The message was loud and clear. Residents living along the Metropolitan Transit Authority/Long Island Rail Road's (MTA/LIRR) 11.5-mile Main Line Corridor do not - under any circumstance - want a third track installed.

They do however, welcome the elimination of on-grade crossings in New Hyde Park (Covert Avenue, 12th Street and New Hyde Park Road), Westbury (School Street) and New Cassel (Urban Avenue) and believe that phase of the LIRR's highly controversial Main Line Corridor Improvements Project should be tackled now. The LIRR's Main Line runs from Queens Village east to Hicksville.

In order to collect input from local communities for an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the MTA/LIRR held scoping meetings on June 14 at Jericho Terrace in Mineola, June 16 at Floral Terrace in Floral Park and June 21 at Antun's in Hicksville. The EIS will be prepared in 2006 while public hearings are slated for early 2007. The final EIS, which will document the elected course of action, is expected in the summer of 2007 with a record of decision anticipated later that year. Construction is not slated to begin until 2009, with an estimated project completion date sometime in 2016.

According to the scoping document, prepared by DMJM Harris, the MTA/LIRR's environmental consultant, "some property acquisition may be necessary in order to construct a new continuous additional track and for some station area and roadway grade crossing improvements" although the MTA/LIRR anticipates that "most" of the Main Line Corridor proposed improvements could take place within the existing right-of-way.

Prior to a determination of which property must be acquired, analysis of the pros and cons of several approaches will be conducted as part of the evaluation of alternatives. County tax maps and data included in the project Geographic Information System (GIS) data set will be integral in assessing the approximate amount of land necessary for acquisition.

The EIS will consider alternatives to meet passenger service needs - build alternatives and a no-build alternative will be evaluated. The build alternatives include different track alignments, including northern alignments, southern alignments and alignments that combine the two. MTA/LIRR officials to date have not made public which alignment is likely.

The no-build or "do nothing" alternative would eliminate construction of a third track as well as station and grade crossing improvements altogether. "This alternative will be used as a basis of comparison to understand the effects of the build alternatives," Elisa Pica, MTA/LIRR's chief planning officer, noted.

The scoping document further notes that property identified for acquisition, as part of the Draft EIS, may not ultimately be required in order to construct the project. Final decisions regarding property acquisition will be taken after the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issues a Record of Decision (due out in late 2007). The final design of facilities will determine exact property needs and the needs will be verified with detailed survey data.

The area under study is one of the most densely traveled corridors in the region; it extends from Queens Village east to Hicksville. Those stations in the corridor currently under evaluation include Queens Village, Bellerose, Floral Park, New Hyde Park, Merillon Avenue in Garden City, Mineola, Carle Place, Westbury and Hicksville. At the Hicksville meeting, MTA/LIRR officials clarified that work being done at Mineola's Roslyn Road and Mineola Boulevard grade crossings are not included because they are being funded through a separate project plan.

"This project includes the evaluation of five railway grade crossings; three in New Hyde Park and two in the Westbury/New Cassel area. The Mineola grade crossings are being evaluated as separate projects," said Pica.

The concept of adding another track to the Main Line is not new; talk has been circulating for years. Many suggest the MTA/LIRR take the money earmarked for the installation of an additional track and use it to begin eliminating the on-grade crossings.

According to Rosealeen Shea, co-chair of the Long Island Rail Road Committee in Bellerose Village, the grade crossings project is budgeted for $60.3 million in 2008 and another $20 million in 2009. The third track project is budgeted for $4.5 million in 2007 and another $117.8 million in 2009. "In addition, the MTA/LIRR is only budgeting for its share of spending for the three grade crossing eliminations in the New Hyde Park vicinity. If funding gets tight, or if no other arm of government comes up with any missing portions for these grade elimination projects, there's no guarantee that the project's handful of grade crossings will in fact be eliminated," Shea noted, adding, "... State Senator Mike Balboni has [his] priorities right by urging the MTA/LIRR to undertake the elimination of grade crossings first and keep them completely separate from the third track mega project. The MTA/LIRR's own budget reveals that they are in fact two separate spending items."

According to Shea, "The MTA/LIRR only budgeted for Phase I, with its construction impacting neighborhoods from eastern Queens to Mineola, while Phase II, which targets Mineola to Hicksville, is not yet funded. Communities within the Phase I construction zone face the possibility that - despite being asked to endure years of construction, including the destruction of greenery and the condemnation of property - there is no lock-box guarantee that Phase II from Mineola to Hicksville will ever be completed. The MTA/LIRR must focus on taking care of the facilities it has now rather than continuing to spend our taxpayers' dollars with such irrational exuberance."

