The 2nd Avenue Subway May be the MTA's Decades-Late Christmas Gift to NYC

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Halfway through December, with no real sign of opening the 2nd Avenue Subway, the MTA is still estimating the long-awaited project to be complete by the end of 2016.

MTA CEO Thomas Prendergast said Monday the MTA is "cautiously optimistic" that it will meet its self-imposed December deadline to launch service on the $4.45 billion Phase 1 of the 2nd Avenue Subway project, which would extend Q train service to 63rd Street, 72nd Street, 86th Street and 96th Street.

Prendergast was apparently pulling verbiage straight from the MTA Executive guidebook, as his reassurances sounded similar to statement given Friday by a "cautiously optimistic" Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

"Governor Cuomo visits the Second Avenue subway several times a week and holds weekly meetings with the MTA and its contractors. Today was another one of those visits. The Governor believes the progress is encouraging and he's cautiously optimistic about hitting the January 1 deadline," Cuomo's Chief of Staff Melissa DeRosa said Friday.

After months of sounding alarms and concerns, independent engineer Kent Haggas said that the MTA nearly doubled its efforts to complete necessary systems tests and rectify building code violations to launch service on the new line by December.

"The rate of test completions, which has been a concern of mine for several months, has increased greatly." Haggas said Monday. "And I feel its now on track to finish before the end of the year."

The MTA released a schedule of future tests, which are set to end with PA systems testing on Dec. 24. Fire alarms testing, long a concern of Haggas, is set to be complete by Dec 23. All of the systems tests were originally supposed to be complete by the end of September.

When asked what will happen if something goes wrong during one of these last-minute tests, an MTA official said that working PA systems are not a requirement for the launch of revenue service because there are currently-installed backup systems already in place.

The additions made to the Q line along 2nd Ave are expected to support a ridership of 200,000 people. There was no word Monday on Phase 2 or 3 of the project, which will extend subway service on 2nd Avenue from the Lower East Side to Harlem.

Photo by Metropolitan Transportation Authority via Flickr/Creative Commons