Trying to determine why it costs $3 million, including $400,000 in 'planning', to add 160 asphalt parking spots to a 5 year-old bus station. And if they're worth the trouble.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Great NY Times Piece on the Bus Ride to Eltingville
"I made it from Midtown to Eltingville, the end of the x1 line, in record time: 1 hour, 43 minutes — a full 10 minutes faster than the time printed on the bus’s schedule. “I’m so disappointed,” said Mike Newell, my seatmate, as we sailed across the bridge. “You didn’t get to see the real commute.”
To document the progress of a smallish taxpayer-funded stimulus project.
This one involves $2.6 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for a $3 million project (including state dollars for design and planning) to beef up the existing Eltingville Transit Center park-and-ride in Staten Island by adding 160 new parking spots to the existing 225 spaces.
Some $32 million in ARRA dollars have been tucked aside for transportation projects in New York City so the Eltingville dig is absorbing about a tenth of the Big Apple's 'shovel ready' stim funds. The lot was originally built in 2004.
This oversight blog was launched July 2. The Department of Transportation expects to announce which bidding firm will complete the project by mid-August. That leaves a narrow 6-week window to determine whether, at $18,750 apiece, these babies are worth it before ground is broken.
Questions That Need Answering
1. Why did it cost the New York Department of Transportation $400,000 to "plan and design" 160 parking spots?
2. Why does the NYDOT estimate that it will cost $2.6 million in stimulus bucks to "build" 160 asphalt open air parking spots?
3. How much did it cost to build the Park and Ride in 2004 and why didn't they build more spots?
Partial Answer: The original lot cost $5.4M
4. Will the extra 160 parking spots be sufficient for a growing population?
5. Why didn't they build more parking spots in the first place?
6. What is Beaver Concrete doing next door to the Eltingville Park and Ride?
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