{"id":3941,"date":"2021-04-19T17:59:28","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T22:59:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vanshnookenraggen.com\/_index\/?p=3941"},"modified":"2021-04-20T15:05:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T20:05:51","slug":"the-future-of-the-2nd-ave-subway-a-bronx-tail-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanshnookenraggen.com\/_index\/2021\/04\/the-future-of-the-2nd-ave-subway-a-bronx-tail-track\/","title":{"rendered":"The Future of the 2nd Ave Subway: A Bronx Tail Track"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Overview of 2nd Ave Subway Phase 2.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Phase 2 of the 2nd<\/sup> Ave Subway has been in the news recently as President Biden proposed a $2 trillion infrastructure bill. Senate Majority Leader Schumer has pushed for funding Phase 2 of 2nd<\/sup> Ave so it\u2019s very possible that, if funding arrives by the end of the year, construction can start soon (at least preliminary work since Covid is still slowing down the MTA.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The original phasing concept for the 2nd<\/sup> Ave Subway was that as one phase wound down resources would be moved to working on the next phase and construction would start seamlessly as the previous phase opened. Governor Cuomo threw a wrench into those plans when he raided MTA funds, resulting in the MTA to push off major work on Phase 2 into the next Capital Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phase 2 will extend the existing subway from 96th<\/sup> St and 2nd<\/sup> Ave to 125th<\/sup> St and Lexington Ave. The subway will start to curve west at 120th<\/sup> St and will feature provisions for a future branch to the Bronx. The 125th<\/sup> St terminal may end up being the most expensive subway station ever built. The Lexington Ave Line is double stacked at this point meaning that the new station needs to be extra deep. In order to make construction \u201ceasier\u201d the MTA plans on carving the station out of bedrock rather than digging up the street cut-and-cover style. Like with the cavern stations on Phase 1 and East Side Access, these deeper stations require more emergency support services to be built which drives the costs sky high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Proposed 125th St terminal below 125th St and Lexington Ave.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While no official price tag has been released, a ball park figure which has been bouncing around is $6 billion. The first phase of 2nd<\/sup> Ave is already the most expensive mile of subway ever built and it looks like the MTA is trying to outdo themselves. To give them some credit, the high price tag has forced engineers to look at cost cutting solutions such as smaller ancillary structures, an alignment requiring fewer surface level buildings to be seized, and reusing the existing tunnels under 2nd<\/sup> Ave which were built in the 1970s.<\/p>

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As of this writing no up-to-date engineering documents have been released to suggest further cost reductions so critiquing the design will have to wait for another day. But something that always comes up on subway\/rail fan message boards and social media is the idea that Phase 2 should not run down 125th<\/sup> St but instead run up to the Bronx like all previous plans have suggested.  Some have even claimed that it would be cheaper to do this. So, I\u2019d like to take a close look at these ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bronx Lines<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lexington Ave trunk line has three branches in the Bronx: the 4 along Jerome Ave, the 5 along White Plains Rd and Dyre Ave, and the 6 to Pelham Bay. These branches cover a very large swath of the entire borough and as such pick up a substantial number of riders, funneling them all down Lexington Ave. While these branches cover a good portion of the borough they feature a number of problems which limits their effectiveness.  The 2nd<\/sup> Ave Subway, from its introduction in 1929, was intended to pick up enough of this ridership as to relieve the crowding on the Lexington Ave Line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lexington Ave express trains split at 149th<\/sup> St with 4 trains continuing north to Woodlawn and 5 trains switching over to the White Plains Rd Line, reverse branching with the 2. This merge was built in a very strange fashion and requires 5 trains to make a very sharp, long curve at slow speeds. This merge causes all trains to back up, resulting in delays. Further up the line at 180th<\/sup> St, 5 trains branch off to Dyre Ave. The merge at 180th<\/sup> St also causes problems, poorly designed as the Dyre Ave Line was originally a commuter rail line which was grafted on to the subway in the 1950s. Additionally, some 5 trains originate at Nereid Ave at the end of the White Plains Rd Line. This splits service even more so that Dyre Ave trains have much longer wait times between trains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tall dark bars = bad. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Lexington Ave local, the 6 train, runs exclusively on the Pelham Line, branching off the Lex at 125th<\/sup> St and running down 138th<\/sup> St to Southern Blvd, then north to Westchester Ave where it runs east to Pelham Bay Park. The 6 features peak direction express service from Parkchester to 3rd<\/sup> Ave. This dramatically cuts running time along route but poor switch layouts delay trains switching between the express and local tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This graph clearly shows the impact of the poor switch designs at Parkchester has on the 6 express train.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Thus, each branch of the Lexington Ave Line has physical constraints which limit overall capacity. This might not be the end of the world for most subway lines but being the only subway trunk line along the east side of Manhattan means that every extra train counts. So then, it seems like extending the 2nd<\/sup> Ave Subway into the Bronx is a no brainer. Except the Bronx doesn\u2019t need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the Bronx need a new subway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map of the old elevated train network in Manhattan and the Bronx. The 3rd Ave El in the Bronx is #9.