Lynbrook, East Rockaway residents are ready for East Side Access project

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When Lynbrook resident Arsenio Hernandez wants to visit his daughter in Connecticut, he has to take the Long Island Rail Road from the Westwood station, in Malverne, to Pennsylvania Station, in Manhattan, and then walk to Grand Central to catch a Metro-North train. But when the East Side Access project is completed, Hernandez will be able to take the train from Westwood straight to Grand Central.
“It would be so much easier,” said Hernandez’s daughter, Norma Van-Vleet.
The project, currently under construction, will begin in Long Island City, Queens, and extend west toward the 63rd Street Tunnel, which runs below the East River, just north of the Queensborough Bridge. At 63rd Street and Park Avenue in Manhattan, the new LIRR tunnels will head south to Grand Central Terminal at 42nd Street, where trains will arrive and depart on eight platforms, and passengers will enter and exit the terminal via a 180-foot-long escalator.
The goal of the project is to connect Long Island commuters to Grand Central in order to alleviate some of the congestion passengers face when getting to and from Manhattan, especially for work.
East Rockaway resident Jonathan Meneses said he takes a 41-minute train ride into Penn Station each day, then walks 15 minutes to Grand Central to catch another train. Once the East Side Access project is complete, he will have the ability to travel straight to Grand Central, eliminating the need to stop at Penn and walk.

Meneses said he still faces frequent delays and cancellations during his daily commute, and added that he is anticipating that the East Side Access project will make it easier and more fluid.
“The East Side Access project is needed to harden the system,” he said. “LIRR and Long Islanders need more options of getting into the city and to the east side.”
Meneses said he is looking forward to the opening of the East Side Access because it will cut his commute time, and noted that because it is a new system, it will be much more aesthetically pleasing than Penn Station.
The East Side Access project is not expected to be completed until at least 2022, and will cost $10.178 billion.
State Sen. Todd Kaminsky said the project should go a long way in helping commuters, but cautioned that it is vital for the timing and finances of the project to stay on course.
“This project has the potential to be game-changing for commuters because additional tunnels under the East River and additional options for getting to and from New York City will relieve the awful congestion that plagues the LIRR,” Kaminsky said. “However, the LIRR must be held accountable to keep the project on schedule and on budget over the next several years.”