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I added alot to old map and addressed Inter County Travel along with Queens and Brooklyn and Downtown Access. I choose the Light Rail routes based on Traffic Usage and Street Width , alot of the streets are 6 lanes wide , so a lane could be dropped for a Light Rail line , on the 2 lane roads the Light Rail would street run like Essex Street in Jersey City or the Trolleys in Philadelphia. Light Rail generates more ridership then buses since there's no stigma attached to them and they generate hundreds of millions in investment along the streets and roads they traverse...since they're permanently fixed Transitways unlike buses.
The Coney Island & Bay Ridge Railway Expansions will use abandoned or lightly used Freight lines to shave off 35-40minutes off Midtown Bound commuters. The Central Branch Restoration will allow for bi-directional LIRR service to Ronkonkoma and more reverse service to Babylon , Hempstead , Ronkonkoma....and other smaller cities and towns similar to NJT and MNRR.
Restoring the Oyster Bay Branch to Hempstead would allow more service to Oyster Bay via Hempstead Branch....along with Redevelopment opportunities in Garden City.
The Central Branch along with the North - South Corridor & Hempstead Turnpike LRT would allow for the Nassau hub to be redeveloped with minimal traffic impact.... The Northern Boulevard Light Rail will help with the Port Washington line congestion down the road which will become serious even with upgrades by 2025...a subway Extension to Bayside is highly unlikely which would have reduced the congestion issues. The Same is said for Francis Lewis Boulevard , a Streetcar or Light Rail Hybrid would work well here along with an Extension to JFK Airport....
The Downtown Access was proposed back in the 90s due fix the growing 4/5 Congestion between Brooklyn & Manhattan , this project would have been similar to the East Side Access project. Eventually Metro North was supposed to Extended down to Fulton Street along with NJT from Hoboken. All Projects would have relieved the growing Subway bottlenecks of the region while boosting Regional Rail Ridership... There all on hold.
Developing along Corridors would generate hundreds of millions if not billions in new tax revenues and 60,000+ jobs along with making areas of Inner Long Island more attractive to the Younger Generations and the companies who like to stay with trends along with making Long Island more accessible for the Elderly who shouldn't be forced to drive everywhere or anyone who doesn't want to drive everywhere but doesn't want to live in the city. Developing would be around Transit and not cars....or walking or biking... Road Diets and Street upgrades and enchantments in the Muti-Modal dept ie Traffic lanes , Bike lanes and sidewalks to reduce congestion on smaller roads and some larger highways.
I started this thread for a discussion which seems to happening more and more on this board about increasing congestion , lack of Transit options aside from city commuting and lack of attractive places for younger generation or elderly population.
Restoring the Oyster Bay Branch to Hempstead would allow more service to Oyster Bay via Hempstead Branch....along with Redevelopment opportunities in Garden City.
Restore the Oyster Bay Branch to Hempstead? So just cut through all of the Nassau County Buildings and Garden City real estate in between?
Rebuilding the Central Branch to it's original extent has always been a no-brainer to me. It would free up so much space on the Main Line both ways and improve service on Babylon/Montauk - plus it would provide stations for some areas that can be annoying to access the LIRR from (East Meadow, Levittown, West Babylon)... but there's almost zero chance of it happening. People in Garden City would riot and burn their children alive. Same goes for re-connecting Oyster Bay/Mineola/West Hempstead.
Yes, most, if not all, of the commuter train traffic on LI goes to the city because there are pitiful few jobs left on LI. Read Newsday's article from 10/21 regarding the huge siphoning of public companies and corporations from Long Island since 2007. So little commerce is left on LI, I wonder who would even consider using a Hempstead to Oyster Bay line (useless).
Yes, most, if not all, of the commuter train traffic on LI goes to the city because there are pitiful few jobs left on LI. Read Newsday's article from 10/21 regarding the huge siphoning of public companies and corporations from Long Island since 2007. So little commerce is left on LI, I wonder who would even consider using a Hempstead to Oyster Bay line (useless).
