Public transit in the bustling city of New York is a very popular method of travel, but high traffic in the underground has initiated a long overdue and necessary expansion project. The Second Avenue Subway, an 8.5-mile-long route from 125th Street in Manhattan to Lower Manhattan, will reduce overcrowding and delays on the Lexington Avenue Line while improving access to transit for residents of the far East Side. The project will be completed in four phases, with Phase I providing transit service from East 96th Street to East 63rd Street, as an extension of the Q line. More than 190,000 daily riders are expected to use Phase I of the line.
The project involves tunneling; trackwork; construction of stations; vehicle procurement; and installation of signal, electrical, and other systems. Urban provided feedback during development of the scope, budget, and schedule for the project. We also offered guidance on management, construction, and quality assurance practices. Now that preliminary work is complete, we monitor current project progress.
By providing timely feedback to the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), we have helped move this project — which has been on and off the drawing board since the 1920s — into construction. Our input led to the negotiation of a $4.45 billion Full-Funding Grant Agreement (FFGA) and authorization for the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to progress through preliminary design, final design, and construction. This enormous, multi-phase project undertaking is now fully underway and in the process of expanding New York City public transit to change the way the city moves.