[Mr Man]

It's my understanding that funding for the long-awaited Second Avenue subway has finally been secured and construction will start next year. I've also heard a handful of office and residential properties in Manhattan will be acquired and demolished by the MTA for stations and other easements, but plans are in place to sell the air rights above the new stations once construction is complete. I checked the MTA website and was unable to find any details on what exactly will be lost, or what densities would be given for the air rights?

I figured this would be the best place to ask. This is one of the largest projects in New York today but seems mostly under the radar.

[austin356]

How many billions?

[Jularc]

DIG IT! 2ND AVE. LINE IS ON TRACK


http://www.nypost.com/seven/03052007/photos/news022.jpg


By JEREMY OLSHAN Transit Reporter

March 5, 2007 -- The second groundbreaking of the Second Avenue subway is only weeks away, MTA officials say.

"It's been in the planning for the last 60 years, but it's going to happen in the next few weeks," said Mysore Nagaraja, head of MTA Capital Construction.

The first groundbreaking on the project, in the works since 1929, occurred at the corner of East 103rd Street nearly 35 years ago.

The MTA completed several sections of the tunnels, but by 1975, the city's fiscal crisis derailed the project.

All the while, the need for the project has never been in question - the East Side's Lexington Avenue line has long been crammed beyond capacity.

The new subway, which extends the Q line and creates a T line, will be completed in four phases.

Phase One will run from 96th Street down to 63rd Street, where it will connect to the Q line.

This segment, which includes stops at 86th and 72nd streets, will cost $3.8 billion and is scheduled to be completed in 2013. It will be used by an estimated 191,000 riders daily.

The MTA is about to accept the low bid for the tunneling of the first phase, and expects to sign a full funding grant agreement with the federal government shortly.

Phase Two will run from 125th Street through the vacant 1970s tunnels before connecting to 96th Street. Phase Three will run down to Houston Street, and the last leg will go all the way to Hanover Square in lower Manhattan.

Before the tunneling can start, the gas, water, sewer, electric and communications lines that run under the street will have to be either supported or moved out of the way, Nagaraja said. This should take roughly eight months.

The tunneling should take just over a year, Nagaraja said. All the while, the MTA will be monitoring the vibrations so as not to disturb those above ground.

The MTA has already spent $266 million on the design and planning of the new subway.

Longtime residents and officials on the Upper East Side say the MTA has answered many of the concerns about the construction project.

"This is a case of be careful what you wish for. We've wanted this subway for so long, but now we have to deal with some of the consequences of getting it," said David Liston, chairman of Community Board 8.


Copyright 2007 NYP Holdings, Inc.

[Jularc]

How many billions?

Just the first phase will cost $3.8 billion.

[LostInTheZone]

^because they're deep-tunneling the whole thing through solid Manhattan schist. What's with the modern aversion to cut-and-cover construction? a few years of localized inconvenience, sure, but you'd save hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs. I think the "locally preferred alternative" caveat for new start projects really tends to pander to NIMBYism and drives up the cost of new lines to the point that it's prohibitively expensive. All the prewar manhattan trunk lines are only a few feet under the street, and they weren't afraid to use els, which can be attractively designed so that they don't block light from narrow streets. Imagine a modern, single-beam elevated running down wide third avenue, through the glass canyon in midtown. No reason that couldn't work.

[STERNyc]

They should continue the 2nd avenue subway line and make it a cross town across 125th to the A and the 1 lines. Its ridiculous how there is no cross town lines above 53rd street.

[BnaBreaker]

It really is about damn time.

[Derek]

They should continue the 2nd avenue subway line and make it a cross town across 125th to the A and the 1 lines. Its ridiculous how there is no cross town lines above 53rd street.

i agree here

[VivaLFuego]

^because they're deep-tunneling the whole thing through solid Manhattan schist. What's with the modern aversion to cut-and-cover construction? a few years of localized inconvenience, sure, but you'd save hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs. I think the "locally preferred alternative" caveat for new start projects really tends to pander to NIMBYism and drives up the cost of new lines to the point that it's prohibitively expensive. All the prewar manhattan trunk lines are only a few feet under the street, and they weren't afraid to use els, which can be attractively designed so that they don't block light from narrow streets. Imagine a modern, single-beam elevated running down wide third avenue, through the glass canyon in midtown. No reason that couldn't work.

Yeah the LPA Alternative Analysis process is ridiculous, it basically rules out anything except deep bored tunnel, expressway median and rail ROW for any sort of heavy rail transit. it has ruled out any sort of elevated expansions here in Chicago, some of which the ROW already exists because there used to be an elevated line there.....but can't be rebuilt due to failing the AA....

[donybrx]

^because they're deep-tunneling the whole thing through solid Manhattan schist. What's with the modern aversion to cut-and-cover construction? a few years of localized inconvenience, sure, but you'd save hundreds of millions of dollars in construction costs. I think the "locally preferred alternative" caveat for new start projects really tends to pander to NIMBYism and drives up the cost of new lines to the point that it's prohibitively expensive.

Unless I'm mistaken the 2nd Avenue line might have been completed years ago had it not been for the insurmountable 'inconvenience' of NYC's horrendous fiscal condition of the 1970's...a time when many municipalities/ public organizations faced crippling debt if not near or actual bankruptcy......the cross town section from Queens was completed and did create a lot of havoc above ground on the Upper East side/ the East 60's, for sure, but everybody pulled through...an interesting aside is that the tunnel under the East river was begun from either side...to be joined under the river....as it turns out, the two sections of the tunnel were 'off' by a bit at their sub-river meeting point. I forget how much......inches, I believe......still pretty amazing....

Interesting to note that the line is ever more essential to accommodate the huge population increment on the Upper east Side facilitated by the construction of so many apartment towers over the last 25 years (many including typical mall style vendors drawing crowds); many of those 'newbies' whom the line might serve would be the first (and loudest) to complain about the disruption. Glad I'm out of there.....

[Mr Man]

Any streetlevel pics of 2nd Avenue. Any pics on what buildings will be destoryed?