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$1.3 Billion Granted For 2nd Avenue Subway Line

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Nov 19, 2007 7:17 pm US/Eastern

$1.3 Billion Granted For 2nd Avenue Subway Line

Phase 1 To Take 7 Years To Complete, Cost $4 Billion

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Plans for the Second Avenue subway system are underway after $1.3 billion in federal was granted to bring the long-stalled dream to life. (File)
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The federal government handed the city a gigantic Christmas gift Monday: Over $1 billion towards the new Second Avenue Subway.

Could the long-suffering project really be a go after all these years?

It was the sound of progress, even if it was almost a century late.

Along Second Avenue in the 90s, workers have begun to construct the first leg of the Second Avenue Subway System.

And area residents are already getting grumpy.

"Our building is 103 years old right here," actor Robert McIntire said. "Every time they come with the big things, our building shakes like hell."

But even the sound of complaining was music to the ears of officials who've struggled for years to get the project off the ground.

At a signing ceremony, there was a sense of relief as the federal government agreed to chip in $1.3 billion.

"We know there's a history of announcements and no history of riding subways," Gov. Eliot Spitzer said. "This time it's getting built."

The plan is to construct stops along Second Avenue at 96th, 86th and 72nd streets, and renovate a station at 63rd and Lexington Avenue.

Such progress has defied generations of governors and mayors, who have held endless ground-breakings for plans that went nowhere.

Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg joked when asked if he'll ever get to ride on the new line.

"Well, I'm 65 years old," Bloomberg said. "I have to check the actuarial tables."

Back in the 1920s, the full budget for this project was $100 million. The latest estimate: $17 billion."

Phase 1 is clearly underway. One dry cleaning store, buried behind construction, has lost some customers.

"They don't find a parking space, so that's why they cannot park here," said Leonardo Uroca of Astor Terrace Cleaner. "That's why they don't come any more."

And this is just the beginning.

The first phase of the project is expected to take seven years to complete and cost around $4 billion.

Officials have yet to find the money to extend the line down to the financial district.

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