Second Avenue Subway Extension Pushes Forward: See Underground

EAST HARLEM, NY — The billions flowing to New York City from the federal infrastructure bill include money that will help fund the Second Avenue Subway's long-awaited extension into East Harlem, according to local officials, who celebrated by descending underground into the soon-to-be subway line on Tuesday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul led the tour through a stretch of tunnel that will one day form part of the subway's extension north of 96th Street. She was joined by members of New York's congressional delegation, who voted for the bill that was signed into law by President Joe Biden last week.

Work will last six to eight years and be completed between 2028 and 2030, NBC reported Tuesday. It will cost $6.3 billion — a figure that one MTA official called a bargain, but which observers have criticized as an unnecessarily high figure.

Once complete, it will include new stops at 106th, 116th and 125th streets, improving commutes to transit-starved East Harlem and likely opening the area up for further development.

"New Yorkers dream big and act big, and the plan for Phase 2 of the Second Avenue subway expansion unlocks our incredible potential to give communities the transportation infrastructure and equity they will need to compete economically," Hochul said in a statement.

In May, Patch reported that the MTA was advancing plans to seize land along Second Avenue to make way for the expansion — even as some owners pleaded with the state not to "take our property."

Once construction begins, the East Harlem extension will make use of a 10-block stretch of tunnel dating back to the 1970s that already exists below the neighborhood, between 110th and 120th streets. MTA leaders had initially hoped to open the extension in 2027, but that goal has been pushed back.

Previous coverage:

• 2nd Avenue Subway Extension Pushing On Into Harlem, MTA Says
  
• 2nd Avenue Subway's East Harlem Extension To Move Forward: Cuomo
• Pandemic Delays 2nd Avenue Subway's Harlem Extension: Report