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| Re: Abandoned Utica Ave Upper Level (Pix Coming Soon) & 76th Street Saga (1131056) | |||
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Re: Abandoned Utica Ave Upper Level (Pix Coming Soon) & 76th Street Saga |
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Posted by Dupont Circle Station on Mon Jan 9 23:37:36 2012, in response to Re: Abandoned Utica Ave Upper Level (Pix Coming Soon) & 76th Street Saga, posted by Avid Reader on Mon Jan 9 20:27:13 2012. I doubt it would have been when the mainline was built in the 1930s. It is plausible that at the time a line could have branched off the proposed Astoria extension down 108th to either merge with QB to Jamaica or continue along Continental toward Metro.In the 60s, there were 2 alternate alignments for the Super Express Bypass in addition to Yellowstone Junction. One was to merge with the LIE line at Woodhaven to 108th, then branch off down 108th to Jewel to the GCP (with intermediate stops somewhere between 63rd Drive & 66th Av in that shopping area; and at Jewel & 113th). From there it would have paralleled the GCP through the park and rejoined the mainline at Union Turnpike instead of Forest Hills. The second alternate was to pass under the mainline and run in Jewel with stops at 108th and 113th and the Union Tpk merge. The stakeholders in FH made noise worse than if they were passing stones about that. They were adamant about Yellowstone Junction and making Continental (Cord Meyer had some grandiose plans for the area from 72nd to 66th along QB and that vision was based on their preferred alignment.) 108th & Jewel, though just a couple of short blocks away, was not what they wanted (even with just a stroll through a mezzanine to the existing 71st Av station). Mind you, at that point, they were probably wishing that tunnel hadn't been eliminated...though it would have forced a lower-level at Continental since it hit the mainline roughly in the middle of the station. Back in those days, developers egos and rivalries usually won out over sensible planning practices and path-of-least-resistance-and-cost when it came to existing infrastructure. Yellowstone Junction would have been far more costly to build and turned QB between 72nd and Yellowstone into an epic fustercluck for years...not counting the mayhem the development along Continental and Austin would have added to the mix. The various Kew Gardens Junction options were not that much cheaper, but would have caused considerably less disruption. However, CM figured if QB was going to be borked, it would make the other construction seem less of a hassle since it would have been done 6-12 months before the subway work. |
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