Trump Wants To Help Finish Second Avenue Subway, Congresswoman Says

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Donald Trump wants to use his newfound presidential power to help expand the newly opened Second Avenue Subway, a spokeswoman for Rep. Carolyn Maloney told Patch.

Phases two and three of the Second Avenue Subway — which would extend subway service north into East Harlem and south down the east side of Midtown — will be considered priority projects when the Trump administration crafts its infrastructure policies, Maloney said Thursday.

Maloney said Thursday that she has spoken with members of the Trump administration who have "repeatedly assured" her that the subway project will be a priority.

"I am pleased to say that it looks as if Phases 2 and 3 of the Second Avenue Subway will be included among the Trump Administration’s top priorities for infrastructure projects. The people who have put together the list have repeatedly assured me that Phase 2 and Phase 3 for Second Avenue Subway are on the list," Maloney said.

A leaked document from Trump's transition team, first reported by McClatchy Newspapers, listed 50 infrastructure projects considered priorities by Trump's administration. The leaked information has not been confirmed by White House officials, but Maloney confirmed the Second Avenue Subway will be on the eventual list of infrastructure priorities.

Maloney said Thursday that federal funding will be needed to build off the momentum of the successful opening of the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway — which extended the Q line to 63rd, 72nd, 86th and 96th streets. The first phase of the project cost more than $4 billion and was built nearly 100 years after it was first proposed.

"So we can’t let any opportunity go by – we need to make sure that the next phases of the Second Avenue Subway move forward quickly," Maloney said Thursday. "I don’t want decades to slip by before the next phase opens."

Leaked documents implied that the Trump administration was prepared to extend about $14.2 billion in federal funding for phases 2 and 3 of the project, but Maloney's spokeswoman could not confirm exact numbers.

A spokeswoman for Maloney said that while the congresswoman is committed to working with Trump on projects like the Second Avenue Subway she is committed to opposing him when his policies aren't in line with her beliefs of the Democratic platform.

The MTA did not comment on the Trump administration's possible involvement

In December, the MTA cleared a preliminary cleared a preliminary funding hurdle when the Federal Transit Administration granted the MTA permission to enter what's called "project development" for phase two. The "project development" stage of the project can take up to two years, but during that time the MTA could receive a full funding grant agreement covering one-third of the cost of the entire construction for phase two of the Second Avenue Subway.

Photo by Metropolitan Transportation Authority via Flickr/Creative Commons