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Staten Island light rail
Staten Island light rail proposals refer to two projects in the New York City borough of Staten Island. These proposals are among the several light rail projects that have been floated in New York City in recent years. Neither proposal was funded in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 2015–2019 Capital Plan, but $4 million was allocated to a study for it.
The North Shore Light Rail line is a proposed 5-mile (8.0 km) long light rail line (since turned into a bus rapid transit line) serving the northern portion of Staten Island along the abandoned right of way of the former Staten Island Railway's North Shore Branch. According to PlanNYC.org, which is affiliated with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, "[t]he proposed five mile route, which would connect Arlington and the St. George Ferry Terminal, would cost $360 million, with funding coming from federal, state and local agencies. In order to move forward, the project will require a $4 million allocation from Congress for a feasibility study which is currently awaiting approval from the House Transportation Committee. A projection of 11,000–15,000 daily passengers would ride on the North Shore Light Rail if and when it is complete. This line would serve the North Shore.
An option that was considered was light rail transit, due to its ability to operate with cars in mixed traffic. There was a plan to run the line down South Avenue from the Arlington station to the Teleport. The line would rise to street level at Arlington. Due to freight trains laying up as far west as Union Avenue, the line would have to be physically separate from the freight line or the cars would have to be built to a higher crash standard. Comments included begin raising the line at Union Avenue, since it would have to go to street level anyway, to avoid interference with the freight line.
Some advocates of improved mass transit on the island oppose the plan, however, preferring instead the option of through service between Arlington and Tottenville via the existing Staten Island Railway, this made possible by the installation of the Ball Park loop in 2001 (since discontinued but still intact).
A 2012 alternatives analysis identified bus rapid transit (Select Bus Service) rather than light rail as the preferred alternative for the region. The bus service was eventually selected. About $356 million is needed to complete the line, which will run on the North Shore Branch right-of-way, adjacent to the Kill van Kull. $5 million was allocated in the 2015–2019 Capital Program for environmental and design work. In July 2018, the MTA indicated that it was retaining a consultant to advise on an environmental impact assessment for the bus rapid transit line on the North Shore Branch for $4.8 million. On May 8, 2019, the MTA held an open house on an updated version of the North Shore Alternatives Analysis study. The two alternatives from the study are being evaluated alongside other potential transit expansion and improvement projects in the city as part of the 2025-2044 Twenty-Year Needs Assessment, which is planned to be completed by October 1, 2023.
The West Shore Light Rail is another proposed light rail project, which is 13.1 miles (21.1 km) long, and is being championed by the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation (SIEDC). Beginning at the South Shore, probably near a park-and-ride in Pleasant Plains, the proposed line would run along New York State Route 440, according to an alignment decision in March 2009. It would cross over the Bayonne Bridge to connect to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) in Bayonne, New Jersey.
Construction of this line could begin as soon as 2018, and serve the new Freshkills Park, but SIEDC needs $5 million in funding to complete studies for the route of the line; a campaign to raise the $5 million failed previously, but was restarted in August 2014. The line would serve 9,000 more Staten Island workers, 65,000 more Staten Island residents, and 25,000 more households. As part of the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program, $4 million has been allocated for the alternative analysis of light rail on the West Shore of Staten Island.
The first public open house was held on September 25, 2019. It was announced that four modes (Heavy Rail, Bus Rapid Transit, Light Rail, Select Bus Service) and three north-south corridors (Korean War Veterans Parkway and Richmond Avenue, West Shore Expressway, West Shore Expressway and Victory Boulevrd) would be considered. 18 specific route alignments were considered.
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Staten Island light rail
Staten Island light rail proposals refer to two projects in the New York City borough of Staten Island. These proposals are among the several light rail projects that have been floated in New York City in recent years. Neither proposal was funded in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's 2015–2019 Capital Plan, but $4 million was allocated to a study for it.
The North Shore Light Rail line is a proposed 5-mile (8.0 km) long light rail line (since turned into a bus rapid transit line) serving the northern portion of Staten Island along the abandoned right of way of the former Staten Island Railway's North Shore Branch. According to PlanNYC.org, which is affiliated with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University, "[t]he proposed five mile route, which would connect Arlington and the St. George Ferry Terminal, would cost $360 million, with funding coming from federal, state and local agencies. In order to move forward, the project will require a $4 million allocation from Congress for a feasibility study which is currently awaiting approval from the House Transportation Committee. A projection of 11,000–15,000 daily passengers would ride on the North Shore Light Rail if and when it is complete. This line would serve the North Shore.
An option that was considered was light rail transit, due to its ability to operate with cars in mixed traffic. There was a plan to run the line down South Avenue from the Arlington station to the Teleport. The line would rise to street level at Arlington. Due to freight trains laying up as far west as Union Avenue, the line would have to be physically separate from the freight line or the cars would have to be built to a higher crash standard. Comments included begin raising the line at Union Avenue, since it would have to go to street level anyway, to avoid interference with the freight line.
Some advocates of improved mass transit on the island oppose the plan, however, preferring instead the option of through service between Arlington and Tottenville via the existing Staten Island Railway, this made possible by the installation of the Ball Park loop in 2001 (since discontinued but still intact).
A 2012 alternatives analysis identified bus rapid transit (Select Bus Service) rather than light rail as the preferred alternative for the region. The bus service was eventually selected. About $356 million is needed to complete the line, which will run on the North Shore Branch right-of-way, adjacent to the Kill van Kull. $5 million was allocated in the 2015–2019 Capital Program for environmental and design work. In July 2018, the MTA indicated that it was retaining a consultant to advise on an environmental impact assessment for the bus rapid transit line on the North Shore Branch for $4.8 million. On May 8, 2019, the MTA held an open house on an updated version of the North Shore Alternatives Analysis study. The two alternatives from the study are being evaluated alongside other potential transit expansion and improvement projects in the city as part of the 2025-2044 Twenty-Year Needs Assessment, which is planned to be completed by October 1, 2023.
The West Shore Light Rail is another proposed light rail project, which is 13.1 miles (21.1 km) long, and is being championed by the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation (SIEDC). Beginning at the South Shore, probably near a park-and-ride in Pleasant Plains, the proposed line would run along New York State Route 440, according to an alignment decision in March 2009. It would cross over the Bayonne Bridge to connect to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail (HBLR) in Bayonne, New Jersey.
Construction of this line could begin as soon as 2018, and serve the new Freshkills Park, but SIEDC needs $5 million in funding to complete studies for the route of the line; a campaign to raise the $5 million failed previously, but was restarted in August 2014. The line would serve 9,000 more Staten Island workers, 65,000 more Staten Island residents, and 25,000 more households. As part of the 2015–2019 MTA Capital Program, $4 million has been allocated for the alternative analysis of light rail on the West Shore of Staten Island.
The first public open house was held on September 25, 2019. It was announced that four modes (Heavy Rail, Bus Rapid Transit, Light Rail, Select Bus Service) and three north-south corridors (Korean War Veterans Parkway and Richmond Avenue, West Shore Expressway, West Shore Expressway and Victory Boulevrd) would be considered. 18 specific route alignments were considered.