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The following is an excerpt from a report published by
the Urban Mass Transportation Administration. The text below is in the
public domain.
DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT
SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY, ROUTE 132-A
34th Street to 126th Street, Manhattan
August, 1971
Urban Mass Transportation Administration
Washington, D.C., 20590
- Introduction
- Description of Proposed Project
- Environmental Impact of Proposed Action
- Appendix A
This Draft Environmental Statement relates to an
application by the City of New York, acting by the New York City
Transit Authority, for a grant of two-thirds of the cost of
constructing and equipping an underground rapid transit railroad route
in the City of New York along Second Avenue from 34th Street to 126th
Street in the Borough of Manhattan. The total cost of the project is
$381,000,000. The application is for a grant of two-thirds of the
cost or $254,000,000.
A public hearing, after due publication of notice, was
held on September 15, 1971 at which approximately 40 persons and
organizations presented testimony. No witnesses appeared in objection
to the construction of the project. On the contrary, there were a
substantial number of witnesses, including civic, community and
business organizations, who emphasized the need for the project's early
completion.
Many community representatives requested that a station,
in addition to those already proposed, be constructed in the vicinity
of 96th Street and Second Avenue, principally to serve the
Metropolitan Hospital which provides medical service to large numbers
of low-income patients.
After considering the testimony presented at the hearing,
the New York City Transit Authority adopted a resolution providing for
the construction of a station at 96th Street at a cost of
approximately $10,000,000. The Draft Environmental Statement of New
York, acting by the New York City Transit Authority, is hereto annexed
as Appendix A.
The need for the Second Avenue Subway line has been
recognized in New York City for 40 years. The facility was not
previously provided because of a lack of funds.
Present construction of the line has been approved by the
Governor and the State Legislature, by the Mayor, the City Board of
Estimate and the City Council. The State Legislature has appropriated
$99,000,000 for this project.
The project proposes construction of a basic two-track
line extending along Second Avenue from East 34th Street to East 126th
Street in Manhattan, and includes a train interconnection with a
crosstown line now under construction in East 63rd Street. Connections
to this Project will be made at 34th Street to a new route extending
south to lower Manhattan, and at 126th Street to a new route extending
north into The Bronx, where a connection will be made to the existing
Pelham Bay Park line and the existing Dyre Ayenue line.
In order to provide more reliable service for passengers,
the route between 72nd Street and 48th Street will be constructed so
as to provide four tracks.
Transit properties of the New York City Transit System
are owned by the City of New York and are leased to and operated by
the New York City Transit Authority. The transit system lies entirely
within the limits of New York City.
Its rapid transit division has 726 miles of track -
subway, surface and elevated, - over 240 miles of route in the
Boroughs of Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and The Bronx; 477 stations,
and 7,000 passenger cars.
Over 1.2 billion passengers were carried in the 1970-71
year on the rapid transit lines.
Its surface division operates 2,380 passenger buses over
577 route miles in the five boroughs. In 1969-70, the bus lines
carried 430 million passengers.
A subsidiary of the Transit Authority, the Manhattan and
Bronx Surface Transportation Operating Authority (MaBSTOA), operates
an additional 1,960 buses over 329 route miles in Manhattan, The Bronx
and Queens and carried 395 million passengers in the 1969-70 year.
There are only five privately owned bus companies
remaining in the City of New York operating about 600 buses in Queens
and Manhattan. The Port of New York Authority operates the PATH
Railroad between Manhattan and points in New Jersey.
The Penn Central and the Long Island Railroad bring some
200,000 suburban commuters each day to terminals within the City from
which most of them proceed to their destinations on the rapid transit
and surface lines of the New York City Transit Authority and
MaBSTOA.
About 100,000 suburban and inter-city bus passengers
arrive daily at the two Port Authority bus terminals and are also
carried to their final destinations on Transit Authority and MaBSTOA
facilities.
In Queens and The Bronx several suburban bus lines bring
15,000 commuters daily to the terminals of the Transit Authority rapid
transit lines in a "closed door" operation within the city limits.
The New York City Transit Authority subway and bus lines
differ in function from the major suburban carriers in the region.
The major function of the commuter rail and bus lines is to carry
people from the suburban areas lying outside the City of New York to
the rail and bus terminals in or close to the Central Business
District and also to the subway terminals. The distribution of the
suburban passengers throughout the City is then a function of the
rapid transit and surface lines of the New York City Transit Authority
and MaBSTOA, as part of its basic task of providing transportation
within the City.
