advertisement

---

It’s taken 80 years, but MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) has finally started construction on the Second Avenue Subway project. Yesterday, the agency broke ground on the project’s $3.8 billion first phase, which calls for extending the subway system from 105th to 62nd streets by 2013.

The 8.5-mile, 16-station line will be built in four phases. The second-phase extension will run from 105th Street to 125th Street and Park Avenue; third phase, from Houston Street under Second Avenue; and fourth phase, from Houston Street to Hanover Square.

First proposed in the 1920s, the Second Avenue Subway has become a critical project since the 1940s and 1950s, when the elevated train lines on Manhattan’s east side were demolished. Since then, NYCT’s Lexington Avenue Line has become the agency’s most congested and the M15 bus route that operates along First and Second avenues has become the busiest in the country, carrying 60,000 passengers daily and running every 90 seconds during peak periods.

Once complete, the new subway line will relieve congestion on the Lexington Avenue Line and bus route, and enable passengers to transfer to other subway lines and MTA Metro-North Railroad.