WPCNR Tappan Zee Times. By John F. Bailey. March 19, 2008: The Port Authority’s Stewart Airport in Newburgh has tripled its ridership to its six airlines in one year, serving 900,000 passengers in 2007, compared to 300,000 in 2006. Its success and expansion is a key component of Tappan Zee Bridge restoration project now on target for a decision on the preferred configuration in May, according to the key planner for the Hudson Valley speaking at the Hudson Valley Regional Economic Summit Tuesday
Stewart seeks more cargo and passenger business and new routes to the west and Caribbean to attract more ridership from its present airlines, its manager Diane Ehler said today at the Hudson Valley Regional Economic Summit. Ehler said the Port Authority hopes to attract development partners to add amenities to the airport, including parking, is repaving ramps to handle heavier planes. To date, Ehler and her assistant told WPCNR the increased passenger traffic and partial implementation of new Federal Aviation Administration flight patterns have not resulted in noticeable complaints to the airport.
The blossoming of Stewart Airport as evidence of a resurgence of the Hudson Valley was a dominant theme during the Hudson Valley Regional Economic Summit held Tuesday morning at Rockland Community College, being held to consider the transportation needs of the reason in connection with developing a replacement strategy for the Tappan Zee Bridge.
The keynote speaker noted the billions needed the various transit agencies’ spending plans ($33 Billion in financing) and stressed the Hudson Valley Counties had to speak as one voice to government to get their fair share of financing from representatives to finance the Tappan Zee Bridge and West bank and Westchester transporation needs.
Jonathan Drapkin of Pattern for Progress, the planning consultant employed by the Hudson Valley, called for the nine counties of the Hudson Valley Region, the fastest growing region in New York State, (Westchester, Rockland, Columbia, Dutchess, Putnam, Ulster, Green, Sullivan, Orange), and business organizations to form a consortium – the number one priority of 15 objectives he felt the Hudson Valley interests should work towards in preparing the region for the next hundred years.
The consortium, Drapkin said, would present a persuasive voice to press elected representatives for the financial resources needed to fund the renewal of the region’s transportation infrastructure to move more workers into the nine counties, making them more attractive to businesses to relocate there.
Drapkin compared various agencies needs for funding to accomplish their growth plans, and suggested that private financing be sought in addition to government and state funds and taxpayers’ dollars. He suggested that a united voice of all 9 counties speaking as one voice to political representatives and private investment had to be delivered strongly in order to attract funding for the projects.
Drapkin outlined demographic trends, showing that the Hudson Valley was the state’s fastest growing region with the most potential for return on investment of federal and state dollars.
Westchester County is the only county with as many commuters coming into the county each day as there are driving out of it. A trend that, Drapkin felt, should be reversed to keep more of the 200,000 who commute out of the Hudson Valley to work in the valley.
It was shown that ridership on Metro North was up 6% in two years East of the Hudson and up 13% West of the Hudson. Total ridership 82 Million as opposed to 40 Million in 1983.
This chart demonstrated that of 1,100,000 workers 16 or over in 2006, 858,526 commuted by car, 71% of them driving alone. A total of 121,074 took a form of Public Transit.
He observed that 76% of commuters from Rockland and points West of the Hudson drive alone, and only 21% use public transit. He stressed as his second main point that any solution to the Tappan Zee bridge obsolescence had to be “multi-model” incorporating some form of rapid transit, followed by more parking at train stations, creative “tolling” to control motor traffic and raise funds; development to encourage rapid transit, with the ultimate goal of keeping the 200,000 persons who commute by car out of the Hudson Valley counties every work day to work somewhere else “here” in the county.
The Big 4 Panel addressed their priorities and took questions from the audience. They were, left to right, Astrid Glenn, Commissioner of the Department of Transportation; Peter Cannito, President Metro North; Michael Fleischer, Executive Director of the NYS Thruway Authority, and Diane Ehler, Director of Stewart Airport for the Port Authority. the Moderator, Mary Ann Crotty is at far right.
The explosive popularity of the airport is a key reason why Metro North President Peter Cannito said the railroad is upgrading the track bed on its recently acquired Port Jervis line with an eye to connecting with Metro North’s Secaucus station for service to Stewart Airport and commuter service from the West Side of the Hudson in Rockland County to Manhattan.
