Five Towns Commuters look forward to East Side Access

Halley’s Comet appears in the sky every 74 to 79 years, and yet it still comes around more frequently than expansions of the Long Island Rail Road. The East Side Access project, which will bring LIRR service to Grand Central Station, is the first such expansion in 100 years.

The $11.1 billion dollar project will add eight tracks, in a 350,000 square-foot station, and could enable the LIRR to increase rider capacity by up to 45 percent. The MTA also claims that station will reduce congestion at Pennsylvania Station and would cut some Long Islanders’ commutes by an average of 40 minutes a day.

Occasional users of the Long Island Rail Road at the Hewlett station were empathetic with the problems that regular commuters must deal with. The East Side Access project was proposed in 1963, and plans were first developed in the 1990s and the early 2000s.

The MTA plans for the project to be completed by Dec. 31, 2022, but many people who regularly commute into the city appear to be very aware of the project. Doug Hesney, a Woodmere resident said, “I hope that it’s done sooner than they say,” as he briskly walked from the platform at the Hewlett station to his car.

Justin Dehnert has an inversed commute; he lives in New York City but works as the organist at Trinity- St. John’s Episcopal Church in Hewlett. Although he lives near Penn Station and likely won’t be using the new station he said that he’s happy to see it. “I’m all in favor of improving public transit,” he said. “The city’s long overdue for infrastructure upgrades.”

Other people at the Hewlett station who don’t commute every day weren’t as familiar with the project; however, they supported the idea after learning about it. Vinny Scarnati lives in Long Beach and said he usually takes the train from there, but had to drop his car off at a mechanic in Hewlett. Scarnati said that he has friends in Brooklyn and is in favor anything that helps people commute without taking the subway. “It’s a great idea,” he said. “I hate having to transfer through the subway.”

Tatiana Heisman, a Hewlett resident, said she rarely takes the train and hadn’t previously heard of the project, however, after having it explained to her she said that she was, “Glad to see it,” especially after decades passing without major improvements to the system’s infrastructure.