With key environmental approval, Second Avenue Subway’s second phase inches forward
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The second phase of the Second Avenue Subway passed its environmental assessment, putting the Metropolitan Transportation Authority one step closer to bringing more subway service to East Harlem. The agency announced on Monday that with the Federal Transit Administration issuing the project a “Finding of No Significant Impact,” the MTA can now secure federal funding for phase two. In this phase, the Q line will extend from its terminus at 96th Street north to 125th Street, moving west to Lexington and Park Avenues, where the line will connect with the 4, 5, 6, and Metro-North trains.
The MTA will build three new stations: 106th and Second Avenue, 116th Street and Second Avenue, and 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. As 6sqft reported in July, the second phase won’t be completed until 2029–and that’s if work begins as planned in the middle of 2019.
According to the transit agency, the extension of the Second Avenue Subway will bring more transit choices to the East Harlem community, create jobs, cut commute time, and reduce crowding on the Lexington Avenue line.
“With the environmental approval in place, we can move into a new phase in the effort to secure Federal funding for this important project,” Janno Lieber, development officer of the MTA, said. “It’s urgent to build Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 so East Harlem can begin to receive the same benefits Phase 1 has delivered for the Upper East Side.”
The first phase of the project, which was completed on New Year’s Day in 2017, took eight years to complete and cost $5.5 billion for three miles of track. The authority hopes to secure full federal funding for phase two by the end of 2020, with early estimates putting its price tag at $6 billion.
The project’s third and fourth phases will extend the line south to Hanover Square and the Financial District.
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