NYC Second Avenue Subway marks milestone
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefThe New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced Tuesday that a tunnel boring machine (TBM) has mined 7,162 feet to complete excavation of the West Tunnel for Phase I of the Second Avenue Subway.
The 485-ton, 450-foot-long machine began mining in May 2010 from 92nd Street. It will now be disassembled and pulled back to 92nd Street to start a run this spring to mine the east tunnel. The subway line is on schedule to be completed by December 2016.
“Construction of this much-needed subway continues to move forward and this week marks another major accomplishment to transform New York as we know it,” said MTA Capital Construction President Michael Horodniceanu. “These are tangible results that will not only expand our capacity but will also bring new economic activity and growth to Manhattan’s Upper East Side and points beyond.”
MTA expects that Phase I of the new subway will serve more than 200,000 passengers a day, “reducing overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue Line and restoring a transit link to a neighborhood that lost the Second Avenue Elevated in 1940.”
The line is being built in phases, with Phase I of the Second Avenue Subway providing service from 96th Street to 63rd Street as an extension of the Q train, with three new ADA-accessible stations along Second Avenue at 96th, 86th, and 72nd Streets, and new entrances to the existing Lexington Ave./63rd Street Station at 63rd Street and Third Avenue.
Further phases of the project will extend the line from 125th Street in Harlem to Hanover Square in the Financial District. The configuration of the tracks will allow fo rpossible future extensions into Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.