In addition to operating and maintaining the Transit
System of the City of New York, the Transit Authority has the
statutory responsibility for initiating plans for new rapid transit
lines, extensions, improvements and betterments to the existing
transit system and recommending construction of new facilities.
The City of New York, with almost eight million
inhabitants, possesses a relatively restricted area toward which the
labor force of the City and a large percentage of that of its
neighbors travel each work-day morning and from which they return in
the evening, and in which shoppers, seekers of amusements and visitors
flock at all hours. In this area are concentrated the office
skyscrapers which serve as headquarters for nearly all of America's
great corporations; the center of the garment, fur, printing and other
industries, most of the world's largest department stores and retail
shopping centers; and the largest concentration of theatres, concert
halls, restaurants, night clubs and hotels.
The Central Business District is in the area on which the
regions economy rests. About a third of the Reguin's 6.7 million jobs
are located in this nine-square-mile area. Of the 3,500,000 persons
entering the District on a typical business day, 57 percent use the
subway. Of the 850,000 persons entering during the morning peak hour
(8 to 9 a.m.), about 75 percent arrive by subway.
Clearly, Manhattan's intricate web of business relations
could not be maintained without the subway.
The total expansion and modernization program planned for
the New York City TransitAuthority provides for additional trunk line
capacity to reduce overcrowding on existing lines, as well as the
extension of service to areas of the City that have developed since
the last extensions of subway lines were built and which now have a
great need for improved service. An integral part of the program is
the upgrading of standards of service through the use high performance
air-conditioned cars, improved standards of route alignments and
better station designs.
Presently, severe overcrowding exists on the Lexington
Avenue Line, the only trunk route on the east side of Manhattan. This
four-tracked facility offers express and local service in Manhattan
and carries traffic from five services in the Bronx. The continued
growth in office space on the east side of Manhattan and continued
population growth in the outlying areas of the Bronx served by this
route make relief of overcrowding and additional capacity
necessary.
The Second Avenue line is designed to provide this needed
relief. The Second Avenue route itself provides a 60 per cent increase
in potential subway capacity on the east side of Manhattan. A
northward extension of this line into the Bronx (not part of this
application) will permit the diversion of passengers from existing
Bronx services into the Second Avenue line. The additional capacity
and services made possible by the Second Avenue route will open up a
new transit corridor in Manhattan and will result in improved service
and less crowding on the Lexington Avenue line.
Coverdale and Colpitts, the Transit Authority traffic
consultants on the Project, conclude that the Second Avenue Line is
required "to relieve the intolerable congestion on the Lexington
Avenue Line." The Lexington Avenue Line is over 50 years old and,
except for a brief strike period, has operated 24 hours a day, every
day, from its inception.
Although the project involves the construction of the
Second Avenue Line only between 34th Street and 126th Street, the
entire line ultimately to be constructed by the City will operate over
two connections in The Bronx along the Dyre Avenue and Pelham Bay
Lines and will be extended to the south to the southern tip of
Manhattan Island to Whitehall Street.
It can be anticipated that the line will attract persons
now using surface transportation either by private car or bus. The
Transit Authority operates a bus line in Manhattan for the entire
length of Second Avenue and the number of buses that operate along
this line would be reduced to reflect any diversion of patronage from
surface transportation to the new rapid transit line. The congestion
of the Lexington Avenue Line now encourages passengers to use surface
transportation either by bus or automobile. The extent to which such
diversion will occur cannot now be measured but it seems clear that
the cumulative effect of the diversion will have a favorable
environmental impact from the reduction in the use of gasoline and
diesel powered surface vehicles. Furthermore, the environment will
benefit additionally through the reduction in surface congestion.
The beneficial environmental impacts of the project may
be summarized as follows:
- The project will provide a reliable modern, high-capacity,
high-speed underground rapid transit railroad necessary to relieve
congestion on the Lexington Avenue subway.
- The project will provide needed and convenient accessibility to
the east side of Manhattan. Large concentrations of office and
business buildings and residences, hospitals and schools are located
in this area.
- The project can be expected to reduce surface vehicle congestion.
- The project will reduce net vehicular exhaust emissions.
DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL STATEMENT
SECOND AVENUE SUBWAY, ROUTE 132-A
Construction of Route 132-A will mark the start of New
York's long-awaited Second Avenue Subway.
This line has been approved by the Governor, the Mayor,
the New York State Legislature, the New York City Board of Estimate
and the City Council.
