rbrome

That and large, drunk crowds. No one wants all of the Day One photos to include scattered vomit everywhere.

I'm surprised that they will actually try to have all elevators and escalators working, at all stations. That seems ambitious. I expected one or two stations to open one entrance short, at first. Huh. And of course, there will certainly still be plenty of cosmetic work to do, just as they're still installing marble at the WTC Transit Hub.

It does. Read it all.

I agree, it looks good for the most part. But the question has always been whether they can get elevator, escalator, and fire system testing done in time. Those aren't the kind of things you can determine from photos. We'll see. I'm no fan of Cuomo, but I am glad to see him pushing them to stick to a deadline (as long as no shortcuts are taken.)

https://twitter.com/melissadderosa/status/807340892638089220 Yeah, I dunno. That photo of Cuomo standing right next to the "48 HOUR TEST BEING PERFORM NO ONE IS ALLOWED NEARBY ESCALATOR" sign... isn't encouraging. And all of those wires hanging from the ceiling?

Both LED and CFL bulbs come in a variety of color temperatures. You can get LED bulbs in 2700 (incandescent), 3100 (halogen), 4000 (cool white), or 5000 k (daylight). CFLs come in the same variety of color temps. Older bulbs (CFL and LED) had some odd color casts, but that's no longer true with newer CFL and LED bulbs. You can't easily tell them apart by the color alone. Perhaps MTA traditionally bought 4000k CFL bulbs and 3100k LED bulbs (for example) in the past, but that doesn't mean new LED purchases won't be a different color temp (that matches the CFLs you've seen in service.)

I thought MTA put LED bulbs into all tunnel fixtures years ago. Where do you see CFLs in the video? I can't tell from the video, but maybe I wasn't looking close enough.

It all looks very average to me, going by modern international standards. I can't think of anywhere that builds new stations any smaller. It's just that very old stations like we have in NYC tend to be woefully under-sized by modern standards.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMjy-Jeg3Ut/ If you can find it on instagram.com, you can share the link to that page.

Same today. Just a couple of small (1 carlength) sections are open for active work, and only on the lower platform.

It's all Cuomo. It sounds like it would already be delayed if it weren't for pressure from Cuomo.

That is one thing that's never been remotely clear in any of these newsletters. But it lists "elevator and escalator testing" at 72nd St, and based on what we've heard at board meetings, I tend to doubt that would be complete at this point.

That's not the way I read the 72nd St newsletter:

At this point, for a Dec opening date, all construction should be complete and it should just be testing and tweaks. That anything is still being installed is not a good sign. (But we knew that.)

That station was actually cut-and-cover, so no surprise it's relatively shallow.

Still, 86th should have 10 of 13 escalators working on time. Surely they can open with "only" 10 escalators, right?

Well, at 86th, the issue is escalators more than elevators. ADA isn't relevant to escalators. If there are stairs and elevators ready, that should be enough to open with and satisfy ADA. And yet, the MTA is talking about the escalators as a major hold-up... I'm not sure why.

Check out the latest board meeting materials: https://goo.gl/photos/VYQU9YDe13TRM56n7 86th St has more than one "red" status indicator, indicating potential impact to revenue service date. In a best-case scenario, the last escalator tests won't be complete until Dec 14 at that station. And those are dates that have been slipping further behind each month, quite consistently.

Are those black cables hanging from the ceiling from TransitWireless? Could they seriously not coordinate on a better way to integrate those cables into a brand-new station? So ugly...

The HVAC air intake on the ceiling looks like cheap sheet metal... not very durable.

Hmm. Could they be blue seats covered in temporary white paper or plastic wrap?

Here are the slides from today's MTA CC committee meeting: https://goo.gl/photos/VYQU9YDe13TRM56n7

Agree. Something should link the lines along 125th. I don't see a need for it to reach the , but definitely the other lines.

People who live near the new stations will be able to use the new line to get to work downtown, instead of using the Lex. That should ease congestion for everyone using the Lex, at least below 96th. In other words, a rider from the Bronx going to work in the morning (for example) should enjoy fewer people boarding at 96th and below.

I expect you're absolutely correct. It sound likely that that was the case. Someone still screwed up somewhere, either in engineering or construction. I don't understand how anyone can argue that. Unless the MTA never specified that 75-footers should be able to fit, which would be stupid of them.