OPINION: NJ's loss could be Long Island's economic gain
Robert Yaro is president of the Regional Plan Association. Michael E. White is executive director of the Long Island Regional Planning Council.
Long Islanders owe New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie a debt of gratitude for canceling the Access to the Region's Core (ARC) trans-Hudson commuter rail tunnel. His decision provides Long Island with a unique opportunity to capture new growth and job creation that would otherwise have been headed west of the Hudson River.
Manhattan's central business district continues to be the engine of the metropolitan economy. Over the past decade, Manhattan increased its economic output by more than $100 billion, generating jobs and income throughout the region as commuters and businesses bring large chunks of that wealth back to their home communities.
Most new suburban commuters to the city over the past 20 years have come from New Jersey, giving those communities the greater share of this growth. Meanwhile, Long Island's local economy has stagnated.
This mobility is being hampered by the fact that all of the major transit links into Manhattan from both Long Island and from New Jersey are now at crush loads, depending on a network of century-old, overcrowded transit links.
Recognizing the risk that underinvestment in new transportation capacity posed, in 1996 the Regional Plan Association - an independent research, planning and advocacy group - issued a long-range proposal that called for creating new regional rail links connecting the core of the region with Long Island, New Jersey and Westchester County. The first of these links to be completed was a third track on Metro-North's Harlem line, finished in 2000, which has helped transform White Plains into one of the region's fastest-growing regional job centers.
A second link, the East Side Access tunnel, will bring Long Island Rail Road commuters into a new station adjoining Grand Central Terminal. This $8.6-billion project will open in 2018 - if the State Legislature comes up with the funds needed to complete the project.
ARC was to have been the third link, expanding capacity across the Hudson, but Christie's shortsighted decision to divert ARC funds into highway projects will set back his state's economy for decades.
So Long Island now has an opportunity to capture its fair share of the region's growth. East Side Access will dramatically expand the LIRR's service into Manhattan. The estimated 60,000 Long Island commuters to Grand Central who save up to 44 minutes per day will give the Island's ailing economy a much-needed shot in the arm. As White Plains has shown, easier, quicker commutes lead to more residents, which leads to more demand for local services and economic growth. And shortening travel times into the employment hub around Grand Central will push the LIRR's commuter boundary east - attracting new residents and jobs to dozens more Long Island communities receiving improved commuter service.
What's more, thousands of cars will be taken off the Long Island Expressway and other roads, reducing highway congestion for everyone.
Another important benefit of East Side Access is the opportunity to dramatically expand reverse commuting from the city to Island workplaces. Because of Long Island's underproduction of workforce housing, the Island's employers urgently need access to workers from elsewhere in the area.
Unfortunately, reverse commuting to Long Island on the LIRR is severely constrained by the two-track section of the railroad's main line. Plans to add a third track, similar to the one added to Metro-North's Harlem Line, have been stymied by community opposition. It will be incumbent on the LIRR to work with local officials to get this track built.
If Long Island can move forward with these steps, New Jersey's loss will be Long Island's gain. Let's not miss this opportunity to build new transit capacity and strengthen the Island's economy and tax base.
