NYC's Second Avenue Subway to open in January

Revenue service on the first phase of New York City's Second Avenue Subway line will begin Jan. 1, 2017, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced yesterday.

The initial phase of the line marks the most significant change to the city's subway service in decades, according to a press release issued by Cuomo's office. Expected to serve more than 200,000 daily riders, Phase I will run from 96th Street to 63rd street in Manhattan.

The line will help reduce crowding on the Lexington Avenue Line and restore a transit link to a neighborhood that lost the Second Avenue elevated line in 1940, Cuomo's press release stated.

"New Yorkers have waited nearly a century to see the promise of the Second Avenue Subway realized, and after unrelenting dedication from thousands of hardworking men and women, the wait is over," Cuomo said. "The on-time completion of this major, transformative project reaffirms confidence in government competence, increasing capacity on the nation’s busiest subway system, and delivering a new, vital transportation artery to millions of New Yorkers."

The Second Avenue Subway will be built in four phases. The first phase cost $4.4 billion, according to The New York Times.