Last week, a group of politicians gathered on the Upper East Side to do some back-patting regarding the progress of Phase I of the Second Avenue subway. At the time of the meeting, the new subway line was roughly 960 days away from opening.
“For years, people have been asking me if they will live long enough to ride the 2nd Ave subway. Usually I’ve had to respond that it depends on your age,” State Senator Liz Krueger said, “but now I finally feel we can say with confidence, ‘Get ready: We will soon have a new subway to ride.’”
But with Phase I drawing closer and closer to completion, now is the time for the MTA to consider funding Phase II, something that it has thus far refused to set a deadline for, according to the blog Second Avenue Sags.
Phase II of the multi-step project extends the line to the north, from 96th Street to 125th Street. And although it has been project to cost roughly the same amount as Phase I, the MTA has been non-committal.
This week MTA CEO and Chairman Tom Prendgast said, “it’s too early to tell what will and won’t be included” in the next five-year plan.
Second Avenue Sags argues that the new line is an essential piece of mass transit and that: “the MTA shouldn’t wait until 2016, when everyone is celebrating the ribbon cutting for the Second Avenue Subway, to start planning for Phases II (or III or IV). The time to act is now, and politicians and agency officials should do what they can to move this behemoth forward.” [SAS] – Christopher Cameron