For years, the proposed 2nd Ave. subway has been the butt of New York City jokes. Frequently called “The Line that Almost Never Was,” this phantom subway line has become the poster child for New York City’s bureaucratic and fiscal difficulties for the last 80 decades.
Like Sisyphus pushing that boulder up hill, every time it seemed as though the 2nd Ave. subway was closer to reality, a financial crisis would come along and uproot everything. The boulder would roll back down hill, and New Yorkers would have to wait another few decades for some overly optimistic politicians to tackle the East Side subway line one more time.
But now we have a Mayor in place who wants to leave his mark on New York City in the 21st Century. Mike Bloomberg and his NYC2030 plan have everyone talking about building for a future. This future will, ideally, feature fewer cars but more people in a packed city. So the 2nd Ave. subway line is of vital importance for the success of his plan.
All of this is to say that we may have reached a tipping point for the 2nd Ave. subway line. As amNY’s Tracker blog noted last week, MTA officials now consider the 2nd Ave. subway as an inevitability. Gone is the doubt that has plagued this project since the days of Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt and the heyday of Robert Moses.
So why the optimism? Well, recently, the MTA purchased, for $15 million, a piece of real estate on 93rd St. that is a key piece of the subway puzzle. As Bennett noted in his blog, optimism is reigning supreme at MTA board meetings.
“All of the sudden it turned from doubtful to inevitable and nobody quite know when it happened,” Bennett quotes MTA chairman Peter Kalikow. And that is good news for straphangers indeed.
4 comments
Thanks for the update. I, too, am glad to see this Project take some serious steps forward. Since I am not such a good student of history on this subject (as you seem to be), I do have one question: Was there ever any thought or consideration given to placing a stop somewhere between 86th & 72nd Streets? A 14 Block “gap” in one of the most densely populated portions of the Upper East Side seems a little bit much, don’t you think? If there was another stop added at, say 79th Street, then this would seem to be a more evenly distributed amount of stops. Currently, there are 9 and 10 block “gaps” between stops. If there was a stop added at 79th Street, it would create 2, 7 block “gaps” as opposed to 1, 14 block “gap” as currently designed. Plus, the Population density is already there (between 86th & 72nd Streets). In addition, there is a Crosstown Bus that utilizes 79th Street and it might even facilitate a greater amount of commuters to use a 79th Street stop on the 2nd Avenue Subway. Any info or feedback you could give me on this idea would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Good question, Cro. Let me look into it and I’ll post on it soon.
I’ve noticed that the East Village won’t get any additional stations out of this — both stations in the area are being added to existing stations (L at 14th, F at Houston). Has there been any discussion of adding a station at 7th or 8th Street?
[…] announcement comes a week after Kalikow noted the inevitability of the new subway line. Construction will begin nearly immediately after the contract is signed in a few weeks, and the […]