Next Phase Of Second Avenue Subway Could Be Built By 2029: Report

EAST HARLEM, NY — The celebration that came with the 2017 debut of the Second Avenue Subway was so grand that it's easy to forget the project is only one-fourth complete. It turns out, Gov. Cuomo could be in his 70s by the time he's able to champagne toast the subway line's next opening, according to reports.

Documents from the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Federal Transit Administration target 2029 for completion on the line's second phase — which extends service along Second Avenue through East Harlem to East 125th Street — the Daily News first reported.

The MTA will need to begin construction by mid-2019 to make a 2029 opening possible, the Daily News reported. Transit officials told the newspaper that the agency believes a 2027 opening is possible.

"Second Avenue Subway Phase Two is in design and this is another step forward in the process to bring vital service to Harlem. The opening date we are aiming for right now is 2027," an MTA spokesman told the Daily News.

The next phase of the Second Avenue Subway could run the MTA as much as $6 billion, a greater cost than the first phase's $5.5 billion, the Daily News reported.

Transit officials are still working out a deal with the federal government for funding on the new subway line. The MTA cleared a federal funding hurdle in 2016 when the Federal Transit Adminstration gave the agency the go-ahead to begin "project development." The permission granted the MTA the ability to incur costs on, "work necessary to complete the environmental review process and as much engineering and design activity as MTA believes is necessary to support the environmental review process," according to an FTA letter to former MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast.

The Second Avenue Subway's first phase was completed on New Year's Day of 2017. The project re-routed the Q line up Second Avenue with new stops at East 63rd Street, East 72nd Street, East 86th Street and East 96th Street. Phase two extends the new Q line up to East 125th Street where it will connect with the Metro North Railroad and could possibly be extended into the Bronx. Phases three and four will extend the line downtown to Hanover Square in the Financial District.

Read the full Daily News article here.

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