The Metro North President noted that Tappan Zee Bus Service averaged 822 Weekday Rides (4,000 a week) in 2007 up 6% in 2007 over 2006. WPCNR observes this is very low compared to the number of persons who commute by car, truck or van.
Cannito reported Metro North is funding a study of developing a “one-seat” link between Secaucus and Stewart Airport. Cannito expressed confidence in a Rockland to Stamford rail link.
Asked about whether Metro North considered commuter rail viable along the I-287 expressway , he told the CitizeNetReporter a rail link across Westchester would be financially viable and attract ridership who would benefit from swift, one-seat commuting from the counties west of the Hudson into Manhattan, and across Westchester to Stamford, Connecticut.
At this time, he said, a one-seat linkup by train to LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports from Rockland and points west was not being considered. In response to questions on expanding rail freight to relieve the trucking of freight on Hudson Valley highways and the accompanying Carbon dioxide pollution and traffic congestion, Cannito said he was exploring increasing freight business on the west bank Hudson tracks he shares with CSX, and developing businesses in partnership along that West bank trackage to attract increased freight tonnage.
Bridges over Hudson, Harlem, New Haven tracks barrier to increased freight.
He said expansion of freight on the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines was restricted by the heights of the decades-old bridges across the tracks on the eastern banks of the Hudson, Harlem and New Haven Divisions of his railroad because current freight consists are higher than the freight rolling stock of the last century. Raising the bridges would be cost prohibitive, he said and take years because most of the bridges were owned by many different jurisdictions.
He said he was looking at expanding the Beacon railroad line to Albany to connect to Massachusetts and points east. Cannito said the railroad did not want to be in the development business, however, increased parking at railroad stations, perhaps in cooperation with developers was definitely needed in order to increase ridership if west bank passenger service and rail linkage to Stewart was to succeed.
Cannito observed that Metro North had doubled its ridership since 1980, and now earned 56% of its cost ($525 Million) in fares.
Astrid Glynn New York Department of Transportation Commissioner said the DOT is beginning a Rail Study to develop more rail freight in the region and identify how rail needs to be upgraded and what alternatives might be. (The present rail study the DOT is working with is 21 years old, she said.)
Little Light on How I-287 MakeOver Would Proceed in anyTappan Zee Project
Ms. Glynn, asked by WPCNR what David Anderson, the Project Manager for the Tappan Zee Bridge planning process, had in mind when he said to WPCNR any improvements to the I-287 Cross Westchester Expressway would have to “accommodate” the improvements now underway between the Bronx River Parkway aqueduct and Exit 8, whether this meant the present I-287 could not be built on or would have to be widened on either side, or double-decked, said I needed to get further clarification from Mr. Anderson.
The new improved I-287/ I-87 split off the present Tappan Zee Bridge, believed to take about a decade to build and openened about three years ago and how any new bridge with rail/or bus rapid transit would connect with it is in question.
The much criticised Exit 8 construction in White Plains which project director says will be accommodated and not “redone”.
Ramesh Mehte, a spokesman for the Department, said it was “too early” to tell how I-287 construction to accommodate the Tappan Zee solution would proceed. “They can engineer anything,” he told WPCNR, “but it has to be done on the right of way (I-287) that’s the only place it can go.”
C. Scott Vanderhoef, Rockland County Executive opened the meeting, hosted by Rockland Community College, and commented that “You can talk about all of our economic woes, the cut by the Fed and Bear Stearns, but the ball is not there. The ball for the long term is here: transportation in the Hudson Valley Region. Your vision for what you think is important matters to Ulster, Sullivan, Purchase, Rockland, Dutchess, Westchester, Greene, Columbia Counties. Unless we have adequate transportation the economic engine will fail.”
He said unless residents and workers can get from point to point, the Hudson Valley will not have the dollars to improve economic advancement. He said it was essential to open up more convenient access to Stewart Airport through rail and to expedite the Tappan Zee Bridge solution. He chided the process for taking so long to date (eight years).
Dr. Cliff L. Wood, President of SUNY Rockland Community College, told WPCNR that Al Samuels President & CEO of the Rockland Business Association would be reaching out to consolidate and develop the efforts to unite the counties into a consortium.
WPCNR did not notice any representative from Westchester County at the conference, nor any officials from White Plains.
