Hey MTA, The Ground Was Already Broken On Second Ave!

As an eastsider in the city, I always thought it unfair that the Westside had more subway lines than over here by the East River. All you need to do is look at an MTA map and you can see the difference. Riding the 4-5-6 is almost always packed to the brim and although every subway line can get crowded, the Lexington Local is the only line east of 6th Ave. So naturally I think that building a 2nd Ave. line is a great idea. In a perfect world it would have been done decades ago, but hey, this is New York.

There is a great blog that is covering all things related to the proposed line called Second Avenue Sagas. It is a great name because the saga of the line is quite lengthy. The entire project has an estimated cost of $17 billion dollars, but way back when the first ground-breaking ceremony was conducted, the price tag was far lower. Of course the beginning of the T line was first brought forth in September 1929 and then the Great Depression came, ending any hope of an additional Eastside line. Then it was tried again in 1951, 1968 and 1972 to no avail.

So 78 years later the project begins again, yet it is still in doubt. It seems that the project is now $800 million short with blame being passed around to all parties. Even the feds are wary about giving money to cover their part. If a miracle occurs and the expenses are covered, the first section from 96th to 63rd St. will be finished by 2013. If the MTA builds the next section to the south then I expect to have service in my neck of the woods somewhere around 2020. Of course, that would be in the perfect world scenario, so I think I'll just walk for now.