I learned a few hours ago that utilities work along Second Ave. will result in some street closures until the end of February. An official with E.E. Cruz & Tully, the joint venture working on Contract 2A of the Second Ave. Subway, sent Community Board 8 a letter this afternoon detailing the closure. From 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. every weekday until February 26, East 95th St. between 1st and 2nd Aves. will be closed to through traffic. Businesses along the street will still be able to receive deliveries, and pedestrian traffic will not be affected. As an westbound street that feeds off of an FDR Drive exit, this street closure will force more traffic onto 96th St., and it serves as another reminder that subway construction in a densely-populated city is not without its headaches.
SAS utilities work forces UES street closures
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I thought the exit was at 97th, not at 95th. But 96th is better for high volumes of through traffic anyway.
From reading the SAS project website, this street closure is so that a major sewer junction can be relocated out of the the way of the new subway.
A side benefit that I don’t think has really been mentioned about the SAS is that much of 2nd Ave. will now have new and modern utilities buried beneath the street. This will increase utility reliability for the whole neighborhood.
On too many projects that I’ve either seen or been a part of, there isn’t enough cooperation between utility companies. One will come along, tear up the street, do what they need to do and repave. Then a few weeks later, another will come along and tear everything up. Most people notice this inefficiency, but for most of these utilities, there isn’t much they can do about it or aren’t willing to try.
The SAS project has had the benefit of providing an exert an outside force that has made the utilities make upgrades all at once, thus limiting the long term disruption to the area.