The launch of congestion pricing has put the MTA’s plan to stretch the Second Avenue Subway from the Upper East Side to Harlem one stop closer to its final destination.
Days before the Jan. 5 start of the vehicle-tolling initiative that is looked to as a major source of funding for the $7.1 billion expansion project, the MTA issued a request for proposals from firms that can design, engineer and build the extension of the Q line between 96th and 125th streets.
“The Second Avenue Subway is one of the most important mass transit projects in the nation and today it’s driving forward, thanks to congestion pricing,” Jamie Torres-Springer, president of the MTA’s construction division, told THE CITY in a statement. “MTA Construction & Development is delivering megaprojects like this one better, faster and cheaper than ever before and we’re ready to maximize the impact of every penny we use to fund our work.”
East Harlem residents who rely heavily on buses to commute or walk long blocks to the Lexington Avenue subway line greeted with renewed optimism the prospect of three new stations eventually being built at 106th, 116th and 125th streets.
“People are in a tough spot if they want to commute by car with the new tolls,” Malasia Apparicio, 30, said next to a M15 bus stop. “But if the goal is to extend the subway line, then that’s much, much more of a convenience to those of us who live here.”
As he waited for a southbound M15 at Second Avenue and 115th Street, Luis Martinez, 47, said he would gladly trade the headaches that accompany years of construction for faster commutes and not having to travel along the Lexington Avenue line, which has the highest ridership in the subway system.
“The construction is going to be a little bit of a headache, but when they finish, you know everyone will be happy,” Martinez said. “For the older folks, for the disabled, a subway would really make a difference.”
The late December solicitation for engineering firms and as well as Jan. 8 project site tours at 120th Street and Second Avenue mark significant steps forward for the project, which was slowed by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s June pause on congestion pricing. The MTA last January awarded the first contract for the subway extension, a $182 million agreement to relocate underground utilities ahead of construction on the planned 106th Street station.
To keep utility relocation work moving along, Hochul patched together $54 million in state funds in July before she reversed course again in November, clearing the way for congestion pricing.
The revenue that is expected to be generated from tolling vehicles entering Manhattan on or south of 60th Street enables the transit agency to meet funding requirements to match a $3.4 billion grant the Biden administration awarded in November 2023.
Over, Under, Around and Through
According to MTA documents, proposals on tunneling and structural shell work are due by March 5 and can only be accepted from the two joint-venture firms pre-qualified by MTA Construction and Development to bid on the project. A contract for approximately four years is expected to be awarded by the third quarter of this year.
As part of the work, an unused 1970s-era Second Avenue tunnel that already stretches from south of 115th Street to 120th Street will be rehabilitated, with the northern end of the existing tunnel at Second Avenue to be demolished.
In addition, a boring machine will carve out tunnels going from Second Avenue and 120th Street to a point west of Malcolm X Boulevard and 125th Street. A cavern will be carved out for a 125th Street Q line station — with connections to the existing 125th Street stops on the 4, 5, 6 lines and Metro-North.
“This is what we have been waiting for — you can’t let contracts if you don’t have the money,” said Lisa Daglian, executive director of the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA. “Now that the money is starting to come in, you can let the contract.”
But the MTA still needs to finish acquiring properties that are in the path of the line extension, whose federal environmental assessment was completed in 2018. That study estimated the project’s effects on air quality, open space, safety and security, among other factors.
A spokesperson for the transit agency told THE CITY that seven properties needed for the 106th Street station are still not owned by the MTA, along with 10 near the 116th Street stop. Along 125th Street, the MTA has completed the acquisition of sites needed for the line’s proposed northern terminal.
The first leg of the Second Avenue line opened on New Year’s Day 2017, with three stations at 72nd, 86th and 96th streets and a connection to the F line’s Lexington Avenue-63rd Street stop.
This new second phase of the Second Avenue Subway is the signature project of the MTA’s 2020-2024 capital program. The more than $50 billion, five-year plan to maintain and expand the transit system was facing a massive funding gap until congestion pricing was implemented after years of effort.
East Harlemites said they are hopeful that the long wait for a subway line will ultimately be worth it for a neighborhood whose elevated line along Second Avenue was demolished in 1942.
“Now they can pay for it, so eventually, they’ll get it done,” said Fred Latte, a lifelong resident. “The Lexington Avenue train is packed, you got school kids on the buses and they’re all packed. So another line would be good for the neighborhood.”
