MTA to sign 2nd Ave line contract
JohnnyCJohnny
By Chuck Bennett, amNewYork Staff Writer
March 12, 2007
It's almost "T" time.
On March 29, the MTA is finally expected to sign a contract for
construction of the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway, amNewYork has
learned. The new line will be known as the T line.
Elliot "Lee" Sander, the MTA's new executive director, and Chairman
Peter Kalikow will approve the $333 million contract for the first
phase of the project that critics thought would never happen.
"All of the sudden it turned from doubtful to inevitable and nobody
quite knows when it happened," Kalikow said at the last MTA board
meeting.
Almost immediately after the contract is signed, construction trailers
will start to line parts of Second Avenue in the East 90s, MTA
officials said.
The groundbreaking ceremony, along with actual digging, is scheduled
for late April or early May. The exact location has not been
determined.
"I think it will be a significant event because of the history of the
project," Sander said of the groundbreaking.
"It will be a real groundbreaking, we have the funding, we have the
contract. We are looking forward to getting it going, it will be an
historic moment for New York."
First proposed more than 80 years ago, the Second Avenue Subway was
dubbed "the most famous project never built." It will be the city's
first new subway line in 60 years.
This first phase will be a joint-venture among Skanska USA Civil,
Schiavone Construction and J.F. Shea Construction, whose bid of $333
million was almost $20 million less than the MTA predicted.
Work on this part of the T line, which is expected to finish in 2013,
will connect East 96th Street to East 63rd Street. Three new subway
stations will be built during that time. By 2020, the line should run
from 125th Street to Hanover Square in the Financial District.
A top Republican fundraiser for years, Kalikow and his behind-the-
scenes negotiations were crucial in winning federal and state funding
for the project.
An estimated 202,000 people are expected to use the T line on its
first day of operation, the MTA predicted.
"We're very excited," said Charles Carrier, a spokesman for the
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), one of the project's
leading advocates. "It will ensure we have a modern transportation
infrastructure."
The project already went through two groundbreaking ceremonies. The
first was in 1925 but work stopped in the face of the Great Depression
and World War II. In 1972, Mayor John Lindsay held his own
groundbreaking at 102nd Street. More of the tunnel was dug, but then
work had to be abandoned during the city's fiscal crisis.
The third groundbreaking ceremony will be the charm, MTA officials
said. Details are still being finalized, but one possibility is
bringing dignitaries and a ceremonial pickax to one of the unfinished
tunnels from the 1970s.
These days subway service on the East Side, where riders feel like
sardines, is at capacity.
"The Lexington Avenue line is very overburdened," said Rep. Carolyn
Maloney (D-Manhattan), who represents the East Side. "It has 1.3
million riders a day, that's more than San Francisco, Boston and
Chicago's [transit lines] combined."
Yorkville residents, however, better brace themselves for major
construction disruptions.
Two lanes of traffic on Second Avenue between 96th Street and 92rd
Street will be closed to vehicles while workers relocate utility pipes
and cables, according to Mysore Nagaraja, president of MTA Capital
Construction.
Then six to eight months later at 93rd Street, workers will dig a
massive hole to lower a tunnel boring machine 70 feet down. All the
while, trucks will be delivering supplies such as steel, timber and
cement while hauling away tons and tons of dirt and rock.
Aboveground work is authorized between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. while
tunneling will continue 24-7 below ground.
"We're making sure the impact is minimized, unfortunately I can't hide
the construction," Nagaraja said.
Timetable of the T
2007-13: Phase 1: Three new stations, 96th, 86th and 72nd streets,
with connection to Q station at 63rd Street
2014-18: Phase 2: 125th Street to 96th Street
2015-18: Phase 3: 63rd Street to Houston Street
2017-20: Phase 4: Houston Street to Hanover Square
http://www.amny.com/news/local/am-subway0312,0,2427037.story?coll=am-local-headlines
JohnnyCJohnny
JohnnyCJohnny
By Chuck Bennett, amNewYork Staff Writer
March 12, 2007
JohnnyCJohnny
JohnnyCJohnny
JohnnyCJohnny
David of Broadway
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David of Broadway
New York, NY