NEW YORK — The MTA's massive East Side Access project may face additional delays and an even bigger budget than last projected, according to a published report.
The ambitious project, which will connect Long Island Rail Road commuter lines in western Queens to a new terminal beneath Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal, could top $10 billion in costs and may not be up and running until 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The MTA's most recent budget estimate for the job was $8.24 billion, and it was scheduled last year to be completed in 2019.
Construction began in 2001 and was originally expected to be done by as early as 2013, according to the Journal. MTA officials are expected to present the new timeline at a board meeting Monday, the paper reports.
An MTA spokesman declined to comment on the Journal's story.