Other Voices

The MTA is not necessarily in a field of dreams as it contemplates major rail projects. The problem seems to be that as expansion proposals have been developed in the last few years, the agency has put forward a group of mostly unrelated projects, each competing with the others for attention and funds. With the MTA as yet unable to set priorities, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has started to offer his own. Bloomberg has suggested building the extension of the 7 train from Times Square to the Javits Convention Center, not because this is a more critical project, but because it's cheaper than the Second Avenue line and will encourage development on the far West Side. This brings up a question: should development (and increased transit demand) go on unchecked when the existing demand cannot be handled?

The MTA should indeed plan for the Second Avenue subway, but some realities will have to be faced as the process moves forward. It is obvious that, unless New York has incredibly good fortune in securing funding, the line will have to be built in stages. The officials at the March 4 meeting admitted that they want to avoid the mistake of the 1970s, when four disconnected segments were started before the project was suspended. (Three of these were completed, but they were useless without the additional construction that never came.) In any case, it will be many years -- perhaps after 2010 -- before enough of the line is open to relieve overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue line.