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Some years ago, officials planned to construct a new 7 train subway station at 10th Avenue and 41st Street in Manhattan in conjunction with the development of Hudson Yards. The project was eventually forgotten given associated costs but, earlier this week, city leaders called for the Hell's Kitchen endeavor to become a reality again.
During a press conference yesterday, a number of politicians asked the city to revive the plans to build a new station in the neighborhood, citing a variety of reasons why it would be beneficial to do so, including the fact that, although the 7 train does not stop in Hell's Kitchen, it already runs below it between Times Square and Hudson Yards.
According to US Census data, the neighborhood has actually experienced a 30% growth in population in the last decade, so it would only make sense that local transit options would cater to an increasing number of residents.
Real estate speaks big as well: as New Yorkers may have noticed, a lot of new residential buildings have been constructed in the area, both because of the relatively new arrival of Hudson Yards to the west side of town and the imminent expansion of the very-old Port Authority Bus Terminal.
Add to it all the new congestion pricing plan meant to ease traffic-related issues in New York, and you've got yourself the perfect set of factors to re-visit the establishment of a new station.
"We should be ashamed that Paris and London are building multiple trains station in a short amount of time and we're standing in front of an unbuilt train station that should have been built a decade ago," City Council member Erik Bottcher said to Thrillist. "Even if they started this station today, it wouldn't be done for many years. The costs of construction relate to many issues. As I understand it, we have many more regulations and red tape involved. A real effort needs to happen to reform the process, cut out the red tape, break through the barriers and bring down the costs. If we don't do it we're going to fall behind the rest of the world."
Although we highly doubt such a massive project will turn into reality in our lifespan, we are happy to note that officials will actually evaluate its relevancy as part of the MTA's 2025-2044 20-Year Needs Assessment, which includes a list of other exciting proposals like a new train line connecting Brooklyn and Queens in less than 40 minutes and yet another Second Avenue subway extension.
We'll be honest: we'd be extremely happy if even one of the above-mentioned proposals got the green light.