American No How

American No How

They’ve been working on the East Side Access, over two thousand days….

They’ve been working on the East Side Access, as our infrastructure decays…

In 2006 the East Side Access project was signed, sealed and just had to be delivered.  The due date was set for 2011.  This coincided with my office's projected move to Midtown East.  What timing!  But 2011 turned in 2012, then 2016…and the latest is now 2019.  The work is now taking 2 ½ times the original projection.  It made me think back…how did this country ever get to where it is today.  What happened to us as a thriving society?  Have we just become so corrupt, or have we become too complacent…

I decided to look back at other major milestones in our Nation’s history.  I wanted to compare rail apples, to rail apples so I decided my first stop would be the First Transcontinental Railroad.  This stretch of track broke ground in 1863 and was completed in 1869… while having a little thing like the Civil War being fought.  We were able to finish going across the country in less than 7 years…it has almost been 7 years for the MTA and they haven’t made it across town.  I am sure in the 1860’s some palms were greased more than the tracks themselves…however there was a drive to complete this venture unlike today’s projects.  There were no modern marvels back then, just backbreaking work.  The Central Pacific railroad coming from the west had to go through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, then by the mountains themselves and most importantly the winter snowstorms.  The Union Pacific had easier terrain, but had to deal with Indian raids since the workers were intruding on their land.  I can only imagine how long and over budget the MTA would be with this today…and no one is shooting arrows at them.

I then went from rail to road…or bridge to be exact.  The Brooklyn Bridge, the oldest suspension bridge we have here in the States.  It was the longest suspension bridge upon its opening in 1883…and when did they break ground?  1870.  13 years for the workers of their day to span the East River with a wonder of the world at the time.  Today it takes them 13 years just to pave the roadway spanning it.  To give you some time reference, the first car produced for the masses in the U.S. was an Oldsmobile, there were 425 sold in 1901.  Henry Ford did not roll out his Model T until 1908.  Both were several years after you would think you would have NEEDED a bridge of that magnitude.  Back then they had the foresight.  Really, has Manhattan gotten that much bigger from say 1980 to today that the East Side access might have been planned BEFORE it became a need?  Not in today’s world…or MTA’s world.

I went across, how about up…lets say 102 stories up!  The Empire State Building was started January 1930 and completed in May of 1931.  Not being a mechanical engineer, I assume going up seems to be easier than going across.  But still, imagine if the MTA had its say in this project?  I am sure the completion date would have been pushed back several years.  Poor King Kong…what would he have climbed in 1933 if the MTA had been in charge!

Now I started thinking outside the box.  What about something that SHOULD take time.  A project you did not want to rush…how about Mount Rushmore.  From 1927 to 1941, over 400 workers sculpted the colossal 60-foot high carvings…and I believe that was Abraham Lincoln’s nose alone!  14 years to complete.  If the MTA stays on schedule….hahahahahahahaha, sorry, I have to compose myself…the East Side access will be complete in 13 years.  Maybe they should alter the sculptures to put frowns on our founding fathers to show their disgust.

These four examples showed what our country could do when they put their mind behind it.  I am going to rule out corruption, because I will assume that will never change.  Somehow complacency has crept into the heart of Americans.  We complain about things that really aren’t, and turn a blind eye to the things that are.  A few years back a show called The Crumpling of America was televised.  It documented the disasters lurking in our untouched infrastructure.  Had this been on FOX instead of the History Channel, the sheeple would be up in arms for our politicians to act.  Instead our short attention span is focused elsewhere…and shame on the media, FOX and all the others, for not bringing this to the forefront.

Do you remember the I-35 Bridge in Minneapolis that collapsed in August of 2007?  When it did, it was 24/7 news.  It was caught on a security camera and the images shocked a nation.  It has now been long forgotten.  The collapsed bridge left 140,000 daily vehicles with no access across the Mississippi River.  By the way, that is the approximate number the MTA hopes to help with the East Side Access.  What the media did not show, because it is not dirty laundry, was good old American ingenuity jump into action.  This is something that has been long dormant for our infrastructure...I reference the trains built in 1980 I still commute on.  Within a few days of the collapse, the Minnesota Department of Transportation planned a replacement bridge.  Construction was completed rapidly, and it opened in September of 2008…a little over a year later.  It was state of the art with LED lighting and concrete that absorbs the cars' carbon monoxide…YES, I said concrete that absorbs carbon monoxide!  I can’t even get a train with toilets that work!  The know how is there…why are we so stuck behind the times?  Why does it take a tragedy to show we can…when all we need to do is plan for our future.

The LIRR was due to arrive at Grand Central Station through the East Side Access in 2011.  It will now be there in 2019…some 8 years late.

Maybe I shouldn’t complain when my Ronkonkoma train is only a half hour behind schedule…