Fantasy Map 2014

[Tokkemon]

I'd like to present to you all my NYC Subway Fantasy Map for 2014. I do one of these every year and this year's has an interesting idea that some of you might enjoy. While there are the standard extensions and expansions like the Second Avenue Subway, Eastern Queens extensions, Gun Hill Rd line in the Bronx, etc., there's also a new concept to New York: Advanced Light Rail, which I'm calling "Light Subway" in this city.
 
This was inspired by Vancouver's model where the capacity of the line is in-between traditional heavy rail subway and dedicated ROW light rail. Think of it kind of like the train where there are short trains but full size tunnels. In this plan there would be a series of new lines built mostly in the outer boroughs to fill gaps in service coverage and connect subway lines together. Most often these areas are relatively lower density and would not require a full-size subway trains. Most are also elevated which would be cheaper to construct. Here's a brief rundown of the new lines:
 
Subway Lines

• Extended to Cambria after Euclid Ave under Pitkin. All Subway.
• World Trade Center station decommissioned and tunnel merged with immediately south under Church St. then follows Montegue until Bay Ridge. 
• extended to Co-Op City under Gun Hill Road along with , all Subway. 
• extended to Belmont Racetrack. Four tracks to Hillside Ave and then two tracks to the track. Technically it would stay within the city limits with the current alignment. All subway.
• replaced with the (BQ) Light Subway.
• replaces current . Then extended up 21 Street in Astoria as elevated, then down Hoyt Ave and Grand Central Parkway as elevated around the Triborough Overpass. Extends as elevated to LaGuardia Airport.
• extends past Montegue Tunnel to a short line in Red Hook, elevated over Gowanas Exp.
• new line that converts the Franklin Ave shuttle into a new Nassau Ave line. It runs under Bedford Ave as subway. Rises to elevated over BQE and connects with the Williamsburg Bridge. This line in particular adds to Williamsburg's growing needs.
• is changed to 14th Street line and runs down Metropolitan Avenue starting as subway but elevated after Brooklyn/Queens border. Three-track after 69 Street as there is a <M> rush-hour express.
• extended up 2nd Ave, then under 125 Street as subway until Broadway.
• extended under The Narrows to Staten Island to St. George.
• new line on Second Avenue, then Third Avenue in the Bronx mimicing the old Third Ave El (though as subway) and connecting with at Gun Hill Rd. A rush-hour <T> exists in the Bronx.
• (U) ( V ) connect with Second Avenue line at 63rd Street. Then connects with Queens Blvd line, (U) as Local, ( V ) as express. Continues under Northern Blvd until Willets Point, then (U) extends to College Point and Whitestone via backstreets and Whitestone expressway.
• extended under Nostrand Ave to Voorheis Ave.
• extended to Gateway Center after New Lots but only during the day (no late nights).
• extended to Broadway Junction in Crown Heights.
• extended to Kings Highway along with ( 2 )
• extended to Co-op City along New England Thruway
• extended to Bayside as elevated along Northern Blvd.
• (8) new three-track line along the Long Island Expressway to Queensborough Community College as elevated all the way from Hunters Point. 

Lights Subway Lines

• (BQ) replaces the current ( G ) and reclassified so they can have short trains and it not seem weird. (lol)
• (FL) new line along Francis Lewis Blvd and Belt Parkway until Howard Beach. This is an outer perimeter line. Completely elevated.
• (FP) new line along Fordham Road in the Bronx. Elevated except for the really dense parts near Bronx Community College.
• (LA) replaces the old ( A ) train that ran from Euclid to Lefferts. Elevated, obviously.
• (LB) new line runs along Linden Blvd from Howard Beach until Prospect Park, then extends down Fort Hamilton Parkway until Bay Ridge. This line plugs a major cross-Brooklyn deficiency where it is difficult to get from South Brooklyn to the Brighton or Culver lines efficiently. All elevated.
• (MA) new line Jay Street in Metrotech Plaza along Myrtle Ave as elevated. Connects with old Myrtle Ave line. 
• (RP) replaces the old Rockaway Park shuttle and old ( H ) shuttle. 
• (UA) new line on Utica Ave as Subway. this could be attached as 
• (WH) new line over Woodhaven Blvd as elevated from LaGuardia Airport until Metropolitan Ave, which it then follows the old Rockaway Branch ROW and takes over the Far Rockaway service from the current ( A ).
• (WS) new line as elevated over West Street. This continues from the ( 7 ) extension to the Javits Center down to Battery Park. 

