Nearly a century after it was first proposed, the city of New York has broken ground on the Second Avenue Subway project.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul joined Metropolitan Transit Authority leaders to launch the site where a tunnel boring machine will begin work on the new subway tunnels in early 2027. The Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 project will create subway tunnels to connect 120 street and 2nd Avenue to 125 Street and Malcolm X Boulevard in East Harlem.
“The Second Avenue Subway will change everything for East Harlem, saving people precious time and making possible opportunities that have for too long been out of reach for too many,” Hochul said. “The last groundbreaking for a Second Avenue subway in East Harlem was 54 years ago, only for the project to be abandoned and this community left behind. When I became Governor, I promised that I would be the leader to finally get this done, and by breaking ground on the major construction phase of this project, we are one giant step closer to realizing a dream nearly a century in the making.”
Hochul said federal funding to the project was resumed in April, and that MTA has awarded the next major contract to construct the final tunnel section of this phase of the project – from 105 Street to 110 Street, including the future 106 St. Station, using a “cut and cover” approach. MTA said it is applying lessons learned during Phase 1 of the project to deliver more than $1 billion in savings.
Hochul and the MTA said they are already scoping and designing a potential next phase of the Q train westward across 125th St to Broadway with three new stations and more than 160,000 daily riders. This year’s FY27 state budget secured $25 million to conduct preliminary engineering and design of a tunnel extension and approval of an efficient environmental review process, the governor’s office said. If the project is advanced, work on the tunnel could continue seamlessly using much of the same equipment from phase 2, saving time and money.
“The new MTA is delivering on the longstanding promise to bring subway service to the East Harlem community,” Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction & Development, said. “By applying lessons learned from Phase 1, we’re delivering this project better, faster, and cheaper—with more than $1 billion in savings to date.”