By Philip Newman
The federal government has set aide $1.3 billion in funding for the Second Avenue subway and the East Side Access to bring the Long Island Rail Road into Grand Central Terminal as a result of bipartisan congressional support.
“I am gratified that the Second Avenue Subway and the East Side Access, the two largest mass projects under construction anywhere in this country, are receiving merit-based bipartisan support from the U.S. House of Representatives,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria), whose district covers both projects.
“I would like to thank my colleagues on both sides of the House aisle, like Tom Latham (R-Iowa) and John Olver (D-Mass.), chairman and ranking member, respectively, of the House Appropriations Committee and Transportation Subcommittee, as well as my fellow member of the New York delegation, Jerrold Nadler (D-Brooklyn) and Peter King (R-Massapequa Park) for their leadership on behalf of these important projects that will bring enormous economic benefit to our nation’s largest metro region,” Maloney said.
The Second Avenue subway, which has a completion date of 2016, must be finished in order to handle the influx of LIRR riders expected when they arrive at Grand Central. The Lexington Avenue line is already the most crowded in the city.
The appropriation of $123,384,621 for the Second Avenue subway represents the final funding of the federal government’s overall $1.3 billion in support for the project under a full funding grant agreement. Maloney said it was estimated that on the first day of the Second Avenue subway’s operation it would transport more than 200,000 riders.
The appropriations include $215 million for the East Side Access as well as a previous $197,182,000 for the Second Avenue subway announced Monday.
The full length of the Second Avenue subway will be an 8-mile, two-track line beginning at 125th street and ending at Hanover Square in Lower Manhattan. The first segment will include stops at 96th, 86th and 72nd streets. At 63rd Street, the new subway line will link onto the existing Q line tracks, providing a one-seat ride from the Upper East Side to Times Square, Wall Street and Brooklyn.
The East Side Access project is scheduled to be completed in 2019. The ambitious undertaking has already been delayed three times with the price tag rising from $6.3 billion to $8.3 billion.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at timesledgernews@cnglocal.com or phone at 718-260-4536.
