2nd Avenue Subway status?

[Ed007Toronto]

I've looked online but can't find any new info on the 2nd Avenue subway line. Anybody know what the status on it is?

[New Jack City]

Nothing is exactly certain at this point.

The last mention I know about was in a March 1st article by the Gotham Gazette which spoke of various big projects planned for NYC.

Here's the excerpt from the article on the 2nd Ave subway line:

The Second Avenue Subway

The Second Avenue Subway is not a new idea. It was first proposed in the 1920s. The plan was tabled because of the Great Depression, and was not acted upon until the 1970s, when several miles of track were actually laid. The project stalled again because of the fiscal crisis.

The plan has re-emerged, complete with $1 billion written into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s capital budget. In its entirety, the idea envisions a subway running from 125th Street to Hanover Square, an undertaking that would cost $12.5 billion and take 17 years to build. A scaled-down version of the plan, estimated to cost about $4 billion and take about 7 years, is also being formulated.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority claims that it will begin construction on the project at the end of this year.


If you wanna check out the rest of the article go here:

http://www.gothamgazette.com/article/issueoftheweek/20040301/200/898

[crawford]

Ed007Toronto, construction is planned to begin before the end of the year. The T Train will happen, but will be extremely expensive and time-consuming. The Second Avenue corridor is very dense and busy, even for Manhattan standards.

There's tons of info on the new line on the MTA website. The Second Aveue Subway (T Train) is not the only planned subway extension. The 7 Train is being extended to the Hudson River, and the PATH subway is being extended to Newark International Airport.

Second Avenue Subway:
http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/capconstr/sas/

[New Jack City]

An article from today's paper...

Daily News

2nd Ave. stubway for now
Miniline planned for 96th-72nd

By PETE DONOHUE

Transportation honchos plan to kick off the Second Ave. subway with a miniline that runs from 96th to 72nd Sts. and then shoots over to Broadway to bring passengers downtown, the Daily News has learned.

The project could be ready in as few as seven years.

"It makes the most sense," Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Peter Kalikow told the Daily News. "When you are done with that, you have an operating segment that ties into other lines and gives great service over to Times Square and downtown."

Construction could start late this year on the first leg of the long-awaited project.

New stations would be built along Second Ave. at 96th, 86th and 72nd Sts. The line would then curve west - stopping at the 63rd St. and Lexington Ave. F line station, then run downtown along the existing Broadway tunnel.

The plan is included in documents submitted to the Federal Transit Administration. The proposal is expected to be released in the coming weeks, when the public can comment.

Officials have told the MTA it would be easier to get federal cash if the agency built the Second Ave. subway in segments so at least some service will be up and running.

The first segment would attract about 200,000 daily riders and bring much-needed relief to the overcrowded Lexington Ave. line, officials have said.

The next three segments would extend the line from 125th St. to Hanover Square. The entire project will cost about $17 billion and be completed around 2020.

The first part of the project will make life more difficult along the avenue before it makes it better.

There will be lane closures, construction noise and truck traffic. Some businesses and residents will be displaced, either temporarily or permanently, as station entrances would be inside buildings instead of on sidewalks.

"It's going to be a headache with the noise and people running around doing construction," said Philip Roman, an optician at E. 72nd St. and Second Ave.

There is a lot of uncertainty along the avenue, said Francesca Macaraaron, manager of Penang Restaurant at Second Ave. and E. 83rd St., which has an outdoor cafe.

"We may lose a whole season of the cafe and quite possibly the entire restaurant," Macaraaron said. "Quite frankly, we are concerned."

But Charles Warren, an area resident and Community Board 8 chairman, said, in general, the board and many East Siders believe the new line is desperately needed and, after some pain, will benefit the entire city.

[Gulcrapek]

Why don't you join Wired New York? Obviously you visit every day..

[entropy]

What, the subway is going to take 17 years to build? :eek: Sure it's a major construction project but holy crap, New York built its entire subway system in like, what, a century, and each of them individually probably took a couple of years. Even the world's tallest buildings don't take that much time.

[New Jack City]

NY POST

A 'SECOND' SIGHT

By CLEMENTE LISI

April 27, 2004 -- Here's a sneak peek at what the Second Avenue subway will look like as the dream finally gets on track to becoming a reality.

The new T line will feature sleek, brightly lit stations equipped with climate-control ventilation and built with no columns along the platform, officials said yesterday.

