BY JACKSON CHEN | East Side elected officials are calling on the federal government to commit $2 billion in funding for the second phase of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Second Avenue Subway.
The first phase, which will bring three new stations – at 72nd, 86th, and 96th Streets – to the Upper East Side, is expected to launch around December 31. Voicing cautious optimism that the new line is, in fact, on track for that year-end opening, Congressmember Carolyn Maloney is now working to ramp up the focus on the next leg of the subway system expansion. Phase 2 would create two new stops at 106th and 116th Streets and connect the line to the existing 125th Street station for the 4, 5, and 6 lines.
“We now have contracts that are ready to go for the Harlem stage of the Second Avenue Subway for design and also for environmental contracts,” Maloney said. “So let’s get moving. The sooner you get the money, the sooner you can spend it, the sooner you can complete it.”
The East Side Democrat said she was looking for that funding to be included in the Federal Transit Administration’s New Starts grants program, her hope being that the feds will cover a third, or $2 billion, of Phase 2’s overall cost of roughly $6 billion.
Maloney was joined by Congressmember-elect Adriano Espaillat in calling for the funding, with the days dwindling until the nation has a new president.
“As President Obama leaves the administration… we need a last-quarter three-point shot to ensure that we get the Second Avenue Subway fully, fully completed,” Espaillat said. “And we need transportation equity. Harlem and East Harlem could really benefit from the extension of the Second Avenue Subway.”
Democrat Espaillat, who will soon represent the 13th congressional district long served by Charlie Rangel, said his new constituents deserve the same transportation improvements that will soon be available from 96th Street down.
“I will go to Washington to be a fighter for East Harlem, for Harlem, to ensure that people no longer have to walk 15, 20 minutes to get to the subway,” Espaillat said.
State Assemblymember Robert Rodriguez also lent his voice in support of federal funding for a project benefiting his East Harlem constituents.
“We have the highest concentration of public housing, residents that need to go to work, residents that need to have access,” Rodriguez said. “Eighty percent of the residents of our district rely on mass transit to go to doctor’s appointments, to go to work, and to deal with day-to-day life activities.”
New York State has earmarked $8.3 billion in funding over the next five years for the MTA, alongside the city’s commitment of $2.5 billion for the same timeframe. In the capital plan approved by the MTA earlier this year, $1 billion was slated for the Second Avenue Subway’s second phase.
Maloney said she hopes to see the same magnitude of economic benefits Phase 1 is expected to deliver — roughly 16,000 jobs, $842 million in wages, and $2.87 billion in overall economic activity, in her estimate – carried over to East Harlem.
“We’re really determined to bring the same benefits to the Harlem residents that the East Side residents have in economic development, in jobs, and in quality of life,” Maloney said.