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I think the biggest reason so many railfans want to see the 2nd<\/sup> Ave Subway running up to the Bronx is to right an old wrong. The 3rd<\/sup> Ave El, which at its height run from Wakefield to South Ferry, helped fill in the transit gaps through central Bronx. It ran almost equidistant from the IND Concourse Line and the IRT White Plains Rd Line. The section from South Ferry to 149th<\/sup> St was torn down in 1955 as an overly eager city prepared for building the 2nd<\/sup> Ave Subway. The development came but the subway didn\u2019t. The northern section limped along until it was town down in 1973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1968 Program for Action proposed replacing the 3rd<\/sup> Ave El not with the 2nd<\/sup> Ave Subway but with a branch off of the Lexington Ave Line starting at 138th<\/sup> St. The 5 train would be rerouted along the Metro North Harlem Line tracks and run up to Wakefield. Like with most of the rest of the Program for Action, nothing ever got off the drawing boards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is it worth bringing the 3rd<\/sup> Ave El back? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at the numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map showing where workers from the Bronx work based on census tract. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Of the almost 580,000 workers in the Bronx:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • 38.5% work in Manhattan<\/li>
  • 23.4% work within the Bronx<\/li>
  • 9.5% work in Queens<\/li>
  • 9.4% work in Brooklyn<\/li>
  • 7% work in Westchester<\/li>
  • 4.4% work on Long Island (Nassau + Suffolk)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The rest work scattered around the tri-state region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That means there are about 333,000 commuters from the Bronx to the other boroughs. Not all are using the subways but assuming they could, would our current network be able to handle them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At pre-Covid frequencies there are a maximum 93tph entering Manhattan from the Bronx at the AM rush hour. Calculating the capacity based on A Division trains (R188: 1,832 rider capacity) and B Division trains (R179: 2,400 rider capacity), these 93 trains can handle 181,168 riders per hour. Not every worker who is commuting to Manhattan is coming in at rush hour but even if they wanted to, every commuter could fit on each subway car between the hours of 8-10am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Therefor the current subways between the Bronx and Manhattan are not overcrowded and don\u2019t justify a new line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What does the Bronx need?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Just because the Bronx doesn\u2019t need more subway lines doesn\u2019t mean that the trains we run today are serving the borough in the best way possible. We have a legacy system which has not seen a new mile of track since before World War II. The Bronx was laid out as an urban suburb of Manhattan and while this is still the case, it isn\u2019t the entire picture. Almost a quarter of workers commute within the Bronx itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Looking at Census data we see the core areas of employment are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Hunts Point: Hunts Point is one of the last thriving industrial centers in New York City and accounts for 8,000 jobs from Bronx commuters. The area is served by the 6 train but this is up a mile away from many of the major job centers.<\/li>
    • Norwood: The Montefiore medical center on West Gun Hill Rd and surrounding businesses accounts for 7,000 jobs. This center is served well by the 4 train at Mosholu Pkwy and the D at Norwood-205 St but commuters from the eastern Bronx either drive or rely on buses.<\/li>
    • The Hub: Considered the downtown of the Bronx, the Hub exists at the crossroads of 3rd<\/sup> Ave and 149th<\/sup> St and accounts for 5,000 jobs. The Lincoln Medical Center is the largest employer in the area. The area is served by the 2 and 5 train and the 149th<\/sup> St station is the station with the second highest ridership in all of the Bronx (after Yankee Stadium) [2019 numbers]<\/li>
    • Co-Op City: While Co-Op City is thought of more for its iconic Tower-In-A-Park, the entire complex was designed as a mini-city and account for almost 3,400 jobs. Many are in the southern section where there are a number or retail stores and malls. There are a number of medical centers throughout and in the northern section there are light manufacturing and an MTA bus facility. While there were plans from the start to extend the 6 to Co-Op City, this was never done. Today there are plans to build a Metro North stop along the Northeast Corridor as part of the Penn Station Access project, but this station would be on the extreme southern tip of Co-Op City and be located on the other side of the Hutchinson River Pkwy, beyond easy walking distance.<\/li>
    • Directly south of Co-Op City, the Hutchinson River Parkway runs along the Westchester Creek. This corridor accounts for over 10,000 Bronx jobs. The corridor is mostly manufacturing but also home to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Mercy College, Yeshiva University, countless big box retail stores, and home to many of the city\u2019s school buses. The closest subway station is the 6 at Westchester Sq but as part of the Penn Station Access project a station is bring proposed at Williamsbridge or Eastchester Roads.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      It\u2019s hard to judge this data based on just the subway. While areas like the Hub and Norwood are served relatively well, it\u2019s hard to argue that Hunts Point is exactly well served by the subway, and much of the Coop City-Westchester Creek corridor has no subway access whatsoever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      The missing piece of transit here are the bus lines. The Bronx has relatively good bus coverage around the borough. Looking at the top 9 bus routes we begin to see a trend:<\/p>\n\n\n\n