Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s last official wish may be to extend the 7 train across the Hudson River, but the MTA won’t be pushing his tunnel vision forward.
Bloomberg is reportedly interested in drafting a plan that would have the train’s New Jersey extension on track by the time he leaves office in 2013, sources told the New York Post.
But yesterday MTA officials reiterated that the cash-strapped agency simply cannot afford to fund a subway to New Jersey.
“We’re focusing on the three capital projects we have now,” an MTA spokesman said.
One MTA board member, Allen Cappelli, even suggested that Staten Island, which has only the ferry and a gridlocked expressway to connect it to the rest of the city, ought to get priority over the Garden State.
“I would hope that the 500,000 people of Staten Island deserve more than lip service,” Cappelli huffed yesterday at an MTA board meeting.
The city reportedly paid $250,000 for an analysis that lays out a plan to connect the Hudson Yards on the west side of Manhattan with the Secaucus Junction station along the New Jersey Turnpike.
The estimated cost to extend the 7 line would be less than $10 billion and would be split between the city, the Port Authority and that state of New Jersey.
While Bloomberg hasn’t publicly backed the plan yet, he coyly admitted on Friday, “If there’s money for it and it makes sense, I’d certainly support it.”
Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.
