Tunnel connecting LIRR and Grand Central complete

The tunnel that will connect Long Island Railroad trains to Grand Central Terminal is now complete, NY1 reported. Workers finished excavation at the project — the largest infrastructure project currently underway in the country, according to NY1 — yesterday. The tunnel goes from Sunnyside, Queens, to a cavern 12 stories beneath Grand Central Terminal. 

The Eastside Access project, as it is known, is woefully over-budget — NY1 estimates by about 30 percent — and the Metropolitan Transit Authority is facing a steep budget deficit across the board. In an effort to shore up funds, the MTA proposed that the Eastside Access Concourse, which will link the LIRR and Grand Central, be outsourced to a private firm.

The entire project is slated for completion by 2018. [NY1] — Guelda Voien