nymtc regional freight plan - New York Metropolitan Transportation ...

A Freight Plan for the NYMTC Region
3. Double-stack, Weight, and Lateral Clearance Improvements on Major East-of-Hudson Freight
Lines – The Cross Harbor EIS has considered line improvements to provide a minimum
of 22-foot six-inch vertical clearance between the tunnel portal at 65 th Street and
Maspeth Yard, and 286,000 pound per axle weight compliance for the tracks. The
cross-harbor tunnel system also would provide a wide load route clear of third rail
and passenger platform obstructions.
Transportation Impacts
The Cross Harbor Tunnel DEIS includes an extensive analysis of future freight movement
demand in the NYMTC region and an analysis of potential expansion of rail freight use
resulting from construction of a direct rail freight connection across the harbor. According
to the DEIS, a single Cross Harbor tunnel would divert 9.4 million tons of freight from
truck to rail in the forecast year of 2025, while a double tunnel would divert 14.9 million
tons. In addition to the traffic diverted from trucks, it is estimated that logistical and
competitive considerations would lead four million tons of rail traffic that would otherwise
be routed via Metro-North’s Hudson Line to be rerouted through the tunnel. 3
According to the Cross Harbor DEIS, this diversion would improve freight movement in
the Northern and Southern Crossing corridors but have more limited impacts in other corridors.
The DEIS forecasts that this diversion would reduce the future (2025) volume of
large trucks using the Hudson River crossings by 500,000 to 1,000,000 annual one-way
freight truck trips (single versus double tunnel) compared to the future No Build. This is
because shipments diverted from truck by enhanced rail service could cross the Hudson
River by rail, and would not appear as truck trips on the river crossings. On the George
Washington Bridge, the reduction in annual one-way freight truck trips would be 141,000
to 333,000 (single versus double tunnel); and on the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, 259,000 to
333,000. Annual truck vehicle miles of travel in the region would be reduced by 41 to 62
million miles out of a future total of 1.4 billion miles.
To put these numbers in perspective, in 2025, freight trucks are forecast to represent
almost seven percent of all truck trips in the region. However, freight trucks are generally
the largest tractor-trailers which have the greatest impact on congestion, safety, roadway
wear and tear, and emissions. Many of the other trucks are small pick-ups, vans, and
utility vehicles.
The single tunnel system will reduce the combined volume of freight trucks on the George
Washington and Verrazano Narrows bridges by 400,000 one-way trips, plus another
100,000 on the Tappan Zee Bridge and other Hudson River crossings. In 2025, the GWB
and VNB are forecast to have a combined freight truck volume of about 4.7 million trips.
3
With the tunnel, CSX and CP would find that for much western traffic more frequent direct
service through the new tunnel from Chicago would be superior to less frequent connecting
service from Chicago on the Hudson Line with a classification in Albany. With the tunnel, NS
would be able to compete with CSX for traffic to Long Island and NYC routed through Chicago
that would otherwise be captive to CSX’s Hudson Line routing to New York City.
Cambridge Systematics, Inc. 5-35