NEW YORK — The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has launched a new online dashboard to monitor its capital projects, allowing viewers to see what is being built or replaced, the project budget, spending thus far, and the expected completion date.
The Capital Program Dashboard, now available here in a Beta version, addresses projects on the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North Railroad, and New York City Transit, and Bridges and Tunnels. It replaces an older dashboard with one the MTA says provides an easier and clearer way to track projects.
“We are showing our work like no other government agency out there — a testament to the new MTA’s commitment to transparency,” MTA CEO Janno Lieber said in a press release. “With a Capital Plan that prioritizes critical but sometimes hard-to-see infrastructure repairs, it is important that this dashboard highlight the massive number and scale of projects underway across the system.”
New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said tracking such projects has been a consistent problem for his office. “This dashboard shows the MTA is taking steps to make it easier to see the location, cost and progress of the MTA’s capital work,” DiNapoli said. “It’s my expectation that the MTA will expand the information available in this tool and that those who use it will be able to better understand how and where transit improvements are being made.”
Features of the upgraded dashboard include the ability to view projects by the transit routes they affect and a map showing work across the system; the ability to view projects by type, such as “accessibility” or “resilience,” as well as see those projects being funded through Manhattan’s congestion tolling program; and what the MTA calls a more “real-world” focus that gets away from using the agency’s internal budget codes to one easier for the public to understand.
Information and other background on the development of the dashboard is available in a three-part blog, Behind the Capital Program. The MTA is also soliciting public comment as it continues to refine the site.
“We’re always talking about delivering projects better, faster, and cheaper than ever before and now the public can see that for themselves,” said Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction & Development. “This data gives riders and advocates real insight about what’s happening in their neighborhoods and how the MTA is advancing this Capital Program.”
