Last week, the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority unveiled its next five-year capital-infrastructure plan: $68.4 billion.
It feels like the 1970s — a lot of ideas, and no way to pay.
The MTA’s latest plan includes $47.8 billion for subways and buses, including replacing railcars and continuing to digitize signals.
It would spend another $6 billion each on the region’s two commuter-rail systems, and $3 billion to maintain bridges and tunnels.
Finally: $1.7 billion to rebuild the nuts and bolts of Grand Central Terminal, and $2.8 billion to build the “interborough” light-rail line between Brooklyn and Queens.
These are sound concepts. We should continue to upgrade signals, something other global cities did decades ago. We shouldn’t let Grand Central fall down, and outer-borough light rail could alleviate traffic.
Continue reading the entire piece here at the New York Post
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Nicole Gelinas is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor at City Journal. Follow her on Twitter here.
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