Report by Regional Plan Association finds investments in transportation, housing, and confronting climate change would generate more than 250,000 jobs annually, address urgent needs and long-standing inequities
Emergency aid for public transit, expediting the Gateway Program, congestion pricing, offshore wind development; funding for NYCHA, MTA, NJ Transit, and PANYNJ capital improvements among region’s top priorities
NEW YORK, NY – A strong recovery from COVID-19 in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region must include federal investments in transportation, housing, and resilience to climate change, according to a report published today by civic group Regional Plan Association in partnership with the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University (NYU). These investments would enable the region to rebuild crumbling infrastructure, address inequities in the built environment, and support economic recovery by generating hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
The report, titled Infrastructure for Recovery and Renewal: How A Federal Infrastructure Program Can Lift the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut Metropolitan Area, calls on the federal government to invest in emergency aid for public transportation; fund capital plans for the MTA, NJT, PANYNJ and NYCHA, including long-delayed priorities like removing lead from public housing and modernizing subway signals; and expedite transformational projects such as rehabilitating the Hudson River Tunnel, implementing congestion pricing, permitting offshore wind developments, and restarting the Army Corps of Engineers resilience study in New York Harbor.
Ensuring the federal government provides adequate support for the region has national economic implications. The tri-state region, which bore the brunt of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and suffered one the steepest economic declines, generates 10% of U.S. GDP and 13% of federal income tax revenues.
“The nation’s recovery demands a bold, comprehensive infrastructure program--one that puts people back to work and promotes health by addressing conditions in the built environment that made communities so susceptible to COVID-19,” said Tom Wright, President and CEO of Regional Plan Association. “In previous moments of crisis, the federal government provided leadership and support our region needed to create a more prosperous future. Now is the time for a recovery package that jump starts our recovery, addresses racial and economic inequities, and prepares us for climate change challenges and future public health emergencies.”
“Investing in our region’s infrastructure is an important step towards a recovery that positions our region to be more prosperous, more equitable, and more sustainable than it was before,” said Scott Rechler, CEO of RXR Realty and Chairman of Regional Plan Association. “Not only do we need to reinvest, which includes building more for less, we need to reinvent our approach to infrastructure to ensure that we are building for a ‘new normal’ in a post-COVID world.”
The report outlines the following three categories of infrastructure priorities, starting with emergency needs and zooming out to capital plan priorities and large-scale transformative projects.
Emergency Funding for Public Transit
The federal COVID-relief package passed in December, 2020 allocated $14 billion for transit agencies across the country, but agencies are still in dire need of additional federal support, including the MTA which projects a deficit of $12 billion by the end of 2024.
Similar situations could be in play for other agencies in future years if ridership does not rebound or other aid is cut. Emergency transit operating aid is necessary for any plan to spur capital investment. Without it, thousands of jobs will be lost, infrastructure will deteriorate, and agency finances will be decimated and unable to support debt service for capital investments.
Capital Plans & ‘Shovel Ready’ Projects
The report notes many of the region’s needs have been outlined in existing capital plans, which - if fully funded and implemented - would generate 263,000 jobs annually for the region.
According to analysis within the report by NYU Wagner, approximately 80% of the investments in these plans would go toward ‘shovel-ready’ projects, injecting immediate stimulus into the economy. The analysis estimated the following amounts for these types of ready-to-go projects
- $36.3 billion of the MTA’s $51 billion five-year capital plan
- All $37.6 billion in NJ Transit’s ten-year capital plan
- $18 billion of Amtrak’s $32 billion Northeast Corridor Capital Investment Plan
- $1.8 billion of the Gateway Program’s Portal North Bridge project
- All $6.7 billion in NYCHA’s 2019-2023 capital plan
“While we must be creative and ambitious in our vision for the project of recovery and the renewal of our regional infrastructure, it’s also important to recognize all the work that’s already been done by public agencies in assessing needs and planning improvements. We already know where the immediate infusions of federal capital need to go to address urgent needs and deliver economic returns,” said Ingrid Ellen, Professor, NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. “So many critical infrastructure projects are languishing not for lack of planning but local and state budget constraints.”
Within existing capital plans, RPA highlights the following projects to illustrate the economic, equity, public health, and environmental resilience benefits these plans would produce:
- NYCHA lead removal: NYCHA’s agreement with the Federal monitor contains several concrete rehabilitation obligations, including replacing 425 elevators, 700 boilers, and abating all lead-based paint throughout its 175,000-unit portfolio
- Subway signal modernization: The 2020 – 2024 plan would invest $7.1 billion to modernize segments of six subway lines, doubling the number of track miles with new signals, which would serve more than 50% of passengers.
- Station accessibility enhancements: The MTA capital plan would make 70 stations ADA-accessible, a $5.1 billion investment that would result in accessible stations that would serve more than 60% of subway passengers with new elevators, ramps, and other improvements.
- Electric buses: While the MTA now operates just 25 electric buses, the MTA five-year capital plan has budgeted $1.1 billion for 500 additional electric buses and modernizing eight bus depots to better serve electric buses and reduce pollution in communities of color. NJT’s ten-year plan calls for over $4 billion to electrify its entire fleet.
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Harbor and Tributaries Study (HATS): Refunding HATS would resume the only comprehensive, region-wide study focused on resilience and could result in future federal funds for numerous projects, such as the $1 billion Coney Island Creek Tidegate.
- Westbound Waterfront Connector: Improving the speed, reliability, and safety of this connection would decrease travel times on three NJ Transit train lines, provide a better customer experience, take cars off the road, and improve air quality across NJ Transit’s transit network in the area.
Expediting Transformative Projects
RPA’s report highlights the following projects as key opportunities for the federal government to provide funding and remove bureaucratic roadblocks to progress:
- Gateway/Penn Station Program: A vital link for an area that represents 20% of the U.S. economy, Gateway is a series of interrelated projects on the Northeast corridor in dire need of repair and upgrades to support additional economic growth. While failure to modernize would lead to amobility crisis, its completion would unlock a bottleneck to the region’s economy, create billions of dollars annually in economic growth, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing an alternative to auto and air travel.
- Congestion pricing: Delaying implementation threatens $15 billion in MTA capital expenses congestion pricing was meant to support. The MTA has stated they have met with U.S. DOT officials at least 20 times to resolve the matter, without success.
- Offshore wind: The federal permitting process for current offshore wind development projects in all three states should be completed swiftly, and new lease areas for future projects should be opened. Government investment into port facilities supporting these projects will help to spur a new industry.
