Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Digging Yourself A Hole

The weather looks pretty good so far today so I am going to try to get out a take a few pictures of the Gowanas Canal. First, though, I thought I would give you another example of how New York moves along on its projects.

There was just an article, again, in the New York Daily News, saying that the completion of the first section of the 2nd Avenue Subway Line is now being postponed until Late 2016 or early 2017.

So what, you might ask. Well, consider the history of this project:

1920 - The idea of the 2nd Avenue Subway Line is first floated.
1930 - Completion date is projected to be 1948
1944 - Completion date is pushed back to 1951
1957 - Planning for the line is put on the back-burner
1964 - Federal money becomes available for the project
1972 - Ground breaking held at 103rd Street and 2nd Avenue
1975 - Construction is halted due to New York's fiscal problems
1995 - Planning starts again
2007 - Ground breaking held at 102nd Street and 2nd Avenue with a projected 2013 completion date
2008 - Cost overruns delay projected opening to 2015
2009 - New target date is December, 2016

By the way, that December, 2016 target date is only for the first phase of the line, three stations at 96th, 86th and 72nd Streets and then hooking into the existing subway network.

This would be amusing if it wasn't so sad, and so typical. Meanwhile you have the same old thing; at least a dozen businesses along the proposed line have closed because of the ongoing construction and others are having a difficult go of it. New York, you got to love the place.

Oh, and does anyone want to hazzard a guess as to when the new line really opens? If you say December 2016, well I live really close to a bridge that is for sale.

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