February 11, 2006

Progress on 2nd Avenue
Subway Raises Questions
For Island Commuting
by Selwa Habib

A new Second Avenue  subway line will bring relief to Roosevelt Island commuters and F Train riders. Or will it?

A map issued by the MTA indicates that Roosevelt Island riders will still face the rush-hour’s overcrowded F train, at least from here to 63rd/Lex, where the F will offer transfers to the T or Q on the proposed Second Avenue line.

It’s possible that trains passing through Roosevelt Island will actually become more crowded as Queens passengers choose the F line for its transfer access to the Second Avenue line.

 The full length of the Second Avenue subway project from 125th Street to the World Trade Center has been divided into minimal operating segments consisting of four phases. The first phase will include stops at 72nd, 86th, and 96th Streets. At the 63rd/Lex stop, the new T line will link onto the existing Q line, providing riders a no-transfer ride from the Upper East Side to Times Square, Wall Street, and Brooklyn.

F Train riders will not need to ride down to 47th Street to get a transfer to the west side, nor would they need to leave the station to transfer to the Lexington Avenue line at 59th Street and Lexington. They will be able to transfer in-station, at 63rd Street, to the Q, which will link them to the N, R, W, 1, 2, and 3 trains on the West Side, and the 4, 5, and 6 on the East Side.

On Saturday, January 28, Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-Manhattan, Queens) discussed progress in planning the Second Avenue subway at a town-hall meeting held on the Upper East Side.  Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Assemblymember Jonathan Bing, and Councilmembers Jessica Lappin and Dan Garodnick joined her in expressing support for the projects.  The MTA’s Joseph Petrocelli and Audrey Heffernan gave a PowerPoint presentation on the project, and Christopher Jones of the Regional Planning Association discussed its importance to the economic success of the areas to be served.

Maloney expressed optimism about progress. "The Second Avenue subway and East Side access are the most significant projects in New York City, and probably the nation… It’s no longer a question of whether they will be built, but how fast."

Construction on an East Side Access (ESA) project has already begun. It will connect the Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) Main and Port Washington lines in Queens to a new LIRR terminal beneath Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan. To cite a few blessings, the new connection will increase the LIRR’s capacity into Manhattan, dramatically shorten travel time for Long Island commuters, and provide a new commuter rail station in Sunnyside, Queens.

A Second Avenue subway taskforce has been formed to oversee and ensure the proper implementation of the project.  According to Petrocelli, contracts for the first phase covering the tunnel segment from 99th to 62nd Streets "will be awarded this year… and construction plans are well underway." He added that the first phase will be completed in six years, with a total estimate of $3.8 billion. When this phase is completed, 202,000 riders are expected to board the new line each day.

Significant progress has been made in obtaining funding for the project, and last year New York voters approved $450 million for the Second Avenue subway in the Transportation Bond Act; additionally, Maloney led efforts in Congress to direct $25 million to the project (for a total of $36.5 million in federal funding over the last six years). These funding infusions, combined with $1.05 billion in funds previously authorized by the State, have put the MTA in a strong position to negotiate a full-funding agreement with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) for a full federal match.

In discussing the Second Avenue subway in its Report on New Starts for FY2006, the FTA says that "it believes that this project should receive special funding consideration because it has earned a "highly recommended" rating, and the State and local financial investment in the project is unusually large." The FTA expects to make a full-funding agreement for East Side Access later this year, and to approve a final design request for the subway in the next few months, which will then put the project in position for a full-funding grant agreement.