New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

NEW YORK (AP) -- By the year 2030, New York City could have so many people straining its infrastructure that it won't have enough electricity or housing to meet demand, and rush hour traffic will last all day.

The city of 8.2 million people must start planning and building now for the expected growth of 1 million more over the next 25 years, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a panel of experts warned.

"We now have the freedom to take on the obstacles looming in the city's future and to begin clearing them away before they become rooted in place," Bloomberg said Tuesday.

Some of the findings presented Tuesday by a team of city planners, academics, scientists and environmentalists who have spent the past year studying the city's infrastructure and assessing its viability to cope include:

• In 25 years, rails and roads will be "crammed beyond capacity" and won't be able to accommodate the swarm of commuters during what is now considered normal rush hour. Lawmakers must act now to not only expand the road network but also to update the subway system, which was built starting in 1901 and still uses signal and switch technology developed before the 1940s.

• The city will need thousands more housing units. And it has to be affordable -- already, more than a third of city renters fork over more than half their income for rent, the group said.

• Energy demand could exceed supply by as early as 2012, and by 2030 the majority of the city's power plants will be more than 50 years old. The city needs to improve efficiency, use alternative energy sources and modernize its grid, which was built in the 1920s.

New York must not only meet the needs of its growing population but has to stay competitive as a global city, said Robert D. Yaro, president of the Regional Plan Association, a nonpartisan planning group.

"We can't put our head in the sand," he said. "We know that Shanghai and London and other great world cities that are competing with us are making plans like these and are doing a great job of building new economies and building the infrastructure systems."

Suggestions offered by the expert panel included taxing vehicles that drive into Manhattan's most heavily trafficked neighborhoods, called congestion pricing; and charging residents by the pound for the trash they throw out.

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

I need to move to freaking Wyoming!

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

all the more reason to move...

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Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

I bet they will begin to push building of new power plants... there goes the clean air of new york city

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Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

I think that they need to re-instate the commuter tax. I commute into the city for work and i do find it strange that i dont have to pay any taxes to the city of NY. After all, I take advantage of many of the public services offered because of the amount of time i spend working here. Not that i want to pay more taxes, but I always felt this would bother me if I lived in the city.

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

this is why as much I will live here-- I do not want to work in NYC and want to live further away-- although in NY Metro area. I already can't stand all of the people.

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

Rush hour on the LIE already is all day.

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

Looks like moving out of NY just became an easier decision

Message edited 12/13/2006 1:28:16 PM.

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

Re: New York faces all-day rush hour by 2030

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Uugh...NYC income tax is ALOT..and so annoying to pay being that I live there. I used to keep my permanent residence at my parents, but changed it when I got married. Just another reason we're moving in 2007.


I did that also- I could barley afford to live there right out of school- let alone an extra tax-

everyone I knew/know did the same thing