railroad infrastructure on the East Side. In 2002, Congress allocated $132 million for infrastructure projects in New York State, including $14.7 million for East Side Access. A final design for the project was approved in 2002, and the first properties for it were acquired in 2003. In 2004, some business owners in Midtown announced their opposition to a proposed 16-story ventilation building at 50th Street east of Madison Avenue. They said that the building would cause pollution and that it could be vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Catholic Archbishop Cardinal Edward Egan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York worried about the effect on St. Patrick's Cathedral, which faced Fifth Avenue with its back on Madison Avenue north of 50th Street. At first, MTA officials held fast to their plans, but after continued opposition, they reduced the size of the building and moved the structure's cooling towers. Construction progress Funding for MTA capital projects such as East Side Access, the Second Avenue Subway, and the 7 Subway Extension were included in the Rebuild and Renew Transportation Bond Act of 2005. As part of this act, the state would take on $2.9 billion in debt to issue bonds to fund these projects. Voters ultimately approved the bond issue by a margin of 55% to 44%. The federal government committed to provide $2.6 billion to help build the project by signing a full funding grant agreement in December 2006. The construction contract for a tunnel in Manhattan westward and southward from the dormant lower level of the 63rd Street Tunnel to the new station beneath Grand Central Terminal was awarded in July 2006. The contract went to Dragados/Judlau, a joint American–Spanish venture whose American headquarters were in College Point, Queens, close to the East Side Access site. The total contract award was $428 million and used two large tunnel boring machines. After Hurricane Sandy flooded the East River Tunnels between Queens and Penn Station in 2012, officials prioritized the construction of East Side Access so that LIRR trains could be diverted to Grand Central, allowing the East River Tunnels to be renovated. Manhattan side Work on the Manhattan side included building a new 8-track train station with storage tracks extending to 38th Street. North of the station, the tunnels would connect to the 63rd Street Tunnel's lower level. The new station would be housed in two gigantic caverns blasted out of the