And of course, the West Staten Island line running along the old North Shore ROW and down the West Expressway. 
 
A couple notes about the map: I started tracing all the streets of NYC but I never finished it so as you can see a lot of Queens and the Bronx is missing streets. Also all of Staten Island is missing streets. Also, there may be some mistakes here and there since I haven't gone through this with a fine-tooth comb yet. 

Please leave some comments, what you like and what you don't! 

 

You can find the map here: http://www.mediafire.com/view/776f0vgli4am093/subway_map_2014.pdf

[Brooklyn]

good job.

[peacemak3r]

I didn't look into the map fully yet but just seeing the quality of the map, unbelievable! Great work, going to take a deeper look later tonight. Although one think I did see was the extension...I would have always though they would suggest turning it at Flatbush into Kings Plaza.

[Quill Depot]

Extend the MA to B'way-Roosevelt on the ROW and add another route on those tracks. If you go to the  (edit H) terminal on GMaps you should see the trackage, which snakes around Brooklyn. Great map!

[TrainFanInfinity]

What's the concept of light subway routes? Do they run underground or on-street tracks? Never mind just read it closely.

Does that (U) run on the old Whitestone LIRR R.O.W.?

BTW about the line, I'm pretty sure that's not the West Shore Expressway but Richmond Avenue.

 

Good job as always!

[Union Tpke]

This is great! Neried Av has an e in it. Also Randall's Island Has two ''l''s

There is NO H ON YOUR SERVICE GUIDE!

Also there is a G there, when none appears on your map.

A suggestion, rename Broad St Wall St.

[Tokkemon]

Yeah I know the service guide hasn't been updated quite yet. That's what I meant with fine-tooth combing.

[Tokkemon]

What's the concept of light subway routes? Do they run underground or on-street tracks? Never mind just read it closely.

Does that (U) run on the old Whitestone LIRR R.O.W.?

BTW about the line, I'm pretty sure that's not the West Shore Expressway but Richmond Avenue.

 

Good job as always!

 

No the (U) runs over Northern Blvd in Elmhurst, then alongside it near Willets Point, then over Ulmer Street and 130 St in College Point, or, alternatively, through the old Flushing Airport field, then along 20th Ave next to Target and then Whitestone Expressway and Cross Island Pkwy to the terminal. That particular area of Queens is such a mess of streets its really tough building lines through there without tearing down houses. 

[Brooklyn]

What I love:

 

Love the Woodhaven Blvd idea.

 

LOVE the Utica avenue idea.

 

LOVE the LB line.

 

F'ing LOVE the extension to Broadway Junction. That would solve a major service gap in Ocean Hill

 

What I like:

 

The M train is also a logical line as well.

 

I agree with the J extension.

 

I like the idea of connecting the Franklin Avenue shuttle to the Jamaica line--never thought about that.

 

Really like the (8) train idea and layout.

 

Agree with the Myrtle Avenue line

 

Criticism:

 

 

1. Why have the D extension go along Gun Hill Road and not Burke Avenue?

 

2. Do you think Montague can carry three trains lines? 

 

2a. I am pretty sure Red Hook and Carroll residents would LOVE the J train extension. I could see the population in Red Hook exploding with this extension. But building this extension would present some real engineering challenges--especially along the routing you give. You have elevation challenges in Brooklyn Heights--don't know how Montague would be reached.

 

3. I see you would put the F back on 53rd st. Do you think there would be a reduction in ridership to make this happen?

[TrainFanInfinity]

lol I just noticed there's 2 stations called Springfield Boulevard on the . Might want to rename them.

[Brighton Express]

Speaking of fantasy... Wouldn't it be nice if there was a <L>?

[MTA Dude]

Speaking of fantasy... Wouldn't it be nice if there was a <L>?

 

Yeah. is slow. Not to mention crowded.

[Sparen of Iria]

Problem with <L> is that you'd need to do all kinds of new tunneling to allow for express tracks. It makes sense though.

[Tokkemon]

The (L)'s bottleneck is right in Williamsburg. It would go faster with the extra service of the new in my map I think.

[Sparen of Iria]

The (L)'s bottleneck is right in Williamsburg. It would go faster with the extra service of the new in my map I think.

You have a point there.

[Alargule]

Nice map, you must have put in quite some hours, too! I like the idea of 'light subway' (although they would be largely elevated) lines to cover the gaps in the current network. Maybe it would become a viable option to build lines like these using Alstom's Axonis solution.

