By Philip Newman
Since it will not be ready for regular straphangers until June 2014, the maiden trip of the No. 7 subway extension will take place this Friday so the man under whose administration it was built can take the first ride.
The trip will be on what the Metropolitan Transportation Authority calls a “dignitary train” to honor Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is leaving office Dec. 31 after 12 years , which included the building of the 1-mile-long extension from Times Square to 34th Street and 11th Avenue.
The No. 7 subway line begins in Flushing and is known as the International Express because it passes through so many different ethnic communities in Queens.
Friday’s train ride is part of Bloomberg’s legacy tour of the five boroughs
The opening of the No. 7 extension is nearing after five years of construction and a price tag of more than $2 billion paid for by the city. It was a project Bloomberg championed as a boost to the development of the Hudson Yards area development and some of the last undeveloped real estate in Manhattan.
The No. 7 extension will also serve the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which was renovated in 2006.
Original plans called for a second station at 10th Avenue and 41st Street, but they were canceled in 2007.
Reach contributing writer Philip Newman by e-mail at timesledgernews@cnglocal.com or phone at 718-260-4536.
