In the News: A Quick Look into East Side Access

The Commercial Observer put out a piece today showing readers a quick look into what's going on underneath Grand Central--complete with photos.

Here's a quick piece from the introduction article:

"In January of 1999 President Bill Clinton’s budget proposal to congress included $20 million in funds for East Side Access, a project that would bring the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central Terminal, which turns 100-years-old on Saturday. The projected cost back then was $2.2 billion.

 "Metropolitan Transportation Authority Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu led members of the media on a tour yesterday of the project, which he estimated was about 45 percent complete. East Side Access is scheduled to open in August of 2019 at a price tag currently estimated at $8.24 billion.

"East Side Access will bring 160,000 Long Island commuters roughly 11 miles from a new station in Queens’ Sunnyside Yard to Grand Central, shaving an average 40 minutes off the trips of the majority of L.I.R.R. riders who work closer to G.C.T. than Penn Station. A new 350,000-square-foot concourse–its design will mimic the existing main terminal’s–will include retail space as well as 51 elevators and escalators descending 160 feet below the earth to four platforms handling eight rail tracks...."

If you'd like to see the article and photos, click here: Sneak Peek: East Side Access, the $8 Billion Project Bringing Long Island Railroad to Grand Central.

If you like photos like those, MTA's Flickr Photostream has fairly frequent photo updates on its East Side Access projects (plus some of its other projects).  Take a look through those to see more.  Additionally you can mosey on over to the Cool Links page on this site and look under "East Side Access In the News" for more ESA-related news articles.