September 2011

Late last week, MTA honchos and various elected officials gathered underground at 63rd St. to celebrate the end of tunneling for Phase 1 of the Second Ave. Subway. Adi, the tunnel boring machine, broke through to the existing tube just east of Third Ave., and it seems as though there is, after seven decades of starts and stops, no turning back. There will be a part of the Second Ave. Subway sometime this decade.

Despite the accolades and photo ops, though, the subway is a long way off. The MTA has billions to spend and years of construction work ahead. It has to construct numerous auxiliary buildings and three stations, and although the MTA thinks construction will wrap in December 2016, the feds still say construction could last until 2018. That’s a long time for a two-mile extension of a preexisting subway tunnel with a $4.5 billion price tag.

The TBM then provided Carolyn Maloney, the House representative from the Upper East Side, with the perfect opportunity to unveil her third annual report card for the project. After giving the subway project a B- in 2009, she graded it a B last year. This year, it gets another B. Said Maloney:

“The MTA finished digging all the tunnels for the Second Avenue Subway this week – a huge breakthrough for the project and for our mass transit system. The MTA should be congratulated for achieving that milestone five months ahead of schedule. The project continues to score high marks on merit, given that it will serve 213,000 riders on its first day of operation; high marks on economic benefit, since it is providing 16,000 construction jobs at a time of economic hardship; and good marks on communication with the public and on construction management, as more than half the contracts for the subway have been awarded.

“However, the project continues to have a significant, negative impact on the community, with the emergence of new environmental concerns, and the MTA needs to improve its planning, adherence to budget, completion of entrances and ancillary facilities, and progress toward completion. But most of all, the MTA needs to stick to its current completion target of December 2016. Overall, we are awarding the MTA a ‘B,’ buoyed by the completion of the subway tunnels, the economic benefits of the project, and significant progress in awarding contracts.”

As it has been in past years, much of the 2011 report card is fairly obvious. Maloney still loves the project’s merit and potential long-term economic benefits. She also applauded the MTA’s completion of the tunnel boring earlier than anticipated.

Yet, other concerns remain. In grading construction management a B-, she said, “Failure to do due diligence on a contractor at 72nd street has delayed demolition of the Falk buildings; problems with environmental mitigation have sent dust clouds onto the streets near 72nd Street; and problems with engineering of an entrance at 69th Street has residents concerned about possibly experiencing damage to their heating system and other utilities.”

Furthermore, she has called upon the MTA to improve planning (B-) and mitigation of construction impact (C-). Staying on budget gets a C+ when, in reality, it should probably be graded an F. After all, the MTA once thought Phase 1 would cost around $3.8 billion. But ultimately she seems to like the project and wants the MTA to devote enough resources toward its completion:

“The MTA has an ambitious construction schedule, and it needs to put its full attention to making sure that this project is moving forward with all deliberate speed. However, without a new Chair who is committed to complete the subway and without assurance that state funding will be forthcoming, this project may never be finished. The completion date for the project has been extended significantly over the years, but there were no further delays in 2011 or 2010 – a welcome development. Future delays would make this project more difficult and costly to complete. The MTA must take all steps necessary to ensure that it does not exceed its current project completion date.

Completion of the tunnels brings great hope that early problems are being resolved and that this project will stay within its current timetable and budget. There is a lot more work to be done, but there is also a growing sense that a Second Avenue Subway may soon be a reality.

One day, someone with study the MTA’s planning process for the Second Ave. Subway. We’ll find out why it costs so much and why it’s taking so long to complete. That isn’t Maloney’s report though. Hers is an effort to get the MTA to fix its process and its relationship with the neighborhood. It’s a admirable goal but one that only gets us halfway there.

Adi breaks through at 63rd St. (Photo via Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Patrick Cashin)

On a chilly day in April of 2010 with skies grey and intermittent rain drops falling into a giant hole in the ground 70 feet below street level, MTA CEO and Chairman Jay Walder gathered with local politicians to launch Adi, the giant tunnel-boring machine that would be responsible for creating the Second Ave. Subway tubes. Yesterday morning shortly before 11:30, Adi completed her second run, and as a broke through into the preexisting station cavern at 63rd St. slightly east of Third Avenue, the MTA could celebrate a major milestone in a project that has taken 80 years and may still last at least another five.

“At street level it can be hard to notice progress sometimes, but down here you can see the Second Avenue Subway becoming a reality right before your eyes,” Walder said. “The completion of tunneling is an enormous milestone and further proof that the Second Avenue Subway is for real this time.”

Those two themes — street-level impact and progress that is “for real this time” — have dominated the coverage of the Second Ave. Subway work. In fact, on Wednesday night a few hours before the TBM finished its run, Second Ave. business owners again called upon someone, anyone to provide them with aid during the disruptive construction. “This is our 9/11,” one of them said less than tactfully during a meeting of Community Board 8.

The progress for real though is what officials came to celebrate yesterday. The Second Ave. Subway has come to stand for the city’s inability to see big projects through, and the jury is in fact still out on this one. Originally planned for construction during the 1930s, SAS ran into the Great Depression, a World War, the rise of the automobile and an economic slump in the 1970s. Along the way, politicians such as Sheldon Silver tried to kill the project by demanding the MTA fund it in full from one end of Manhattan to the next before starting construction, and even now, the FTA believes the MTA won’t meet its planned December 2016 revenue date.

Still, politicians were effusive in their praise. “This is a remarkable — and very welcome — milestone,” City Council Member Dan Garodnick said. “From above, it’s difficult to appreciate everything that is happening to move this project forward. But while it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, things are moving, and we can’t wait to see the first train come down the line. For straphangers on the overcrowded Lexington line and businesses in the construction zone, this is a moment to celebrate. It’s a moment that brings us closer to transit relief and to the additional infrastructure that will aid our City for many decades to come.”

Adi, the TBM, begin this journey through the east tunnel in March. The 485-ton, 450-long machine used a 22-foot diameter cutterhead to mine 7789 linear feet of rock at an average depth of 70 feet. Now that the tunnels are dug out, workers will line it with concrete as part of the permanent tunnel structure. While yesterday was a major milestone for Phase 1, though, the MTA has a long way to go. Stations must be built, ventilation shafts dug, money apportioned and future phases to consider.

Sandhogs pose in front of the Second Avenue Subway tunnel boring machine. (Photo via Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Patrick Cashin)

Ultimately, though, SAS is keeping construction workers on the job, and as the MTA looks ahead to some debt-filled years, I have to hope that the parts of the SAS we’ll see in my lifetime don’t just involve a northern extension of the Q train. One day, the T should arrive.

“This milestone is a tribute to the skilled contractors and trades people who work tirelessly every day to solve the complex engineering challenges and build the Second Avenue Subway in the most dense construction environment in the country,” Denise Richardson, managing director of the General Contractors Association of New York, said. “With this milestone, New York comes one step closer to completing a vision of the Second Avenue Subway first planned in the 1920’s. Let’s make sure we continue to have the vision and fortitude to continue to build the transportation network that is so critical to New York’s economy and basic mobility.”

For more on this milestone, check out Ben Heckscher’s post at The Launch Box. He snapped some great photographs of the event, and there’s a video as well that I’ve embedded after the jump.