But there's a huge untapped reverse commuter Market and these lines would tap into that and were talking 350,000+ Reverse commuters who mainly drive from NYC back into Long Island. The Oyster Bay has low ridership but isn't useless same with the Hempstead line , getting rid of both of those would cause 16-20,000 drivers to commute to Mineola or along Sunrise Highway to catch the Train. Connecting the 2 lines is more about rerouting service then usage , the Main is operating at Capacity and will be very hard to upgrade thanks to Long Island NIMBYS...this line with quiet zones shouldn't be that hard seeing as only a few blocks are residential the rest is commercial...which rare complains... The 3rd Tracking Idea has been delayed so long that 5 tracking is now needed....
Theres a decent amount of commerce left its not just the taxes , but the Transit system is broken and thus they are going to areas where its interconnected like NYC or Urban Jersey or Urban points North. The Same is happening in Connecticut and Westchester companies are switching from the Suburbs to the Urban areas like White Plains , Yonkers , New Rochelle , Stamford , New Haven , Hartford and Bridgeport or in Jersey to Jersey City , Newark , New Brunswick , Morristown , Trenton , Elizabeth and Paterson. Its a Northeastern trend that's been occurring the last 15 years its very expensive commuter wise for employees to commute into the suburbs , employees and higher ups often to complain about the lack of food or having to drive somewhere for lunch or in general as opposed to walking.
But there's a huge untapped reverse commuter Market and these lines would tap into that and were talking 350,000+ Reverse commuters who mainly drive from NYC back into Long Island. The Oyster Bay has low ridership but isn't useless same with the Hempstead line , getting rid of both of those would cause 16-20,000 drivers to commute to Mineola or along Sunrise Highway to catch the Train. Connecting the 2 lines is more about rerouting service then usage , the Main is operating at Capacity and will be very hard to upgrade thanks to Long Island NIMBYS...this line with quiet zones shouldn't be that hard seeing as only a few blocks are residential the rest is commercial...which rare complains... The 3rd Tracking Idea has been delayed so long that 5 tracking is now needed....
Theres a decent amount of commerce left its not just the taxes , but the Transit system is broken and thus they are going to areas where its interconnected like NYC or Urban Jersey or Urban points North. The Same is happening in Connecticut and Westchester companies are switching from the Suburbs to the Urban areas like White Plains , Yonkers , New Rochelle , Stamford , New Haven , Hartford and Bridgeport or in Jersey to Jersey City , Newark , New Brunswick , Morristown , Trenton , Elizabeth and Paterson. Its a Northeastern trend that's been occurring the last 15 years its very expensive commuter wise for employees to commute into the suburbs , employees and higher ups often to complain about the lack of food or having to drive somewhere for lunch or in general as opposed to walking.
I'm not saying the OB and Hempstead branches are useless, just that a cross-island connection between the two seems of dubious value. It would be more realistic--and less invasive--to look at light rail solutions along a present thoroughfare, 135 or Meadowbrook or Wantagh. But this is NY, where projects run way over budget and long past the promise date.
Check the statistics, LI's economy has shrunken amazingly over the last 5 or 6 years. Just drive through any one of the industrial parks on LI, where there are no more factories, only empty buildings and warehouses, save for very few businesses like CA and Broadridge. Despite this, you're also correct about the reverse commute flow, it's very heavy. All you have to do is check the bumper-to-bumper east bound lanes of the LIE during the AM rush. I just don't think it's a growing trend....
Last edited by bubbathedog; 10-25-2012 at 09:10 AM..
I'm not saying the OB and Hempstead branches are useless, just that a cross-island connection between the two seems of dubious value. It would be more realistic--and less invasive--to look at light rail solutions along a present thoroughfare, 135 or Meadowbrook or Wantagh. But this is NY, where projects run way over budget and long past the promise date.
Check the statistics, LI's economy has shrunken amazingly over the last 5 or 6 years. Just drive through any one of the industrial parks on LI, where there are no more factories, only empty buildings and warehouses, save for very few businesses like CA and Broadridge. Despite this, you're also correct about the reverse commute flow, it's very heavy. All you have to do is check the bumper-to-bumper east bound lanes of the LIE during the AM rush. I just don't think it's a growing trend....
Huh ?where is this? The east bound lanes of the LIE at am rush are usaually empty. I know because I forgot my wallet one day and at 815 eastbound the lie was empty while westbound was bumper to bumper.
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