Despite MTA/LIRR officials' attempts to present the importance and necessity behind the project, residents and elected officials alike weren't buying it and urged that the MTA/LIRR derail the third track proposal altogether. To date, Garden City Mayor Gerard Lundquist, Floral Park Mayor Phil Guarnieri and Bellerose Village Mayor Donna Sherrer (who wore a C.A.R.E. - Citizens Against Rail Expansion sticker) have spoken out in opposition of the installation of a third track on behalf of themselves and their residents. They are, however, in favor of the elimination of various on-grade crossings for safety reasons.

"I have spoken on the disruption an additional track will have on the Village of Floral Park and its neighboring communities. I have testified about the negative impacts this project will have on parking, our business community, our infrastructure and our way of life," said Guarnieri. "I support the elevation of on grade crossings, but reject the view that it must be contingent upon the construction of an additional track."

At the Hicksville meeting, Lisa Tyson, director of the Long Island Progressive Coalition and a proponent of the project, stated that the elevation of grade crossings is "not going to happen" without the addition of a third track. "It is too expensive to do alone. The funding is not going to be there," said Tyson, adding that the public's objection to this project is a perfect example of the "not in my backyard" attitude. "This has created more problems than it solves. In this situation we see it happening as well. This is an opportunity we need to embrace."

John Kennedy, president of the Nassau-Suffolk Building Trades Council, which represents over 60,000 construction workers, was the sole speaker at the June 14 meeting in favor of the MTA/LIRR moving forward with the project. "Our members and their families are not only interested in the jobs that this proposed project will offer them but the reliable, clean source of transportation that will be available on Long Island now and in the future ...," Kennedy said. "The dollars spent on this project that will employ our members will be returned to this region three times over ... Building at this time is an investment that makes economic sense."

Mitchell Pally, vice president of government affairs for the Long Island Association, also spoke at the Hicksville meeting in favor of the project. According to Pally, "The addition of a third track on the LIRR's Main Line will provide a significant increase in the capacity of the railroad to offer service both eastbound and westbound in the morning and afternoon. The project is also a very important additional component to the East Side Access project, which will provide the railroad with the ability to provide additional service to and from New York City by allowing service not only to the current Penn Station but also to Grand Central terminal on the east side."

According to Pally, the railroad's current ability to provide additional service to and from Long Island is hindered first by the capacity of Penn Station and the tunnels going to and from the station and second by the capacity of the Main Line itself. "The East Side Access project ... will alleviate the terminal capacity issue by providing a new terminal to and from which the railroad can operate and allow trains to move without having to go through the east side tunnels," Pally said. "An additional 40 percent of capacity will be added to the Long Island Rail Road service for the benefit of Long Islanders by the East Side Access project alone ... Only by development of the third track project, which will both add track capacity and eliminate grade crossings in the area, will the full benefit of the East Side Access project be provided to the taxpayers of the region."

With some 120,000 people currently commuting from New York City to Long Island for employment, Pally said the third track would provide additional service both eastbound and westbound while also providing additional intra-island and reverse commuting options for all residents and workers, thus alleviating traffic congestion from our roadways. "The third track project will provide a new option for these and thousands of other commuters," he said.

While MTA/LIRR officials claim the increased running of freight along the Main Line is not an underlying reason behind the possible third track installation, residents believe differently.

"The existing track is used for passenger service, which I believe the Long Island Rail Road's primary concern is. It doesn't really matter if you have three tracks and one train is on one track and the one train is on the other track," said Greg Yatzyshyn, a resident of Hicksville and a member of the NorthWest Civic Association. "I don't really know what we are talking about when we say this isn't for freight. It's for freight."

Shea added, "Proponents for the project have gotten up at [previous meetings], I think unbeknownst, in favor of the MTA/LIRR project and said it was for freight. They didn't realize that they shouldn't have said the word 'freight.' If it's about freight, please tell us it is about freight."

Moreover, opponents to the project simply don't buy the projections that such an "improvement" will help accommodate increased ridership and reverse peak service, especially in light of the fact that increased fares recently went into effect to offset decreased ridership.

"While I agree it would be better if more commuters used mass transit, they don't and I don't think it's because the trains are too crowded," said Guarnieri. "If they are, this can be remedied by constructing double-decker trains and additional railroad cars rather than adding a far more costly third track where construction would cause havoc in so many communities."

According to Charles Pugliesi, assistant chief of the Bellerose Fire Department, LIRR ridership has decreased, not increased in recent years. "There were 80.9 million riders who took the train in 2003 compared with 83.9 in 2002. That's a decrease in riders by 3 million people. There were 85.6 million in 2001," he said. "We are having a decline. The railroad posted its best year ever in 1949 when 91 million people took the railroad. From these statistics, they predict an increase in ridership. Interesting."

Residents wishing to voice their opinions for or against the project can submitt written comments to Peter Palamaro, LIRR Public Affairs, Jamaica Station, 1131, Jamaica, NY 11435, prior to Aug. 31, 2005 - the date the comment period officially closes. Comments from all three scoping meetings will be entered into a project record. Additional project information is also available at www.mta.info/mta/planning/mainline.