2nd Ave Subway Still On Track for December Opening, MTA Officials Say

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The MTA is sticking to its guns regarding the completion of the 2nd Ave subway line.

Tom Peyton, director of construction for the project, said that the construction was on-budget and on-time during a Thursday night meeting of Community Board 8's 2nd Ave Subway Task Force. Peyton said that work on phase 1 of the plan — construction of new Q train stops at 96th, 86th, and 72nd street stations and connecting the Q to the existing 63rd Street station — will be completed by October and the line will be running by December. As of July 1, 96.3 percent of the project had been completed.

As of Thursday there are only five active contracts left in the projects, most of them involving putting finishing touches on the new stations. Peyton said there's also some systems work left to do, such as pulling miles of power cables.

Even though all the work on the new stations will be completed in October, service won't run until December because the MTA needs time to test everything out and train the operators, Peyton said.

When all is said and done, Peyton listed the price tag for phase 1 of the subway line project at $4.45 billion. The additions made to the Q train line along 2nd Ave are expected to support a ridership of 200,000 people.

About 20 Upper East Sider residents attended the meeting to ask questions. Most people asked about the status of removing construction work sites near their residences.

The Community Board 8 2nd Ave Subway Task Force meets again in October.

Photos: Patch