In August, the MTA released its Manhattan East Side Alternatives (MESA) Major Investment Study/Draft EIS. The four-year MESA study was supposed to examine ways to improve transit on Manhattan's east side and relieve the severe subway overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue subway. However, the MTA only proposed a three-mile subway stub from 125^th Street down to 63^rd Street, where the subway would connect to the N and R lines. For the Lower East Side, MESA outlined a controversial light rail line. The report dismissed any new subway service south of 63^rd Street.

Thus, MESA would only serve east siders going to the west side. MTA estimates that the new subway will attract only 1000 new riders during the peak hour - 340 from autos, 100 from taxis, 520 from buses and 20 pedestrians. The breakdown between riders using the Lexington and Second Avenue service was unclear. However MTA's high-priority plan to connect the LIRR to Grand Central Terminal will add 6,000 people to the Lexington lines at 42^nd Street at the peak hour, offsetting the service gains of the MESA stub.

The right alternative is Regional Plan Association's MetroLink - a full-length Second Avenue subway from the Co-op City in the Bronx to Downtown Brooklyn, extending along the LIRR's Brooklyn branch to Jamaica and JFK Airport. Additional links would be made to Grand Central Terminal, the Lower East Side, Brooklyn and Southeastern Queens. (Details available at RPA's website www.rpa.org).

The MTA argues that MESA is a first step that does not preclude expanding the stub at a later date. However, by limiting its objectives to the 125^th-63^rd Street option, the MESA study did not look at the synergistic benefits of an integrated plan. Further, due to the length of the project, the proposed construction techniques would have severe impacts in East Harlem and the Upper East Side that MetroLink avoids. By not maximizing the number of new riders and exacerbating local damage, the MESA study may prevent the project from being built.

Borough Presidents Fields and Ferrer, Congresswoman Maloney, Senators Goodman and Connor, Assembly Members Silver and Nolan, Councilman Miller and Public Advocate Green have spoken in favor of a full-build Second Avenue subway. The City Council and MTA will each hold public hearings on the subject this month (see calendar.)