Group solicits ideas on how to spend U.S. transit dollars
 Feedback to help determine projects on planning agenda of Transportation Council  

Staten Island Advance - Wednesday, June 21, 2006

The regional group that doles out federal dollars to local mass transit initiatives hosted two brainstorming sessions yesterday to solicit the public's ideas for future projects.

Nearly $50 million in federal planning funds is available over three years to conduct transit studies throughout the metropolitan region. The feedback from yesterday's meetings at Borough Hall in St. George will be used to determine which projects will be included in the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council's planning agenda and be eligible for the federal funds.

At the top of the list is a study of the proposed North Shore Rail Line, a 5.1-mile commuter light-rail link between the Arlington section of Mariners Harbor and St. George. Hand-in-hand with the North Shore line is a proposed West Shore light-rail system that would connect to the North Shore line and cross the Bayonne Bridge to link with the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail in New Jersey.

"Everybody's getting new transit access but Staten Island," said transportation analyst and College of Staten Island professor Jonathan Peters, pointing to Manhattan's Second Avenue Subway project and light-rail systems being built in other local cities.

Marie Bodnar, district manager of Community Board 3, called for roads with two lanes in both directions through the future Fresh Kills Park, to connect the West Shore Expressway with Richmond Avenue.

Another priority is creating mass transit connections to area airports.

Suggestions for the West Shore Expressway included adding service roads in areas where they don't already exist, and possibly adding a third lane in each direction.

The underused bus-only express lane on the Staten Island Expressway could be turned into a car-pool or freight lane at certain off-peak times, others proposed. Another idea for cutting down on truck traffic included "float bridges," which would allow rail cars to be moved across water on barges.

In a letter read at the meeting, City Councilman Michael McMahon (D-North Shore) called for the Bus Rapid Transit system, a super-limited-stop bus line that includes a bus-only lane, to include corridors along Richmond and Forest avenues and connect to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail. A BRT system is being considered for Hylan Boulevard.

McMahon also proposed opening two additional ramps to the Staten Island Expressway, at Narrows Road North and Hylan Boulevard, and eastbound and westbound access from Milford Drive using the Richmond Parkway interchange, to ease congestion.

In another letter, Rep. Vito Fossella, (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), called for new express bus routes from the South Shore, ferry service from the Mid-Island and South Shore to Manhattan, and improvements to the intersection of Richmond Avenue and Arthur Kill Road.

Some of those attending were skeptical that these studies, like others before them, will ever amount to tangible solutions.

"I've sat through 25 years of plans," said Louise Colavito of Richmond. "I don't have 25 years to wait for them to come to fruition."

By Maura Yates
Reprinted here with permission from the