and done. :tup:

if they ever want to extend the airtrain east and south along cuomo's path and down to connect with the citifield lirr and then to the jamaica jfk airtrain they can do it later on the next generation's dime. :haha:

Otherwise known as an extension of the N/W Astoria Line to LGA. What possible reasoning is a 2-seat proprietary Airtrain a better option than just extending the damn subway line like every other world city has the sense to do? Oh yeah, plus a subway extension has the added benefit of serving communities along the catchment area whereas an Airtrain gimmick presents no such opportunity. An N/W extension could include a station in northern Steinway, a station on the western edge of LGA in Astoria Heights to serve airport workers, a central LGA station and continue a tunnel to College Point where a large, much needed yard could be built on the old airfield there, and with a terminal station would spark a TOD frenzy.

Heh I'm not really sure it would be any of those things. Anyway elevated rail on modern concrete viaduct is pretty quiet, certainly compared to the old steel structures.

^ lol yeah when is any construction project of this kind a cost savings in reality? but ostensibly it should be.

i’ve been under the airtrain on foot, its quieter than under the old el subway lines. i guess we dont know what new el subway would be like around here, all of ours is old. i would also guess the neighborhood would pitch more of a fit about el subway tracks which they already know are noisy than a skinny, quiet airtrain line. they did in the past when it was brought up.



sure the mta could extend the subway another stop, or further, but the direct connection to the airport is going to be an airtrain. a subway/commuter rail connection is off the table per the port authority due to security.

per state senator brad hoylman’s newsletter:


MTA Hearing: Penn Station Redevelopment

Last week, I participated in the Senate hearing on MTA finances. I asked Acting MTA Chair, Janno Lieber, about the necessity of adding 20 million square feet of commercial office space in Midtown Manhattan to help finance the redevelopment and expansion of Penn Station. Mr. Lieber was non-committal on the real estate development, saying that the transportation projects need to be “disaggregated” from the real estate proposals. He further said that federal financing specifics for the Penn Station redevelopment and Gateway Tunnel Terminal have not yet been determined. With my colleagues in government, I’ll continue to advocate for greater transparency for the Empire Station Complex, keeping in mind that the redevelopment of Penn Station and expansion for Gateway must remain top transportation priorities for New York’s future. Empire State Development’s response to the Community Advisory Committee Working Group on our thorough set of recommendations has been pushed until they can gain further feedback from the Governor

Where is this written? By that logic there could never be a world class JFK express train either. Or even have the ability to drive onto airport property. The public terminal and the secure areas of the airport and the airfield are two different things, just like they are at any world airport, many of which have rail transportation under the terminal or right in front, and not a "train to another train" which recently corrected federal regulation is designed to prevent. Not to mention you already have American examples like Chicago O'Hare, San Francisco, DC Dulles, DC Reagan...

How exactly is a train that is part of a larger connected network more of a security risk than an airtrain white elephant? It's not like the subway is behind the TSA checkpoint...

^ actually it was because the pa funded the airtrains via airport fees. in the meantime after 9/11 they wanted full control of all access at ny/nj airports. that’s why a planned hotel over the jamaica station facility was cancelled. also in part why an mta rail connection to lga was never seriously considered by cuomo. so afaik that pa security mindset still exists. you’ll notice houchul said come up with an alternative, but didn’t specify a preference, so she is listening to the pa as well as transit advocates.

i wouldnt be so quick to open up area airports to one seat mta and nj transit riders. especially as the airtrain system is already long established now. its best for the city to continue to formally hand over responsibility of riders to the pa via that service. nyc is thee target after all. there are already security concerns over the airtrain jfk international terminal and airtrain security in general.

The "security" issue sounds more PA made up than real. I have no idea what extra security is gained from an AirTrain besides frustration with the poor way finding and idiotic fare control at Jamaica. More likely they just don't want the MTA on their turf.

The N is so tantalizingly close to the airport that spending billions on an entirely separate train seems foolhardy.

Now at EWR I think the opposite should be done. Shelve the multi-billion dollar PATH extension to the airport and send the new AirTrain all the way to Newark Penn for much better connections.

i'm sure it's also lowkey the mta and nj transit not wanting the responsibility as well.

it might be all made up by the pa post-9/11 to protect their turf, but security along public transit and the airports is indeed a major concern. in the end, i don't see the pa letting go of this. :shrug:

The PANYNJ needs to be neutered. They strut around like they're a third state.