[Tokkemon]

One detail I forgot to add about the Light Subway: They would have to be built to B division specs and be able to handle any full-sized subway train. The stations would be shorter, obviously, but constructions provisions would be made so that stations could be lengthened easily and quickly should demand indeed need it. The stations are spaced with this logic in mind. 

[Javier]

Love the map, but possibly you could extend the an To Yonkers?

[Tokkemon]

No. That's not part of NYC.

[biGC323232]

Speaking of fantasy... Wouldn't it be nice if there was a <L>?

 

I wish...

[Union Tpke]

No. That's not part of NYC.

Just curious, but what are the exact reasons for not having outside NYC. In my proposal the Pt Washington branch would be severed from LIRR and connected to the 7 train with two routes the flushing line connection the line and the bypass connecting in LIC. It would be having every other or every third train to Pt Wash because of the one track. What is the problem. Would some old laws have to be rewritten.

[bobtehpanda]

Just curious, but what are the exact reasons for not having outside NYC. In my proposal the Pt Washington branch would be severed from LIRR and connected to the 7 train with two routes the flushing line connection the line and the bypass connecting in LIC. It would be having every other or every third train to Pt Wash because of the one track. What is the problem. Would some old laws have to be rewritten.

 

1. They probably don't want it. They don't even want the track improvements for expanded service via East Side Access out by Port Washington.

 

2. Grade crossings; Little Neck has a grade crossing which is not particularly easy to get rid of, since it's the only way past the railroad tracks and it crosses immediately at the end of the platform. You can't have both frequent service and a grade crossing.

 

3. There are parts of the city that don't have subway service, and here we are talking about Nassau, of all places, getting subway service.

 

4. Connecting at Main St would mean, essentially, getting rid of a valuable ROW that can't easily be integrated into the subway; the PW branch west of Flushing parallels the Q58, which is the borough's most frequent and slowest bus route. There's not exactly room in the ROW to keep PW separated all the way to LIC, either.

 

If the ever extends east, it should go under Northern; it's easier for buses to connect to, it serves the commercial corridor directly, and it would provide more relief for the Q27, which is never more than a few blocks south of Northern. It should also stop at Springfield or turn to QCC, because we're not realistically going to see dense development past there due to geography and time constraints on commutes.

[Tokkemon]

The Extension in this map actually does use Northern. One of the few wide streets there ready for development.

[Union Tpke]

1. They probably don't want it. They don't even want the track improvements for expanded service via East Side Access out by Port Washington.

The trade of is more frequent service for less comfortable cars. 

 

2. Grade crossings; Little Neck has a grade crossing which is not particularly easy to get rid of, since it's the only way past the railroad tracks and it crosses immediately at the end of the platform. You can't have both frequent service and a grade crossing.

It was cost quite a bit, but couldn't they lower the road and raise the tracks slightly? Its less extreme than having the tracks at a high level and the road at the same.

 

3. There are parts of the city that don't have subway service, and here we are talking about Nassau, of all places, getting subway service.

This would be more for areas like Little Neck, Douglaston., Bayside and Auburndale, the ROW is right here, but I think a study would have to put forth for using the LIRR Branch or via Northern for the cost, etc.

 

4. Connecting at Main St would mean, essentially, getting rid of a valuable ROW that can't easily be integrated into the subway;

Why isn't it easy?

the PW branch west of Flushing parallels the Q58, which is the borough's most frequent and slowest bus route.

That is a benefit for passangers for more service

There's not exactly room in the ROW to keep PW separated all the way to LIC, either.

My plan is to have it take over the PW until right before it integrates with the Main Line then it would run via Maurice Av and the LIE to LIC where it would meet up with the 7.

The connection between the main line would be severed, to comply with FRA sandarss.

 

If the ever extends east, it should go under Northern; it's easier for buses to connect to, it serves the commercial corridor directly, and it would provide more relief for the Q27, which is never more than a few blocks south of Northern. It should also stop at Springfield or turn to QCC, because we're not realistically going to see dense development past there due to geography and time constraints on commutes.

Again a study would needed to be looked at.

[bobtehpanda]

 

1. They probably don't want it. They don't even want the track improvements for expanded service via East Side Access out by Port Washington.

The trade of is more frequent service for less comfortable cars. 

 

2. Grade crossings; Little Neck has a grade crossing which is not particularly easy to get rid of, since it's the only way past the railroad tracks and it crosses immediately at the end of the platform. You can't have both frequent service and a grade crossing.

