The West of Hudson Regional Transit Access Study held an open house for the public July 20 at Newburgh”™s Hilton Garden Inn, attracting a large audience of stakeholders.
Representatives from the MTA, Stewart International Airport, the state Department of Transportation, elected officials, business owners and residents had the opportunity to look at the alternative public transportation options the West of Hudson study had assembled since its last public forum in 2009.
One-hundred proposed transit designs were first whittled down to 22. From there, the study committee, in conjunction with the state Department of Transportation, Stewart International Airport, NJ Transit and a host of local municipal planning boards, have further trimmed the list of public transportation alternatives to four.
Each is designed with a dual mission: to provide public transportation to Manhattan and inter-county rides and to give passengers access to Stewart International Airport from both the Hudson Valley and from New York City.
Bus rapid transit (BRT), creating a rail link from the west of Hudson Salisbury Mills station into the airport, a bus/train combination ride into Manhattan and the ultimate commuter wish ”“a one-stop rail ride from the west of the Hudson line to Manhattan via the New Jersey Transit”™s Access to the Region”™s Core tunnel are being heavily reviewed by the study”™s project team.
“Obviously, what we”™d like to see happen is for a second set of rails to be laid on the west of Hudson line,” said Susan Metzger, who represents Orange County on the MTA board. “With 65 miles of track and just one track allowing access, it”™s difficult to offer more services to our passengers.” Metzger said there is room to accommodate a second set of tracks, but financial constraints have put many of the more desirable alternatives in freeze frame.?Elisa Van Der Linde, project manager for the MTA study, discussed the transit options, including creation of a BRT lane on the Thruway; buses that would serve the airport from Kingston, New Paltz, Danbury, Connecticut and Sussex, N.J.; extending the Port Jervis line from Salisbury Mills into Stewart; and a combination of bus/train travel that would avail passengers of a trip to points south and to Stewart and provide a way to leave the car home.
One major stumbling block: Funds for the final preferred project ”“ whether it is bus, train or a combination of both ”“ will run into several million dollars.
“Putting rubber on the road to get passengers and commuters around and getting them in and out of the airport seems by far the fastest and easiest in the short term,” said Diannae Ehler, general manager of Stewart.
To date, the study has cost $5.4 million for phase 1, funded by the Port Authority, Metro North and federal earmarks; the $2 million phase 2 funds came from the federal government; the third and final phase, choosing one preferred method of transportation, will be undertaken over the next 18 months and is scheduled to begin this fall. Van Der Linde said the study committee would continue holding public meetings throughout the final phase of the study.