"These will be 21st century stations," said Mysore Nagaraja, president of the MTA's Capital Construction Co. "There will be no columns, which will provide for better circulation of riders" on and off trains.

The two-track line will be built in "four phases" starting with a stretch along the Upper East Side that will allow for direct trips to Brooklyn.

The first phase of the 8.5-mile line will start at 96th Street - with stops at 86th, 72nd and 63rd streets - and veer west to 63rd Street/Lexington Avenue, where it will connect to the existing Broadway line.

The opening segment will ease overcrowding on the 4, 5 and 6 Lexington Avenue lines and attract an estimated 202,000 daily riders.

"The first section that we build will serve the most riders," Nagaraja said. "When we build this project, the people will already be there."

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said construction would start at the end of this year.

The full-length line, which will run from 125th Street in East Harlem to Hanover Square in lower Manhattan, will cost $16.8 billion and is slated for completion by 2020.

The second segment - running from 125th Street to 96th Street - will use existing tunnels that were closed during the 1970s after financial problems forced the city to halt the project.

The third leg will run from 63rd Street to Houston Street, and the final piece will run from Houston Street to Hanover Square.

The line will also offer connections to the Lexington Avenue line at 125th Street and 42nd Street/Grand Central Station, the L at 14th Street and the B and D at Grand Street.

The Federal Transit Administration recommended the line be built in stages to make it easier for the MTA to secure funds for the project and enable riders to benefit from it as soon as possible.

The opening segment will cost $3.8 billion. The MTA has secured $1.8 billion so far from the state and federal government and hopes to get the rest by year's end.

http://www.nypost.com/photos/news0427200408.jpg
NEXT STOP: The 86th Street Station and others on the new line will be airy and open, with ventilation, bright lights and no columns.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Also a NY Times article from today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/27/nyregion/27subway.html

[Ed007Toronto]

Can you post the NY Times article for those of us that don't want to register for it.

Good news nonetheless.

[New Jack City]

Can you post the NY Times article for those of us that don't want to register for it.

Good news nonetheless.

Sure, here it is...

NY Times

M.T.A. Expected to Ask for Proposals to Build First Stage of 2nd Ave. Subway

By MICHAEL LUO
Published: April 27, 2004

The long-awaited Second Avenue subway is expected to clear another important milestone tomorrow, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's board approves the issuance of a request for proposals for building the project's first segment, from 96th Street to 63rd Street.

The approval would pave the way for a contractor to start work by December, although financing for the project has still not been finalized.

It is the financing - $3.8 billion for the first phase alone, and $16.8 billion for the project's full length, from East Harlem to Lower Manhattan - that supporters have been fretting over. An array of major transit projects are vying right now for limited city, state and federal funds. Their fates will be largely decided in the coming year, after state lawmakers approve the transportation authority's next capital program and the federal government weighs in how much money it will contribute.

But if the transportation authority wants to stay on schedule - officials are hoping to have the first phase ready for riders by 2011 - the board needs to approve the issuing of the request for proposals at its monthly meeting tomorrow, Mysore Nagaraja, president of the authority's Capital Construction Company, told a group of board members during a meeting of the board's Capital Construction Committee yesterday before the committee approved the issuance of the request. It now heads to the full board for its approval, usually a formality.

The Federal Transit Administration, which evaluates mass transit construction projects, is expected to announce its full support for the project next month with what is known as a record of decision, essentially the green light for a construction project to begin securing federal financing. Once that happens, transit officials said, the request for proposals can be sent out immediately.

The awarding of the contract, however, will be contingent on the transportation authority's lining up the financing it needs.

The planning phase of the project is essentially over, William M. Wheeler, the director of special project development and planning at the M.T.A., said yesterday. The Federal Transit Administration signed off earlier this month on the authority's final environment impact statement, which outlines plans for four construction phases over 16 years. The next step is to actually begin designing and building the first segment.

If completed, the Second Avenue subway, expected to carry 560,000 riders a day, would offer two lines of service, one down Second Avenue from 125th Street to Hanover Square, and the other connecting to the F line at 63rd Street, continuing on to the Broadway lines and eventually to Brooklyn.