It was cost quite a bit, but couldn't they lower the road and raise the tracks slightly? Its less extreme than having the tracks at a high level and the road at the same.

 

3. There are parts of the city that don't have subway service, and here we are talking about Nassau, of all places, getting subway service.

This would be more for areas like Little Neck, Douglaston., Bayside and Auburndale, the ROW is right here, but I think a study would have to put forth for using the LIRR Branch or via Northern for the cost, etc.

 

4. Connecting at Main St would mean, essentially, getting rid of a valuable ROW that can't easily be integrated into the subway;

Why isn't it easy?

the PW branch west of Flushing parallels the Q58, which is the borough's most frequent and slowest bus route.

That is a benefit for passangers for more service

There's not exactly room in the ROW to keep PW separated all the way to LIC, either.

My plan is to have it take over the PW until right before it integrates with the Main Line then it would run via Maurice Av and the LIE to LIC where it would meet up with the 7.

The connection between the main line would be severed, to comply with FRA sandarss.

 

If the ever extends east, it should go under Northern; it's easier for buses to connect to, it serves the commercial corridor directly, and it would provide more relief for the Q27, which is never more than a few blocks south of Northern. It should also stop at Springfield or turn to QCC, because we're not realistically going to see dense development past there due to geography and time constraints on commutes.

Again a study would needed to be looked at.

 

 

1. Under East Side Access, the Port Washington Branch will see a new pocket track built on the site of a parking lot. All the spots lost could be regained by restriping other lots, but Port Washington residents are up in arms about how the character of their town is getting destroyed. They would almost certainly not want the kind of track expansion or power upgrades that would come with a subway extension, much less paying for such a thing. (There would also need to be yard building or expansion somewhere, since Corona Yard is currently just the right size for running today's service and doesn't have room for extra cars.)

 

2. Moving the road itself is not an option. The platform literally ends at the grade crossing, and less than a hundred feet away the road has a driveway entrance to the Little Neck station parking lot, as well as several houses with driveways fronting the road. Building a parallel road with an overpass and dead-ending the existing road is not really possible either, because the parks on either side of the station look like they're used to absorb floods during heavy rains, and there's no break in the line of properties on either side of the station anyways. The only solution left is then to elevate the station, which Little Neck would almost certainly not allow.

 

4. There's no clear place to connect to the PW branch; where would you do that? There's not exactly room to do it east of Main St, and doing it west of Main St would require abandoning the Main St station. Even then, options for west of Main St are not too clear; doing it via the Corona Yard tracks would be expensive and require reconfiguration of the yard, and doing it east of the yard would require some really tight turns due to the existence of Mets-Willets Point. Plus, the Main St station for the LIRR is not big enough to handle the amount that Flushing-Main St does, so it would require heavy eminent domain (as would most of the other stations too, since you'd need to reconfigure to handle more passengers and add turnstiles).

 

Adding a tunnel to the other end of the LIRR ROW would be very expensive, and would negate any sort of cost advantage recapturing LIRR ROW would have. In addition, linking it via the Steinway tunnels would severely cut capacity on the existing Flushing Line; even with best-case CBTC and ignoring the state of the Steinway tunnels, the best CBTC technology can do is 40 trains an hour. Splitting that between three different services (Flushing express, Flushing local, LIRR) would essentially be cutting service where it is needed most, and would also be rather nasty to schedule and plan for. And did I mention that the LIRR does not use CBTC or NYCT signalling in any way, shape, or form?

 

It would be much easier to just under Roosevelt, turn under Northern, and terminate at Bell or extend to QCC. Douglaston, and Little Neck are not likely to have the kind of development that could support subway access anyways given their distance from the city and the inconvenience of the station locations, and extending out into Nassau is a political landmine in and of itself (plus Great Neck is about as far as a useful subway extension would go anyways.)

 

5. It's fairly clear that south of Northern has more pressing concerns than north of Northern. The Q13, Q16, and Q28 are not considered heavily used enough to have headways better than every ten minutes during middays or weekends. Meanwhile, the Q27 has ten minute service from 7am-7pm all days of the week, and from personal experience buses are already full leaving QCC, even on weekends when most bus routes see lighter loads. On top of that, the geographic location of the LIRR ROW is a problem; it avoids the main commercial corridor on Northern and is very poorly located for bus turnarounds, and on top of that, Auburndale station is very far from either of the two arterials on either side, Utopia Pkwy and Francis Lewis Blvd. Building on Northern allows the subway to more easily relieve the Q27, and also provides easier access for buses.