After two decades of waiting, Long Island commuters will finally have access to Grand Central Terminal.

East Side Access, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's plan to bring the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central, is slated to open by the end of this month.

The new terminal will decrease crowding at Penn Station and provide passengers with easier access to Manhattan's east side.

Gerard Bringmann, president of the Long Island Railroad Commuter Council, noted that low ridership during the pandemic and ballooning costs have made people question the project's necessity.

But, he said, the large investment of time and money was worth it.

"When this whole thing was originally developed, it was needed," said Bringmann. "No one anticipated COVID, no one anticipated ridership being down 35% at the time the station was going to open. If we had a crystal ball, things might have been different back then. And when it was originally designed, it was going to be for considerably less."

This comes as MTA officials and Gov. Kathy Hochul held a groundbreaking for Metro North's Penn Station Access project.

The new project will include four new stations in the Bronx and create a second link between Metro North and the Long Island Railroad.

Commuter reactions are mostly positive, but there were some concerns. The new schedules don't add new trains to Grand Central, but instead shift existing trains originally bound for Penn Station.

One notable piece of the project is that it forces MTA to examine its Long Island Railroad schedules for the first time in several decades.

Bringmann said schedule revisions are long overdue, but notes why they're so challenging.

"Everything is interrelated because 10 of our 11 branches go through Jamaica," said Bringmann. "It's almost like dominoes. If you change one thing, it affects two other things. If you want to change a change that's coming out of Ronkonkoma into Jamaica, that might have a connection to Brooklyn or it might have a connection to Hunterspoint Avenue."

Other issues commuters raised include eliminating express trains to Port Washington and the lack of access for diesel electric trains.

However, Bringmann said he is grateful Long Island Railroad has listened to commuters and alleviated certain problems. As a longtime Long Island Railroad commuter, he said he's grateful to see East Side Access finally open.

One Arizona mayor is among the more than 2,800 elected city officials in Washington, D.C., this week for The National League of Cities' Congressional City Conference.

The conference is an opportunity for local leaders to meet with federal officials to discuss how federal policies make their way to local governments.

Roberta Cano, mayor of Winslow, said it is her second time attending the conference, which she called a "springboard" for projects in her community, one of which is a levee Winslow is trying to improve after being decertified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2008.

She noted with the help of leaders at the Capitol, they have started the process to get the levee fixed.

"We were able to have a strong enough voice to get awarded $66 million to start the design and process to get our levee fixed," Cano reported. "Once that is repaired and is certified and all to protect our city, our economy is just going to boom."

Cano pointed out since the decertification of the levee, 90% of Winslow residents have had to get flood insurance on top of their regular home insurance, which she added has put a hefty financial burden on many.

Cano emphasized events such as the conference offer smaller cities like hers the ability to learn about federal funding and programs which otherwise would have gone unknown. Cano added it is a great chance to get to speak with other local leaders about the challenges they are facing and the solutions they are implementing.

"I pick everybody's brain as much as I can to deal with issues like recycling and housing, and even our fentanyl drug issues," Cano stated. "You want to talk about the most dynamic people in one setting, come to this conference, and you will just feel this energy. It'll blow you away."

Cano and other mayors will head to the Capitol today to meet with federal leaders and share infrastructure plans, following the recent two-year anniversary of the American Rescue Plan.


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A Minnesota bill could surface as early as this week, calling for a proposed tax increase to fund transportation needs.

Advocates and local government leaders hope lawmakers hear calls from the public to offer a range of options for residents to get around.

Transportation remains one of the issues still being debated in the current legislative session.

Sam Rockwell, executives director of the group Move Minnesota, said its recent polling indicates a majority of Minnesotans want to see more flexibility in how transit funds are spent.

"We saw 66% of Minnesotans," said Rockwell, "supporting shifting funding to support biking, walking and transit."

About 55% said they would support a regional sales tax to fund metro-area transit improvements. That's one of the recommendations from Rockwell's group to boost options.

While Democrats control the Legislature and the governor's office, it's unclear how transportation funding will come together. Republicans blocked a bonding bill, which included money for things such as walking trails, citing the need for tax relief first.

Bloomington City Council Member Patrick Martin said providing more efficient and accessible transportation options can help in a variety of ways, including helping business corridors.

"The development possibilities it opens up," said Martin, "knowing, you can say, reduced parking because there's reliable transportation nearby."

Nearly one third of Minnesotans said they would be more likely to use buses and trains if there were greater access in their neighborhoods.

Rockwell suggested that following up on that demand could help reduce emissions and personal budgets, because people wouldn't have to rely on cars as much.

"Being able to rely on your feet, on a bicycle, on the bus and the train," said Rockwell, "brings those transportation costs down."




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The transportation and warehousing industry continues to lead as Indiana's fastest-growing business sector, and has been for over a decade now, but the companies, like many others, don't have enough employees.

The Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University said despite hiring bonuses and "help wanted" signs posted at trucking companies, too many jobs remain unfilled.

Carla Rogers, director of the center, said at the onset of the pandemic, the demand for goods could not keep up with the low supply of workers.

"We suddenly started getting more and more stuff delivered," Rogers recounted. "Instead of going to a store, we were getting it delivered. That needed more trucks, more truck drivers, more people in the warehouses to do the stocking."

Rogers pointed out Indiana's Department of Workforce Development has received federal money to create "WorkOne," an online center arranged by county where people can get information on choosing or changing a career, job training and apprenticeships.

She is also optimistic Indiana will continue to offer a "high school to community college to commercial training" pipeline for the next generation of workers in these fields.

Rogers thinks the trucking industry still has some barriers to address, to help people understand truck driving can be not only a safe experience, but also a well-paid career.

"We really ought to be looking at women, young people and people of color," Rogers urged. "These are the folks that could really benefit by what trucking is doing - and also train people up to become digitally literate."

According to the Business Research Center, between 2011 and 2021, Indiana's transportation and warehousing sector grew by almost 37%, adding more than 46,000 jobs, bringing the total number of statewide transportation and warehousing jobs to more than 171,000.


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