Editor’s note: Second Avenue subway extension and other projects signal milestone for New York

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority board’s approval of a $1.97 billion construction contract last week was a major milestone in the long-overdue plan of extending Second Avenue subway service into East Harlem. The project, in the works for decades, has started and stopped so often it didn’t look like it would even happen. Now, it enters its second phase, extending the Q line from 96th Street to 125th Street. Tunnel boring is planned to begin in 2027 and completion is expected in 2032.

Tom Wright, executive director at the Regional Plan Association, called it “a big deal” for the transit-starved, working-class neighborhood, but noted the extension is one of several regional transportation projects completed, underway or planned, including the No. 7 train extension, Interborough Express, Penn Station Access, Gateway rail tunnel and the Port Authority Bus Terminal replacement. “The last time we were doing this was about 100 years ago, at the beginning of the last century when the subway was being built out and the private railroads were tunneling under the Hudson River extending the commuter rail lines up into the suburbs of Westchester and Connecticut,” Wright told City & State. He credited elected officials and named New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg for “championing the No. 7 line extension and seeing the value of the Hudson Yards,” and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, for pushing through the first phase of the Second Avenue subway up to 96th Street, among other projects. Gov. Kathy Hochul won the most favor for supporting the Interborough Express and congestion pricing. “She’s going to go down as one of the great transit politicians/governors in New York history,” he said. Praise like that doesn’t come around very often.