With an eye on a proposed congestion pricing plan for Manhattan-bound motorists, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority released a proposed $29.5-billion five-year capital program on Feb. 27. The MTA board will vote on the program this month. The state Legislature is expected to vote on the congestion plan, which would provide $4.5 billion in bonds, by the end of March.

If the plan to charge drivers $8 to enter a busy section of Manhattan, proposed last year by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R), does not succeed, $767 million, mostly in bus expansion projects, will be jeopardized. A promised $354 million from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation “would go out the window,” says MTA Executive Director and CEO Elliot Sander.

The core $20-billion chunk of the capital program emphasizes maintenance and upgrades of 2,000 miles of track, 524 substations, 197 toll lanes and 733 transit stations. The second $6-billion tier would fund completion of the first $3.8-billion phase of the Second Avenue Subway, the $888-million Fulton Street Transit Center and the $6-billion East Side Access project. The third $3.5-billion tier would provide $1 billion to begin the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway, expand communications-based train control systems and begin initial work on a new commuter rail link.

MTA is working to minimize the issue of spiraling materials increases and high bids on projects. The planned $420-million Fulton Street Transit Center station received one bid of $870 million late last year. It now will be broken up and rebid in smaller contracts, says Mysore Nagaraja, former MTA Capital Construction Co. chief and now a city consultant.

A single $970-million bid was received for an estimated $732-million station cavern contract for East Side Access. MTA negotiated with joint venture Judlau/Dragados to lower it to about $800 million, Nagaraja says. A planned $500-million contract for a Second Avenue Subway station also will be broken up into at least two contracts, pushing back the 2014 first phase completion to 2015.