A draft rendering of the Q prepare platform deliberate for a hundred and twenty fifth Road and Lexington Avenue.
Picture courtesy of MTA
Gov. Kathy Hochul will suggest in her State of the State deal with on Tuesday extending the Second Avenue Subway west alongside a hundred and twenty fifth Road to Broadway, in line with her workplace.
Throughout Hochul’s speech, the place she is going to lay out her coverage agenda for this yr’s legislative session, she is going to announce her administration will fund design and preliminary engineering for tunneling to increase the Q prepare to the west facet. The proposed extension would add three new stops to the Q line at Lenox Avenue, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Broadway.
The governor’s plan would see tunneling for the a hundred and twenty fifth Road part of the challenge as a “follow-on” to the East Harlem extension that’s already underway.
“In New York, we are investing in our transit system like never before,” Hochul stated in an announcement. “Our efforts to extend the Second Avenue Subway will save hundreds of millions of dollars in future costs and reduce time – big wins for the 240,000 daily riders projected to benefit.”
The brand new stations will pave the way in which for extra connectivity throughout Manhattan subway traces by overlapping the Q prepare with seven north-south traces, in line with Hochul’s workplace. The challenge, as estimated by the MTA in its 20-year wants evaluation, will price $7.55 billion and join central Harlem and components of the Bronx with Manhattan’s Higher East Facet.
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Oct. 8.Susan Watts/Workplace of Governor Kathy Hochul
Hochul’s newest announcement follows the completion of a feasibility examine for the challenge, which she launched in her 2024 State of the State deal with. The examine discovered that persevering with tunnelling from the East Harlem challenge throughout a hundred and twenty fifth Road would make the challenge cheaper and time-consuming.
Beneath the $6.9 billion East Harlem extension to the Second Avenue Subway, the MTA is already tunnel-boring and constructing new stations at 106th, 116th and a hundred and twenty fifth Streets, and Lexington Avenue.
The East Harlem part of the challenge should be accomplished earlier than building on the proposed a hundred and twenty fifth Road leg can start. In September, the MTA board accredited a $2 billion tunnel boring contract for the challenge.
In October, nevertheless, President Trump’s administration froze roughly $18 billion in federal funding for infrastructure initiatives, together with the Second Avenue Subway. Federal officers claimed that the challenge was in alleged violation of latest Variety Fairness and Inclusion (DEI) guidelines, which that they had simply carried out.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber acknowledged in December that the company is working to recertify contractors concerned within the challenge to make sure they adjust to the new DEI guidelines. He additionally stated work on the challenge has continued regardless of the funding freeze.
Transit advocates celebrated the transfer forward of Hochul’s speech.
Danny Pearlstein, coverage & communications director at Riders’ Alliance, stated in an announcement that Hochul’s announcement could be “as big a deal for millions of riders” in Manhattan and the Bronx because the Interborough Specific light-rail challenge can be for riders in Brooklyn and Queens.
“Continuing the tunnel bore from 2nd Avenue is an efficient and strategic deployment of public infrastructure,” Pearlstein stated. “The governor’s plan is a continued testament to New York’s commitment to transit as a way of life.”
