Nyct: New Lines, Yes. But Where? - Regional Plan Association and New York City Hall agree to extend New York City subway system - Brief Article

Railway Age, March, 1999

East Side, West Side, all around the town there's talk of building new rail lines beneath the sidewalks of New York. Both City Hall and the Regional Plan Association (RTA) have come out with plans for extending the MTA New York City Transit subway system. But they are miles apart on where the new lines should be located. The Regional Plan Association, a tri-state (New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey) group that advises on transportation matters, wants to beef up the existing line on the East Side of Manhattan with extensions to Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx.

New York City Mayor Guiliani has in mind a West Side addition to the subway. His plan is to extend the No. 7 line from Times Square at 7th Avenue west to 11th Avenue, then south through a tunnel already in place to a domed sports arena that he wants to build over the Long Island Rail Road yard at West 33rd Street. The Mayor's plan is relatively simple. To The New York Times, he characterized the RTA plan as "so broad and so multi-faceted that it's going to frighten the MTA."

Neither the RTA nor City Hall has any official say-so about the location of new lines, though both--one through prestige and the other through political clout--have been known to influence MTA decision-making.