It will provide transportation that is vital to the
economic and social well being of New York City.
It will make this transportation available where it is
urgently needed.
By providing a new rapid transit route, and relieving
overcrowding on existing lines, it will furnish easier, faster, more
comfortable transportation for New Yorkers, and help reduce automobile
congestion on the city's streets.
Underground and e1ectrically powered, it will add no
internal combustion pollutants to the city's air.
It will spur the development and improvement of
residential and business properties along its routes.
Description of Proposed Route
Route 132-A is a basic two-track line extending along
Second Avenue from East 34th Street to East 126th Street in Manhattan,
and includes a train interconnection with a crosstown line now under
construction in East 63rd Street. Connections to Route 132-A will be
made at 34th Street to a new route extending south to lower Manhattan,
and at 126th Street to a new route extending north into The Bronx,
where a connection will be made to the existing Pelham Bay Park line
and the existing Dyre Avenue line.
The Second Avenue line will relieve the existing
Lexington Avenue line. improve service on the existing Pelham Bay Park
and Dyre Avenue lines and, by providing a direct access to the major
office and residential centers on the east side of lower and midtown
Manhattan, will decrease traveling time between the outer sections of
The Bronx and Manhattan. It will also provide direct access to the
East Side of Manhattan from Queens.
Discussion of Unavoidable Adverse Environmental
Effects
No permanent adverse environmental effects are expected
as a result of this project. During construction of the Second Avenue
subway, local disturbances cannot be avoided. These, however, will be
kept to a minimum.
Route 132-A will be underground for its entire 4.7 mile
length. The methods of construction utilized will include cut and
cover cover and tunneling. The cut-and-cover method will be used for
constructing station mezzanines (which are close to the street
surface), for constructing the portions of structure where there is a
crevice in the rock profile (in the vicinity of 48th Street), and for
constructing the portion of the route where the rock profile drops
away sharply (north of 92nd Street). Cut-and-cover construction will
require the temporary decking of portions of Second Avenue. This
decking will be placed in off-peak hours. Provision will be made so
that sufficient traffic capacity will be maintained along Second
Avenue.
The remaining portions of the route will be constructed
by tunneling methods, with construction shafts located at points yet
to be determined.
Precautions and special efforts will be taken to minimize
noise during construction, through the use of mufflers on equipment,
special tools and construction methods. Detailed and comprehensive
noise control specifications in the construction contracts will
restrict and control the contractor so that the most modern noise
abatement procedures will be followed.
The horizontal and vertical alignment of Route 132-A was
selected to keep family and business relocation to a minimum. This
has been successful, inasmuch as this route, which is almost five
miles in length, will not require relocation of any families, and only
one business relocation will be necessary. This relocation of a gas
station on the southeast corner of Second Avenue and East 63rd Street
cannot be avoided because this area must be used both as a
construction and ventilation shaft and for a permanent ventilation
superstructure.
Additionally, underground easements will be required
under 13 properties in the vicinity of East 63rd Street and Second
Avenue, for the portion of the subway connection to the 63rd Street
line now under construction.
Analysis of Short-term and Long-term Enviromental
Consequences
The Second Avenue line can carry over 50,000 passengers
in the peak hours from northern Mnhattan and The Bronx. This is the
equivalent of over eight lanes of highway capacity. It is expected
that not only will this rail system reduce the number of cars required
to take passengers from the outlying area to the central business
district, but it will also relieve the overcrowding of the existing
adjacent subway, such as the Lexington Avenue line. With the
anticipated drop in use of automobiles into the central business
district, there will be a corresponding decrease in the side effects
of the auto, such as smog, congestion and noise.
The basic two-track line will be entirely underground for
the entire extent of Route 132-A. Since it is electrically powered,
it will not produce any air pollutants. Additionally, any noise that
may be generated during operations should not be heard on the street
above. The cars, and the equipment for powering these trains, are
being designed to hold the noise and vibration effects to a minimum.
The passengers will also receive the benefits of air-conditioned
cars.
Experience shows that the city will benefit not only in
the saving of time by millions of passengers in reaching the central
business district, but that the real estate developing in the vicinity
of Second Avenue will appreciate greatly.
Irreversible and Irretievable Commitment of Resources
Since no loss or other effect on natural resources is
anticipated, there will be no irreversible and irretrievable
commitment of resources attributable to this project.
Possible Problems and Objections
No objections by Federal, State or local entities are
expected as a result of this project.
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