Milestones in the Building of the Second Avenue Subway
Milestones in the Building of the Second Avenue Subway
A Second Avenue subway has long been needed in Manhattan. It just took awhile to make it happen. Over nearly a century, the project has advanced in fits and starts. On Sunday, the first segment finally opened to the public, with three new stations on the Upper East Side.
1920
Building a subway along Second Avenue is recommended by an official in New York City named Daniel L. Turner as part of an ambitious plan to expand the city’s transit system.
1929
The city’s transportation board proposes a Second Avenue subway line from Houston Street to the Harlem River at a cost of $800 million, with a possible connection to the Bronx. A short time later, the stock market crashes, and the plans are shelved.
1940s
The Second Avenue elevated train line on the Upper East Side is dismantled. A new plan for a Second Avenue subway line moves forward.
1950s
A bond issued is approved to spend $500 million on the subway, but the funds are instead used to improve the existing system. The Third Avenue elevated line is removed.
1972
A Second Avenue groundbreaking is held at 103rd Street, and construction begins on a line that would run along most of Manhattan’s East Side. Then New York City nearly goes bankrupt, and work is halted. Three pieces of the tunnel had already been built near Canal Street, 105th Street and 120th Street.
1990s
Another push begins to build a Second Avenue line, though a smaller segment is proposed from 63rd Street to 96th Street.
2007
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reaches a funding agreement with the federal government to pay for the line. Construction begins.
2010
A 200-ton tunnel boring machine begins to dig underground at 92nd Street and Second Avenue to make way for the line. It finishes about a year later at 63rd Street and Third Avenue, having mined nearly 15,000 feet.
Jan. 1, 2017
The first section of the Second Avenue subway opens to the public.
P.C: http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/01/nyregion/second-avenue-subway-upper-east-side-manhattan.html
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