Don't know what happend to the Fulton Transit Center thread, so I'll post this here...
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01302009...hub_152711.htm
FEDS PAYING $497M FOR FULTON SUBWAY HUB
By TOM NAMAKO Transit Reporter
January 30, 2009
The $497 million needed to construct the long-delayed Fulton Street Transit Center will be paid entirely through President Obama's economic stimulus package, MTA officials said yesterday.
The project calls for a 12-subway hub with an above-ground, glass-covered pavilion to replace the current maze of loosely linked stations.
MTA Executive Director Eliot Sander announced the funding at a state Assembly hearing yesterday, telling Speaker Sheldon Silver the new funds would cover an additional $200 million in costs that were previously unannounced.
The federal stimulus package was passed Wednesday by the House and is awaiting a Senate vote.
Ground was broken on the Fulton station in July 2005, and it has been set back by rising construction costs and a scaling back of its original plans.
As a result, many businesses have closed and the surrounding neighborhood was left with an eyesore.
"People have been worried that we were going to leave a hole in the ground or construct a simple subway entrance instead of the iconic structure that the community was expecting," Sander said. "I am here to tell you that this is not the case."
The original designs of the above-ground glass structure called for an oculus that would reflect light into the station. The plans were later simplified to only include skylights.
So far, the state has pitched in $58 million for the project. The federal government already has contributed $819 million, not counting the $497 million Sander announced yesterday.
The Second Avenue Subway and East Side Access projects also are slated for stimulus-package funding, Sander said.