With a March 21 federal deadline to end congestion pricing in Manhattan now confronting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s ability to raise the $15 billion it is expected to generate for its 2020-24 Capital Program, there is an equally serious threat looming, and — at $33 billion — a much larger gap in the authority’s $68.4 billion 2025-29 Program.
You’ll get no argument from the typical New Yorker — whether they take transit or not — that the MTA’s far-reaching transit, bus, rail, bridge, and tunnel system, is key to New York’s standing as the center of global finance, commerce, and entertainment. Without proper funding of both capital plans, they’ll also agree that the economic health of the city, and in fact that of the entire Tri-State Region, could be at risk.
Yet, ask that same New Yorker about how to find the much needed $33 billion and it’s doubtful you’ll get an answer.
Distressingly, the same response seemed to be true when the question was posed in Albany as the state Legislature’s Capital Program Review Board vetoed the plan based not on its merits, but solely on its funding gap. Except that it’s the responsibility of the same decision makers to find the necessary resources to close it.
There are surely difficult decisions to be made by the governor, state Senate, and Assembly to address this historic shortfall. That’s nothing new. Over the last 43 years since the MTA’s first five-year plan was approved in 1982, MTA capital needs have been addressed when the state faced significantly more difficult financial challenges and budgetary crises.
With a record-setting $252 billion New York State Budget now under consideration, it’s hard to believe that finding the money for these much-needed MTA infrastructure investments doesn’t rise to the top. It is an obvious choice to make, especially in light of the additional $20-plus billion over and above last year’s budget that is being divvied up as we write.
Failing to do so puts in jeopardy the rehabilitation and maintenance of the MTA’s more than 700 stations, 6,700 subway cars, 5,800 buses, 2,400 commuter rail cars, seven bridges, and two tunnels that carry more than six million riders and some 900,000 cars each day. It is a system that serves more people in one day than live in each of 34 of the 50 U.S. states!
Yet the plan’s enormous benefits don’t solely stop with improved service and reliability for metropolitan area commuters. According to a recent study conducted by EY for the Partnership for New York City, a fully funded MTA Capital Plan will generate an estimated 70,000 well-paying middle-class jobs, as well as more than $106 billion in economic activity.
From Babylon to Binghamton, and all the way across the Empire State to Buffalo, that translates into a lengthy roster of jobs — more than 10,000 on Long Island, 9,000 in the Hudson Valley, and more than 1,300 north and west.
For the 25,000 professional and highly skilled unionized public works construction workers employed by the General Contractors Association’s 250 member firms, the plan’s projects provide more than just a job — they pave the way for a stable long-term career.
And whether it’s for MTA New York City Transit’s Phase II of Second Avenue Subway, the Long Island Rail Road’s East Side Access project, or Metro-North’s Grand Central train shed, the specialized nature of the work they do, from track work to tunneling, and signals to station rehabilitation, has drawn them here from nearly every one of the state’s 63 Senate and 150 Assembly districts.
Given this multifaceted geographic and economic benefit, Albany must focus on securing a funding package for the MTA today. A solution can’t wait until the rush of last-minute budget negotiations. We are already in this Capital Plan’s first year, which demands an immediate resolution.
While we hope the revenues from congestion pricing are allowed to continue to flow to the MTA’s last Capital Program, New Yorkers simultaneously need to press their elected officials in Albany, New York City, and Washington to ensure that adequate resources are allocated to fully support the MTA’s current Capital Program.
The GCA has been doing just that since the very first MTA plan, and we will continue to do so, but everyone — including that typical New Yorker — needs to make their voice heard to ensure the long-term health of our indispensable transit system.
Wessels is the executive director of the General Contractors Association of NY, Inc.