More Trains May Come To Glendale Yard
Future increases in freight rail traffic on local train lines and the impact of the Maspeth Bypass on businesses in the area were the focus of last Tuesday’s (Feb. 28) meeting of Community Board 5′s Transportation and Public Transit committees at the board’s Glendale office.
Vincent Arcuri, Board 5’s chairperson, stated that Rep. Bob Turner recently met with Civics United for Railroad and Environmental Solutions (CURES) seeking federal assistance in alleviating noise and air pollution related to freight rail operations near homes in Glendale and Middle Village along the CSX and Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) lines and within the Fresh Pond Railyard.
There is also a push to have more freight shipped through the city by barge or on the Long Island Rail Road’s Main Line. Even if those alternatives are implemented, Arcuri said, “the key issue is still air pollution and noise” on the tracks leading into Fresh Pond Yard, “and the second issue is the capacity of” the facility.
Despite morning and afternoon rush hour periods when LIRR passenger trains run through the yard, “they’re moving constantly” with freight operations at all other hours of the day, he said. He expressed concern that the volume of rail traffic at Fresh Pond will increase with the opening of a new Waste Management rail transfer station in Long Island City.
Since the station lies along the LIRRMontauk branch, the cars must be shipped south to the Fresh Pond Railyard in order to be shipped out of the city on the CSX line, which runs north to the Bronx and points upstate.
One alternative which had been suggested would be moving train cars north along the Montauk Branch from the transfer station over the “Montauk flyover” that connects to the Sunnyside Yards, which also has a link to the CSX line. John Maier, co-chair of the Public Transit Committee, noted that there are a number of issues at the yard which make that option difficult.
“The only connection between Amtrack and the CSX lines is on the Bronx side of the yard,” he said. “If you have a freighter that stalls, you would block off the Northeast Corridor,” which is Amtrak’s main route between New York and Boston.
Changing the configurations of the Sunnyside Yard to allow freight rail traffic could cost over $1 billion, according to Department of Transportation estimates cited by Maier, but its impact on the Fresh Pond Yard would be minimal.
“It would alleviate some of the problems, but it wouldn’t resolve the big issue of freight” coming in from Long Island, which would still go through Fresh Pond, he said.
District Manager Gary Giordano added that another problem at Fresh Pond Railyard is that many of the locomotives being used by the New York and Atlantic Railway-which leases and operates the facility and equipment from the LIRR-are very old and spew large amounts of pollution. Maier stated that the LIRR recently received grants to purchase two new, fuel-efficient engines, but indicated that the agency is “not willing to give up any of their engines.”
Arcuri indicated that the committees would continue to monitor the situation further.
Bypass concerns
Some businesses are still having a difficult time adjusting to the Maspeth Truck Bypass that went into effect last fall-leading one to consider leaving the city-the committees learned.
Jean Tanler of the Maspeth Industrial Business Zone stated that a number of complaints have been lodged regarding trucks illegally queuing up or double-parking along 55th Drive between Maurice Avenue and 58th Street.
As previously reported, the bypass plan converted Maurice Avenue into a one-way road northbound and 58th Street into a one-way road southbound between 55th Drive and Maspeth Avenue. Northbound drivers on the one-way segment of Maurice Avenue who want to use 58th Street to reach the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and Queens Boulevard must turn down 55th Drive.
Tanler noted that the bypass’s implementation also changed parking rules along Borden Avenue westbound (a block north of 55th Drive) to allow for trucks to queue there while making deliveries. However, rigs continue to park along 55th Drive, adding to congestion on the roadway.
The city’s Department of Transportation is gathering data at various points along the Maspeth Truck Bypass to consider potential changes to its configuration, Arcuri said. Among the changes being considered is making 59th Street a one-way northbound between 55th Drive and 56th Avenue; it is currently a one-way southbound.
Should this change be made, Arcuri said, the DOT should then install a three-way signal at the intersection of 59th Street, 55th Drive and Maurice Avenue.
“People going north and west have to make a left on 56th Avenue, then a right on Maurice Avenue and a left on 55th Drive to get to 58th Street,” the chairperson pointed out, “to go up to Laurel Hill Boulevard.”
Tanler also reported that the city’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is working with Junior’s Cheesecake in an effort to convince them not to move their operations from Maspeth. She noted that the company is considering relocating from its current factory at Maurice Avenue and 56th Drive to New Jersey.
Junior’s had protested the oneway conversion of Maurice Avenue, claiming that it would make it difficult to trucks carrying perishable goods to access the plant’s loading bays. The DOT agreed instead to stripe a lane adjacent to the factory as a designated loading zone.
Project updates
Fern Weinreich, project manager for the Department of Design and Construction’s (DDC) Cooper Avenue underpass project, reported that work has been going smoothing and quickly, thanks in a large part to the unseasonably mild February temperatures.
“Things are going fine. We’ve been blessed with good weather,” Weinreich said, pointing out that construction continues to progress on the southbound side of the underpass between 74th and 79th streets on the Glendale/Middle Village border.
Arcuri elaborated further on the work, noting that crews have taken down the existing parapet wall and have removed the top layers of concrete from the retaining wall itself. Additional catch basins are also being installed on the roadbed, and he requested that the DDC contact the Department of Environmental Protection to clean out existing basins on Cooper Avenue to prevent flooding issues.
Giordano indicated that Joseph Raskin of MTA New York City Transit is scheduled to appear at the committees’ March meeting to provide updated plans for the renovations of the Fresh Pond Road, Forest Avenue and Seneca Avenue stations on the M line in Ridgewood.
“They’re still looking at construction to start in April or May” of this year, he noted.
The multi-million project-part of the MTA’s “station renewal program”- includes much-needed upgrades to stairwells, light fixtures, structural integrity and overall aesthetics at all three stations. During the panels’ September 2011 meeting, MTA officials indicated that the most work would be done at Fresh Pond Road, including a new entrance ramp and a redesigned mezzanine.
Maier added that the M line’s station renewal project also includes major renovations to the Central Avenue and Knickerbocker Avenue stations in Bushwick which will require their temporary closure for extended periods.
Though service disruptions and inconveniences to travellers are anticipated, all M train stations in Ridgewood will remain open for the duration of the project, Arcuri added.
The board chairman also noted that the DOT is planning to begin the replacement of a retaining wall along the eastbound side of the Jackie Robinson Parkway adjacent to Cypress Hills Cemetery in the months ahead. The work will require the closure of part of the right lane, and two lanes of traffic will be shifted slightly to the left.
“We can expect the usual traffic on Myrtle and Cooper avenues” once the project starts and traffic becomes heavy on the parkway, Arcuri observed.
Traffic safety requests
The city DOT had informed the board in writing that it would consider installing speed humps along Mount Olivet Crescent between Eliot and Metropolitan avenues in Middle Village. The committees agreed to request additional information as to where the DOT plans to install the bumps.
Committee members also agreed to further study a request for the installation of an all-way stop sign at a point along Caldwell Avenue between 74th and 80th streets in Middle Village. They also forwarded to the DOT a request made by a Ridgewood resident to install speed bumps along Weirfield Street between Cypress and Wyckoff avenues.
The next meeting of Community Board 5’s Transportation and Public Transit committees is scheduled to take place on Tuesday night, Mar. 27, at 7:30 p.m. at Board 5’s Glendale office, located at 61-23 Myrtle Ave. For additional information, call 1-718-366-1834.
