Right On Time? A Counterpoint

Right on Time?

Counterpoint

On January 1, 2017 countless New Yorkers celebrated the opening of the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway. The mile long project, from 72nd to 96th Streets, is a significant achievement. It connects with 63rd Street making several transit lines improve services to a critical number of riders. However, the other three phases consisting of roughly seven more miles are still in the planning stages. Given that phase one took $4.4 billion to build and roughly 14 years from planning to completion can the city afford to finish the project in a timely and affordable manner?

For years in fact, almost 100, New Yorkers have dreamed of a Second Avenue Subway. It was initially introduced by the Public Service Commission in 1920 as part of a “Proposed Comprehensive Rapid Transit System” and nine years later a formal proposal called for a line going from Houston Street to the Harlem River. The projected cost was $86 million dollars. 

The Stock Market Crash, the ensuing Great Depression and World War II put the project on hold. And, although the New York Subway System unified in 1940, and continued to grow as the nation and city climbed out of the financial crisis and the war came to a close, the Second Avenue Subway was a casualty. It was always seen as the less important line. 

As Manhattanites continually called for new discussions about the line, other boroughs also demanded subway service. There were parts of Queens, for instance, that were similarly neglected, and they made a stronger case for service. Currently, parts of the four outer boroughs still remain without adequate service. And now as Manhattan is not the city’s most populous borough, the resource and fairness questions about mass transit allocations are consistently asked.  The answer that the city clearly did not and does not have the financial resources to build the desired numbers of subways to satisfy its residents, calls the completion of the next phases of the Second Avenue into question.

From 1929, the line’s projected construction costs escalated. By 1939, it was estimated at $249 million, and in 1949, $504 million. A 1951 bond designed to help build the line was largely spent on fixing the rest of system. By 1957 about a fifth of the total remained. And the line was not built.

The 1960s saw a more robust design for the Second Avenue line, originating on Water Street in the financial district and extending to the Bronx with a connection to the Lexington Avenue subway at 63rd street. This would allow the Second Avenue riders to travel from the Bronx to Wall Street and equally give riders from Queens faster access to lower Manhattan. The first phase of the line would go from Harlem to 34th Street including Bronx and Queens connections, and the second phase would connect 34th Street to Water Street. 

As federal funds were obtained, the project was green-lighted and construction began in 1972.  It came to a crashing halt in 1975 as the city faced bankruptcy. Limited construction was completed between Chatham Street and Canal Street, 99th and 105th Streets and 110th and 120th Streets. Although officials began to discuss the line again in 2000, the goal of resuming the construction of the subway would not occur until 2002.

In 2006, after four years of environmental impact studies, the system began anew with little being salvaged from the old tunnels. The Q line, eventually to be named "T" when completed, will be built in four phases extending from Hanover Street to 125th Street.  Phase Four is from Houston Street to Hanover Street in lower Manhattan, Phase Three is from 63rd Street to Houston Street, and Phase Two is from 96th Street to 125th Street. 

Yet, in many regards this has taken ten years, with newer technology, to duplicate what was previously done in three. Cost overruns and delays have pushed the cost of completing the system into the billions!  Phase One was originally promised in early December 2016 and only round the clock work produced the nearly finished product on December 30th. In its wake, many features were eliminated from the station constructions to save funds.  (A similar pattern occurred in the recent extension of the number 7 line in 2015 where an entire stop was eliminated to save money. That line as well was months late in completing and also plagued with faulty workmanship and a leaking station.) According to the New York Times, the first phase cost $4.4 billion, and The Gothamist suggests the entire cost is now $17 billion! 

Drilling for phase two is now scheduled to begin in late 2019 or early 2020. Using that timetable it would be at least twenty to thirty years before the entire line is completed. Those against the subway have pointed out that the line will take away from other MTA projects in other parts of the city. They equally stress that dedicated bus lanes or light rail systems could be built in less time and less money. Ultimately, they feel the price of the system will be passed on to the riders!

So the benefits, while obvious, may not be worth the costs. The MTA reports the newly opened line will ease overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue line as much as 13%, and reducing travel times by ten minutes while serving 200,000 riders daily. Talk is already emerging suggesting that the project should be shortened and perhaps should end at 96th Street which eliminates phase two and its projected cost of $6 billion.

However, I have to argue that despite the costs, the entire line should be built. And, other much needed mass transit projects should also be funded and built. The Trump administration is calling for a massive infra-structure rebuild and New York City should be in the forefront of this agenda. 

Subway service should be expanded in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, and rail service should be expanded into Staten Island. In many places the light rail advocates are correct. Light Rail is a faster developing and lower cost alternative to subways, and more dedicated and faster than express bus-lines. 

Finally, I think to eliminate Phase Two of the Second Avenue Subway is short-sighted. To neglect Phase Two means ignoring 100,000 potential riders.  That is about half of those projected for Phase One.  Many of these people are people of color and poorer than the residents of Phase One, but it is these communities that truly need this line and more than 100,000 people will join this line from the 125th Street connection with the Lexington Avenue lines (4,5,6).  Los Angeles built a combination light rail and subway system to serve less than 300,000 projected riders-why should more than eight million New Yorkers and 200,000 Upper East-siders and East Harlemites receive less?

Additionally, there are other benefits from subway development.  One is more commercial and residential development.  It is obvious that real estate investment dollars will emerge from the construction of Phase Two just as they have for Phase One.  Subways mean more choices and better services.  There are several retail developments on or near Second Avenue in East Harlem that will benefit from the arrival of the subway.  All of its proposed stations should be built. Although collateral development may have dire consequences in driving many of the current residents out of these neighborhoods, all east-siders should benefit from the line and the by-products of its construction.

At the end of the day the Second Avenue Subway offers a great potential to reshaping Manhattan, and gives the city a chance to re-envision using mass transit to redesign the city for the benefit of all.