Monday, October 22, 2007

Connect Roosevelt Island to Manhattan- Solve Transit Problems



Roosevelt Island 360 adds his thoughts on Roosevelt Island transportation options:

Access from Roosevelt Island onto the LIRR track below the subway station is undoubtedly a pipe dream. But building a entrance to the LIRR East Side Access spur would be much easier and cheaper than ever building a new subway station connecting to either the N,R or E,V lines which each also travel underneath Roosevelt Island.
For those of you that were not aware there is another tunnel directly below the tunnel that brings the subway through Roosevelt Island. This second tunnel was built with the long term goal of bring the LIRR onto Manhattan's East Side and down into Grand Central Terminal...

The alternatives to increasing transportation access to and from Roosevelt Island are pretty limited as we all know. So perhaps the logistics and possibility of a LIRR station stop on the Island should be investigated.
The issue is discussed at a transit oriented message board called Subchat that concludes:
the MTA would never attempt or pay for such access.
Trains Are Fun, a commentator on Subchat, sums up the prospects for improving Roosevelt Island transportation this way:
...take-home points are: add more land to the island until it's part of Manhattan, and that should solve the problem. Glib, but that's more likely to happen than what you're asking for.
A reader of Roosevelt Island 360 makes an interesting comment regarding the impact of the new Related/Hudson Riverwalk condo's coming on line as well any other future residential development such as the rumored sale of Coler Goldwater Hospital.
... the fact is that there is NO adequate help coming for the overcrowded F and tram. no lirr station, no stop at the E/V tunnel (accessible from the mta property in southpoint), no ferry in the foreseeable future. the mta COULD add a few more trains at rush hour, but i think track crowding is an issue (trains back up at bottlenecks). frankly, the people who have allowed plans to move forward for more buildings on the island than exist currently are bordering on criminally negligent. at best, they have assumed 'someone will eventually fix the transit problem.' at worst they have pocketed their cash and said 'not my problem.' the saying goes 'it's just gonna get worse before it gets better.' but really, it's just gonna get worse.
I don't agree with the "criminal negligent" characterization which I am sure was meant only to highlight the existing problem. However, the fact remains that there is now, and will be for the
foreseeable future, significant transportation infrastructure problems on Roosevelt Island and these new residential condo or rental buildings will only add to the problem unless something is done to increase transportation alternatives to the Island

You Tube video link of Tokyo subway system during rush hour is here.

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