Comments on: Second Avenue Subway: Rethink 2

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:44:53 +0000

Cool idea! Another option would be a short shuttle line through the LES and Stuy Town. It could start at Essex/Delancy, stop at E 4th, E 9th, and 14th St (on the Ave A side of the current stop)

By: Henry

Henry — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 17:22:21 +0000

The only issue I have with this new diagram is East Broadway’s supposed superiority over Grand Street. Grand Street is an overcrowded subway station in the heart of Chinatown with only one exit – it’s almost always crowded. The East Broadway station isn’t located near anything.

I would suggest to have a transfer stop at Grand Street after Delancey and then either turning at Canal Street or continuing to Chatham Square and turning at Chambers to provide a crosstown route.

By: Caelestor

Caelestor — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:56:31 +0000

Hello, I would like to add in my opinions. This is a fantastic proposal, but if you’re going to head for the LES, you might as well forget about going to the financial district. Personally, Downtown doesn’t need another trunk line, and riders will prefer the express service on the Lex. Hence the following modifications that I propose:

First, there is no way the SAS can tunnel under 14th Street. Instead, make it turn at 10th Street.

Second, the Tompkins Square Park station should be located at Avenue A and 7th Street. This leads to the next point.

Third, connect the SAS to the F so that the T runs into Brooklyn. When this happens in the 2020s/30s, rehabilitate the Culver Express so that the T makes local stops to Church Avenue, and the F runs express to Church Ave.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:41:13 +0000

The issue isn’t demographics or what was proposed in the Second System. It’s that your line looks like a snake.

By: Daniel Gentile

Daniel Gentile — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:52:35 +0000

Alon, The new demographic of LES is going to Wall St. and Midtown, an E. Houston station would be jammed. Again, this would also keep people from transferring from V trains at W.4th to get to Civic Center and Wall St. That is why it is under used.

By: Daniel Gentile

Daniel Gentile — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:47:20 +0000

PS – The E. Bway station was built to have a line crossing there with part of the additional station constructed (http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/indsecsys.html)

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:39:06 +0000

Daniel, your proposed line is a detour upon detour. Nobody will ride it.

By: Daniel Gentile

Daniel Gentile — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 02:31:06 +0000

Since it will be some time before the uptown section (Q extension) is completed, and ages before getting to LES, I offer this proposal for the LES. Continue the V line east in Houston, south on Pitt and E. Bway, west on Canal to Chrystie and unused BMT tracks south to Chambers St. station. This serves the same area and a provides a better terminus for the under used V. Chambers has extra tracks and platforms and a stub extension at Houston already exists.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:12:32 +0000

are there any emerging technologies that could dramatically lower the cost of subway construction? A major decrease in construction costs seems to me to be the best way to get more built.

Yes – planning the routes decades ahead of time, so that the city can avoid putting unstable buildings on top of the street or laying utilities underneath it. Also, avoiding corruption and incompetence helps a lot. New York’s subway costs are four times those of Tokyo not because Japan has better technology; it’s because Japan has better management.

By: Russell Warshay

Russell Warshay — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:19:21 +0000

The RPA has been calling for Phases 3 and 4 of the SAS to be 4 tracks. I have no idea from where the additional funding will come, but if that somehow became a reality, then two of the tracks could travel in the LES “teacup handle,” and two tracks could stay under 2nd Ave. North of 42nd St, a two track subway could be built under York and Pleasant Avenues.

All of these ideas to enhance the capacity and utility of the SAS would easily cost several billion dollars. No one, myself included, has proposed a credible source of funding. Drifting slightly off topic, are there any emerging technologies that could dramatically lower the cost of subway construction? A major decrease in construction costs seems to me to be the best way to get more built.