|
Security Enhancements for MTA
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has awarded a new contract to build a $212 million surveillance and security system. The agency made the announcement in August shortly following the London subway bombings this summer that killed 56 people, including the four attackers.
The contract will cover infrastructure upgrades as well as the installation of thousands of cameras and sensors and an advanced data communications network.
The authority picked Lockheed Martin, a defense manufacturer based in Bethesda, Md., to manage the three-year project. It involves designing and building an integrated electronic security system and a command, communications, and control program.
Slattery Skanska of Queens will perform infrastructure upgrades, although neither the contractor nor the MTA would provide details on the type of work involved. A Lockheed spokeswoman said no new tunnels were being planned.
Several other firms will be responsible for integrating software and hardware into the existing grid. The contract includes installation of 1,000 cameras and 3,000 sensors, ranging from motion and perimeter sensors to chemical and radioactive agent detection devices - all using available technologies. One innovation will be integrating these systems for the first time, according to the Lockheed spokeswoman.
A recent review by the state comptroller's office found that the MTA's security improvement program was $130 million over its $591 million budget from the agency's 2000-2004 capital plan. The comptroller, Alan Hevesi, created an oversight task force in September to monitor future security program spending.
N.J. Plans Traffic Projects
As part of an ongoing effort to ease traffic congestion on southern New Jersey highways, the state's Department of Transportation and Turnpike Authority have launched several new projects on a portion of the Garden State Parkway.
Under a directive from Acting Gov. Richard Codey, improvements around congested Exit 25 include construction of a 1,200-ft. southbound deceleration lane with a 10-ft. shoulder as well as the widening of the exit ramp at the approach to the Roosevelt Boulevard intersection to two lanes. The project also entails coordination of traffic signals and reconfiguration of a commuter parking lot entrance.
In addition, Codey asked the agencies to analyze potential upgrades to Exit 20.
Earlier this year, the governor's office submitted a separate plan to widen a 20.1-mile section of the New Jersey Turnpike between Middlesex and Burlington Counties.
New Rail for Staten Island
Freight rail service is coming back to Staten Island after a 15-year hiatus. The new service is part of a $450 million investment by the Port Authority on rail projects in New York and New Jersey.
The Staten Island rail link is expected to add more than $200 million in economic activity and remove tens of thousands of trucks off of Staten Island roads by 2010.
Railroad Construction of Paterson, N.J., broke ground this summer on a 39-acre plot for ExpressRail Staten Island, a $26 million ship-to-rail cargo transfer facility at the Howland Hook Marine Terminal. The facility will allow the terminal to process containerized cargo off the rail for the first time and will link five new tracks to the soon-to-be reactivated Staten Island Railroad - allowing transport of containers over the Kill Van Kull channel to and from the Conrail Main Line in Elizabeth, N.J.
The new terminal is expected to handle approximately 100,000 containers a year upon its completion during the first quarter of next year. The reactivation of the Staten Island Railroad, meanwhile, is slated for next year as well.
In addition to the ship-to-rail facility, the Port Authority is also expanding berths and digging deeper harbor channels for the Port of New York and New Jersey. It is also installing post-Panamax cranes at its port facilities to accommodate the world's largest container ships and restoring the Arthur Kill lift bridge.
Â
|
print this page
e-mail this page
