This post originally appeared on Orphan Road.
There’s a great article in the New York Times about the second Hudson River tunnel connecting New Jersey to Manhattan, and contrasting the technology being used (our beloved Tunnel Boring Machines) with the way the first tunnels were constructed 100 years ago.
The article also touches on the complicated intermodal interplay involved in making such changes. Terminating a few dozen more trains per day on Manhattan’s West Side means more pressure on city streets and subway systems, which in turn leads to calls for building out the rest of the system. And then you have the whole congestion pricing scheme changing people’s incentives:
Keeping up means raising tolls and fares at New Jersey Transit, Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road as well as at the Port Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. In addition, Gov. Jon S. Corzine wants to raise highway tolls by as much as 800 percent. New York State is mulling a plan to charge drivers $8 to enter a zone south of 60th Street in Manhattan. Drivers entering the city from New Jersey would pay an extra $3 or $4, something Mr. Corzine opposes.
Also check out the interactive feature if you really want to get your infrastructure geek on.