State, MTA Should Repair Existing Infrastructure Rather Than New Projects

Metro-North riders should be concerned that the $68 billion MTA 2025-2029 Five Year Capital Plan for financial reasons is not worth the paper it is written on.

Gov. Hochul claims she can find additional state and federal funding to make up for the missing $15 billion in congestion pricing from the current $51 billion 2020- 2024 Five Year Capital Plan. She promises the same for making up the $33 billion shortfall in the proposed plan. This leaves the MTA a record $48 billion shortfall in funding!

It will be dead upon arrival when it reaches Gov. Hochul and the state legislature.

Allocation of funding for advancing closer to reaching a state of good repair for all capital asset categories should be a higher priority than any system expansion projects.

Funding for the $7.7 billion Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 and the $5.5 billion Brooklyn/Queens Interboro Express Light Rail Connector would be better spent on state-of-good-repair projects. The same holds true for placing Metro-North’s $3.1 billion Bronx East Penn Station access project on hold. Forget about any consideration for Phase 3 of the $7.5 billion Second Avenue subway 125^th Street crosstown extension as well.

Don’t be surprised next year when both the governor and state legislature reduce the proposed $68 billion plan by billions. I predict it will end up in the $50 billion-plus range. The MTA will have to revise its proposed $68 billion 2025-2029 Five Year Capital Plan to deal with a more realistic level of future funding availability.

Larry Penner
Great Neck, N.Y.
The letter writer is a transportation advocate, historian and writer who previously served as a former director for the Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office of Operations and Program Management.  

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