its going to be a mix of both.

yes, plenty of housing to help justify the costs.

but also parkland, in part because of structural issues you mentioned no doubt, but also political to get it done.

i'm not holding my breath for this or for the sunnyside yards cap.

sure they will happen eventually, but when is anybody's guess.

... and we still have a western hudson yards cap to go first.

The difference between a capped Cross Bronx and Sunnyside Yards is that for the most part the surrounding community supports the former and opposes the latter. Of course that community support or lack thereof is contingent again on housing and whether that housing displaces people through raised rents or "overcrowds schools" or any other perfectly surmountable issue, no matter how loosely tethered to reality.

I don't see any point in anything other than scattered small caps over the existing expressway. It can't be vacated because it's a primary access point for deliveries of all types in an out of the city.

If housing advocates really want to increase the volume of housing they ought to be advocating 20+ story public housing-style towers for the lower and middle classes in park land. For example, extend 109th across Central Park and develop a new block with an army of towers. Nobody would miss 1% of Central Park.

Nothing is being "vacated". No one is advocating for the closure of the Cross Bronx Expwy. It's one of the heaviest traveled stretches of 95. There are only 4 or 5 exits that would be affected and there's no reason they couldn't be handled.

Don't take this the wrong way but your Central Park idea is one of the most preposterous and unserious comments I think I've ever seen. Please help me feel better by admitting you were joking.

Subway to LaGuardia? Port Authority to Consider the Option

A blue-ribbon panel will consider mass transit options for LaGuardia, including a subway extension

Nov. 16, 2021
NBC 4


"Could the subway be extended to LaGuardia Airport? It's an option on the table as the Port Authority kicks off a review of better options for mass transit to the airport.

The agency said Tuesday it was appointing a blue-ribbon panel to consider a list of options for better access to the airport. "At a minimum," it said, the panel would consider:

1. improved and expanded bus service, including potential for dedicated lanes
2. ferry service
3. one-system rides, including subway extension options
4. elevated guideway options including light rail from various LIRR and subway stops
5. other new and emerging technologies that can be pursued and implemented in the near-term"

The expert panel will include former NYC transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, Denver International Airport CEO and former CEO of Los Angeles Metro Philip Washington and Mike Brown, the former managing director of London's Heathrow Airport..."

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...ption/3404825/

^ hallelujah. they assembled a good team too. :tup:




i could totally see the cross bronx being capped piecemeal, in fits and starts over many years. in fact i would bet that is what actually happens.

i can also see sunnyside yards being capped piecemeal.

not hudson yards west though, that one will be all at once. we have to wait for gateway to be figured out first.

Supposedly extending the N train to LGA was nixed by nimbys years ago but I don't really understand that and I live in the area. Everything past 21st Avenue is super industrial with very little residential. They should extend the N past its current terminal with a stop around Robert DeNiro's $1B Wildflower Studios, then a station on a redeveloped Rikers Island, then finally on to LGA.

i wondered what was happening with downtown flood planning and the lower fdr down there:


FDR Drive tear-down and Samantha Maldonado, THE CITY

Posted on November 16, 2021


A higher waterfront and a lower highway may be on tap for Lower Manhattan.

The city has a new proposal for protecting the Financial District and Seaport from future flooding: extending the eastern edge of Manhattan’s tip by up to 188 feet — while raising the shoreline and possibly taking down the elevated FDR Drive from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Battery.

The city’s Economic Development Corporation plans to reveal a master plan for the FiDi – Seaport resilience project — first proposed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2019 as a possible 500-foot extension of Lower Manhattan into the harbor — by the end of the year.


more:
https://www.amny.com/news/fdr-drive-...wn-flood-plan/


https://www.amny.com/wp-content/uplo...0-1200x800.jpg

I'm all for it. I think you can make the argument for removal north of the BB as well. What I'd like to know is why are they saying tearing down the FDR south of the BB and creating a blvd will be that expensive? Thats insane.

a few transit news bites for the weekend:


Hochul wants to make MTA acting chief Janno Lieber permanent

By Kevin Duggan
Posted on November 18, 2021


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/gov-hoc...ber-permanent/



Port Authority plans fare hike to $8 for AirTrains in 2022

By Kevin Duggan
Posted on November 18, 2021


more:
https://www.amny.com/transit/airtrai...ort-authority/


https://www.amny.com/wp-content/uplo.../image-123.jpg
The cost of an AirTrain ride at Kennedy and Newark airports is going up.



OMNY set to usher in the age of fare-capping in NYC

written by Benjamin Kabak
November 11, 2021



more:
https://secondavenuesagas.com/2021/1...apping-in-nyc/


https://pyxis.nymag.com/v1/imgs/a4d/...ontal.w700.jpg
The OMNY card will replace the Metrocard, though the fewer people who have one, the better. (Via the MTA)

Janno Lieber seems extremely competent and he has a real passion for modernizing and expanding services. He's not some do-nothing political appointment. That is awesome news.

OMNY card scores 10/10. Finally a world-class transit card for NY.

There are few things I despise more than how the Port manages the JFK AirTrain. Irrationally high fares, confusing fare control setup, and long waits for an automated system that should be cheap as hell to run frequently.

After my Metrocard finally ran out of money, I started using OMNY with my credit card. It's pretty foolproof as long as you remember to hold the card to the reader for an extra beat (it's not quite as fast as I had imagined). Alas, my pre-tax commuter benefits card doesn't have a chip, and management doesn't seem to want to acknowledge OMNY other than that it exists. So I'm back to Metrocards for the time being.

One tip for OMNY users: you should create an online OMNY account. That way, you can add the credit card(s) you use on the readers and keep track of trips in case of disputes.

I'm not too confident that the jail complex will be completely removed. The cost of building a new prison anywhere in Manhattan would be horrendous and Brooklyn's not much better. Plus, the island is awfully convenient to...Queens and Brooklyn.

I'm not sure what the height limit is on Riker's but it can't be particularly high. Otherwise it would be fun to think about interlining the planned Second Ave. subway extension under 125th with a new train across to Riker's and the airport. The island is big enough for such a line to surface and have two (cheap) at-grade stations before heading back underwater to the airport.

^ actually, rikers more directly connects to the bronx, but there have been ambitious proposals for that kind of scheme, combined with infilling rikers to connect it to laguardia:


https://i2.wp.com/www.welcome2thebro...9562be1cf5.jpg

https://s3-prod.crainsnewyork.com/s3...QAIFTCPALF.jpg




yeah same for me about my work pre-tax transit card. no chip, so you have to buy metrocards with it. i contacted them about this during the pandemic and they said they had no current plans. what that really means is of course there no incentive for them to give you a new card, because chip cards are more expensive, and also they would have to send them out to everyone.

maybe the omny account would accept it? i dk, i will have to try that -- good tip. :tup:

I don't know that the airspace can support a huge expansion of LGA, which goes to crap whenever there is weather.

Since NY has poured billions into the LIRR maybe do this at ISP instead.

Stewart has potential too in this regard especially if it had the fortune of being along a new hsr Amtrak link to NYC.

I tried to add my transit benefits card to my phone's Google Pay app, but couldn't get the text verification to work with my phone number. So when I contacted the management company (after a 30+ minute wait), they basically told me that they wouldn't work with OMNY for the time being. Maybe you will have better luck?

i'll try it this weekend and let you know -- :tup:

I think for the future yes. As I recall there has been desire to replace the old terminal at ISP with a new one on the north side of the field. Conveniently almost right next to the LIRR station. Between the third main track and Ronkonkoma double track you could probably press a limited stop service (maybe just Jamacia?) into less than an hour from Penn or GCT.