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During her State of the State address earlier this week, Governor Kathy Hochul revealed her intention to back a plan to extend the much-talked about Second Avenue subway westward, along 125th Street, specifically adding three new stops at Lenox Avenue, St. Nicholas Avenue and Broadway.
The timing of her announcement was opportune as the second phase of the line's construction, which will allow the Q train to reach 125th Street in East Harlem, is just about to kick off.
"An extended Second Avenue Subway – West line would pass through East Harlem, Central Harlem and Manhattanville along the busy commercial corridor of 125th Street and would create a true east-west subway connection in Upper Manhattan," the politician said during the event.
The expansion would also connect the Q train to seven other subway lines (1, 2, 3, A, B, C and D) and over 20 bus routes, making the project an even bigger deal—as made apparent by its price tag.
According to Bloomberg, in fact, the cost of the effort is estimated to be around $7.6 billion.
As reminder, phase one kicked off back in 2017, when the Q line was afforded three additional stops after 63rd Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan: 72nd Street, 86th Street and 96th Street.
Phase two, on the other hand, is set to add 1.8 miles of route to the line—from 96th Street all the way to 125th Street in East Harlem, with stops at 106th and 116th Streets.
Although the MTA still has to evaluate the feasibility of the westward redirection, Hochul noted that performing the work now alongside phase two of the construction, as opposed to kicking things off again at a later date, would allow the transportation authority to save a lot of time, effort and money.
Considering that, according to officials, the second part of the Second Avenue subway project could take up to seven years to complete, tacking on this westward extension seems to be a no-brainer, money permitting.
Either way, we're happy to see the project moving forward.