The $4.4 billion NYC Second Ave. Subway, originally conceived decades ago, finally opened three stations in an initial 2.2 mile section Jan. 1, after delays and challenges uncommon in international urban transportation history.
Work on the project, originally started and then stalled in the 70s after decades of planning, resumed in 2007 following the development of a financially secure construction plan.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) awarded a tunneling contract for the first phase of the project to the consortium of Schiavone/Shea/Skanska (S3) on March 20, 2007. This followed preliminary engineering and a final tunnel design completed by a joint venture between AECOM and Arup. Parsons Brinckerhoff served as the Construction Manager of the project. (Wikipedia)
Future extensions, according to the MTA, include:
- Service extending 8.5 miles along Manhattan’s East Side—from 125th Street in Harlem to Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan
- A connection to the 63rd Street and Broadway Lines—for direct service from East Harlem and the Upper East Side to Midtown West—via the Broadway express tracks
- 16 new stations serving communities including Harlem, the Upper East Side, East Midtown, Gramercy Park, East Village, the Lower East Side, Chinatown and Lower Manhattan
- Easy transfers to other subway lines—facilitating smoother, faster transportion between uptown and downtown, and the East Side and West Side—including to commuter rail lines