Planners selected the 63rd-to-96th Street segment to be built first because it would benefit the most riders right away - 202,000 the day the line opens, Mr. Nagaraja said. The section of the Lexington Avenue line from 86th Street to Grand Central Terminal is the most overburdened right now. The first phase of the Second Avenue line would include new stations at 96th, 86th and 72nd Streets, and a connector to the 63rd Street station on the F line. It would also tie into the existing track for the Q line and allow a ride on to Brooklyn without having to change trains.

Building this section first would also allow the transportation authority to take advantage of tunnel segments for the Second Avenue subway that were built in the 1970's between 96th and 105th Streets, only to see their financing dry up. Those sections are in good condition, Mr. Nagaraja said, and would be used by the transportation authority to store trains at the northern end of the line.

Of the $3.8 billion needed for the first phase, $1.05 billion has already been allocated as part of the transportation authority's 2000-04 capital plan, and the federal government has committed $9 million. The remaining $2.8 billion, however, will have to come from the next capital program and the federal government. The draft of the next capital program will not be available until July and must then go to Albany in October for approval.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Forbes article from today:

http://www.forbes.com/business/newswire/2004/04/28/rtr1351205.html

[Ed007Toronto]

I'm glad they are doing this in four stages. Means major changes to the subway map every few years. Will add nicely to my NYC subway map collection.

[New Jack City]

I'm glad they are doing this in four stages. Means major changes to the subway map every few years. Will add nicely to my NYC subway map collection.

Cool, you collect all subway maps?

[Ed007Toronto]

All types of maps though I concentrate on city and subway maps. I have some great NYC maps including one from 1906 that shows the first subway line constructed. Did you know the first line in NYC was the Lexington Ave line. It went from City Hall to 42nd street and then used what today is the 42nd street shuttle west to Times Square. It then went north as part of today's Broadway line north into the Bronx.

[lokinyc]

Cool, you know more about my own tranist system than I do. Kudos.

[Ed007Toronto]

Go to the NYC transit museum. It moved to Grand Central a few years ago from Brooklyn while the old Court St station was being renovated (though it may have moved back since my last visit). You can buy a box of about 15 maps (reproductions) from various times in the history of the system for like $20 dollars. Shows how the system grew and also parts of the system that were never built. Well worth it if you want to learn more about its history.

[New Jack City]

What letter should we name the line?

NY Times

A Not-Yet Train With a Quite Real Name

By JEFF VANDAM
Published: May 16, 2004

This much is true: If the Second Avenue subway is ever built, number-loving East Siders may be disappointed.

In artists' renderings and on official-looking maps, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has already designated a label for the perennially unfinished line, which has a few tunnels dug for it, though construction was halted in 1975 for lack of funds: the letter T. Though the color of the circle behind it varies from sky blue to lime green, the question is whether the M.T.A. has officially named the line.

"Well, no, that was for planning purposes," said John McCarthy, an M.T.A. spokesman, when asked whether T was the letter of choice. "I don't think that's a decision that's been made."

Still, the line will definitely bear a letter, he said. The new subway will fall under the "B Division," containing all lettered lines, which have wider cars than their numbered counterparts.

Yet a letter-only policy leaves few viable options. Of the nine letters not currently in use, T may seem an obvious choice, until you consider that the Boston subway system is already called that. The I? Well, people might confuse it with the 1. The X?

"X isn't a letter that I would want to use," said Charles Seaton, a spokesman for New York City Transit, a division of the M.T.A. "The X Train," he said, testing it out. "I don't know. We use Z already."

They used T already too, in the 1960's. It was called the West End line, and traveled express along the modern-day D route.

Until 1985, there were several double-lettered local trains, like the HH, the JJ and even the TT. But then, Mr. Seaton said, "somebody got the idea that the trains would be easier to keep track of if they just gave every train its own letter."

For the time being, the letter T should stick. Subway planners chose it because "it's an unused letter, and it doesn't sound like anything else," Mr. Seaton said.

Others have already turned their thoughts away from what to call the line.

"I don't spend my time daydreaming about the T or the X," said Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign. "I find myself thinking, 'How do they get the money to make this thing happen?' "

[Malito]

When the first phase is completed, most likely they will use the Q train until the rest of it is built. Makes sense since the Q train is the only Broadway Line that ends at 59th street, and I doubt they will add another line when the Broadway line has 4.

[treboy]

Why don't you join Wired New York? Obviously you visit every day..

Actually, SkyscraperPageForum has more threads of NYC construction projects in the Highrises section.
I can see more construction projects in NYC there.