The number of multi-billion dollar transportation projects championed by one or another political figure or coalition seems to grow each year. Some are making progress and advancing through the planning stages. Still, most of the bills have yet to come due for any of them. It’s possible we will see more jostling and potentially painful triage ahead when it comes time to spend the really big bucks:

East Side Access – Some construction work is already underway in Queens to connect the 63rd Street tunnel to the Sunnyside Yard, though a formal ground-breaking has yet to be held. The project enjoys a Federal Transit Administration "full funding grant agreement," which means the project will likely proceed as planned as long as the MTA is able to fund its part of deal in its next few capital programs. It is also the one LIRR expansion project that no one on Long Island is taking shots at. The project is slated for completion in 2011.

Second Avenue Subway – The long-awaited release valve for the over-crowded Lexington Avenue subway has also completed planning and review stages and is slated for ground-breaking by year’s end. The first phase, costing an estimated $3.8 billion, will run between 96th St. and 63rd Street, linking to the Broadway line. The full-length line will have 16-stations, spanning 125^th Street to Lower Manhattan. The project’s second phase would reach north to 125th St. The Midtown phase could begin in 2011, with full-length operation around 2020.

Second NJ Transit Commuter Rail Tunnel — The project is conceived as an antidote to the fact that no more trains can fit in the NJ-Manhattan rail tunnel now shared by Amtrak and NJ Transit. New Jersey says it is prepared to shoulder the financial burden for construction, and Governor McGreevey and the state’s federal delegation have made it a priority. It would construct a new tunnel under the Hudson and extend new tracks back into NJ at least as far as the Secaucus station. The project may be phased, with a single tube and track built as an initial project. This could be operating by 2010, with a double-track system up and running in 2014-15. The draft environmental impact statement is scheduled to be completed next winter.

Cross Harbor Freight Rail Tunnel – After years of work, the draft environmental impact statement for the project was formally issued last Friday. Six public hearings will follow beginning at the end of May. The project will still need to complete the EIS process and be designed before any shovels are in the dirt — still several years hence provided funding can be found NYC EDC officials have said groundbreaking could take place in 2008-2009). Congressman Jerrold Nadler, the project’s chief exponent, can be expected to fight fiercely to obtain federal funds and local backing for the plan. The project would feature a new rail yard in Maspeth Queens, and a single– or double-tracked tunnel between Jersey City and Brooklyn. Once completed, the tunnel would constitute the first direct connection from New Jersey to railroads east of the Hudson, and could remove millions of tons of freight each year from the region’s roads and bridges. Diplomacy with NJ state and municipal establishments will be essential for seeing the project through.

#7 Subway Extension – The draft EIS for the subway extension from Times Square to the Javits Center area is slated for release in June, with public hearings beginning in September. The line is being presented as the underpinning of a development agenda for the entire Far West Side of Manhattan. New York City has said it will pay for the project outside of the MTA capital program, though the MTA is paying for the current environmental study. But few are convinced the city has a solid financing plan, and the big public subsidies for the Jets stadium being offered by Governor Pataki and Mayor Bloomberg have added to the controversy around the overall Far West Side package. The subway project itself could have significant consequences for the subway network, especially an exacerbation of crowding at the Grand Central subway station. New stations for the line would be at 10^th Avenue and 41^st Street, and 11^th Avenue and 34^th Street. v