Repairs Subway Tubes Hit By Sandy
Sen. Charles E. Schumer announced an $886.2 million federal funding package for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to be put primarily toward reimbursement of costs for ongoing repair and recovery in the Montague, Greenpoint and Steinway subway tunnels.
A portion of the funds will also be put toward resiliency projects throughout the system. This funding is the first major reimbursement of Sandy-related repair work for the MTA.
“The subway is New York City’s beating heart, and Sandy’s floodwaters left severe long-term damage on the system,” said Schumer. “Even though most parts of the subway got back up and running after the storm quicker than anyone ever imagined, there are still major repairs underway. This funding will be critical in restoring our system to full strength, moving New Yorkers through the city once again, and preventing such a shutdown from happening in the future.”
In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy floodwaters inundated the three major East River subway tunnels- Montague, Greenpoint and Steinway-with thousands of gallons of water, and forced major re-routes of subway lines in the weeks following the storm.
In the case of the Montague tunnel, it is currently undergoing significant repairs that have forced the MTA to take the tunnel out of service for a total of 14 months, disrupting R train service between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
This funding comes from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA)’s allotment of Sandy relief money. As part of the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, the FTA received $10.9 billion for its Emergency Relief Program. This is the first reimbursement from the $3.79 billion allocation that the MTA has received from the FTA’s first two tranches of Sandy funding.
This is the first major reimbursement to the MTA for repairs it has undertaken post-Hurricane Sandy. Specifically, $802 million of these funds will go toward repair projects across the system, the majority of which is allocated to repairs at the Montague, Greenpoint and Steinway tunnels.
An additional $84.2 million is going toward various resiliency projects throughout the system.
These resiliency projects are new undertakings that will make the subway system stronger and more resistant to future storms, according to Schumer.
