History Of The Second Avenue Subway Project

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The Second Avenue Subway became one of New York City’s longest-awaited transit projects, a line promised for generations before its first phase finally opened in 2017. From early twentieth-century planning to decades of delays, budget battles, unfinished tunnels, and renewed construction, the Second Avenue Subway tells a story that only New York could produce.

What starts in Manhattan stays in Manhattan, at least for Phase I of the Second Avenue Subway Line. The grand opening had been long-awaited for almost a century; however, in January 2017, the first stations serving the Second Avenue line finally opened for service.

In 1919, engineer Daniel Turner conducted a preliminary study to assess travel needs relative to the current transit infrastructure. Turner released his painstaking study in a paper titled “Proposed Comprehensive Rapid Transit System,” which was quite ambitious, detailing new routes throughout Manhattan and extending into Brooklyn, Queens, and even Staten Island. From this astounding survey, the newly minted Independent Subway System began to plan. Part of Turner’s plan was to eliminate the two Second Avenue above-ground lines and run a dual-track line underground. That meant lots of digging. The post-World War I boom created demand for intra-city train travel.

It was a great idea at the time; people coming home from serving in the war needed jobs, and workers were needed to dig tunnels. Revision after revision of Turner’s designs followed. One thing they could not have planned for was the sudden 1929 stock market crash, which paralyzed the city. Plans for the improved transit system, like just about all other infrastructure projects, were stalled. In 1939, despite Mayor Fiorella LaGuardia’s hope to keep the Second Avenue project in motion, it went dormant and was relabeled as a proposed rather than an active plan.

Still, the citizenry and officials were not giving up hope. Real estate was sold with the promise of this new subway line. Through the fifties and sixties, the plans were aired out and then put away. It was always, like every other project in New York, a question of money.

Photo: Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit. “Second Avenue Subway” by Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York is licensed under CC BY 2.0

By 1970, the Lexington Avenue stations were overburdened with a crush of riders. Something had to be done. It was finally time to resurrect the plans. Funds were finally allocated, 25 million dollars from the UMTA. The United States Government chipped in as well, and $254 million for the northern section of the line came from federal funds. It was supposed to be finished by 1980. Pedestrians strolling the street did not mind stepping around the covered trenches, as every New Yorker knew what this meant. The Second Avenue line had long been a gleam in their eye, and this daily disruption meant progress!

Still, digging tunnels in the 1970s was much harder than it had been years earlier when the plan was first proposed. The bottom of the structure was wetlands that had to be sealed with concrete. Then there was the problem of all the skyscrapers and apartment buildings sitting right on top. Underground plumbing and power lines all had to be carefully mapped. Railroad workers had a running joke: “I’ll meet you on the Second Avenue Subway.” For those digging these tunnels, the work, which often entailed blasting through solid rock, was difficult and dangerous. These men, who during the 1970s completed the 27 blocks of underground construction, led the lives of coal miners. All this for only three sections completed by 1975.

The first part of the new project ran from 99th to 105th Streets, and a second from 110th to 120th Streets, both lying underneath Second Avenue in East Harlem. The third ran through Chinatown from Pell to Canal Street. Yes, there were tunnels, but no access, signals, or other structures that would make them usable as subway stations. There was little air flow from street grates, and you could only access the tunnels by lifting a manhole. They became an impromptu homeless shelter.

Photo: “Second Avenue Subway: November 2013” by Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of New York is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Then there was the issue of ridership. Due to the automobile’s affordability for many New Yorkers, the number of people using the system fell by half. Developments in the suburbs were enticing families to move to the “country,” only 30 to 60 miles away, easily commutable by the Conrail Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven lines. People living in the city often opted for the above-ground bus system because, during the 1970s and early 1980s, New York subway stations were seen as unsafe. Parents were urging their children to “take a cab” rather than risk a midnight mugging. Murders, thefts, and people pushed in front of oncoming trains were all over the news. In 1984, New York vigilante Bernard Goetz was hailed as a hero by some and a villain by many others. Fear was the common denominator. Could the city, now in the midst of another recession, take the risk to finish the job? Fares were going up, but public confidence was at an all-time low.

This didn’t mean all projects were put on hold. In 1989, the 63rd Street line was extended to 21st Street–Queensbridge in Long Island City, Queens. The long-awaited connection to the Second Avenue line was still a pipe dream. Announcements were made that there would be no further action toward realizing the Second Avenue subway line project for the foreseeable future.

Just when the world relegated the Second Avenue Subway Line project to the history books, New York kept working to finish the job. In the 1990s, meeting after meeting ensued. Money to help fund the line went in and then out of Mayor Mario Cuomo’s budget. Debates continued to plague the project. Issues from land use to environmental impact, plus, of course, funding, were on the table. In 2005, however, a bond issue, passed by a slim margin, allowed the city to secure funding to match federal grants, so the project was a go. This time, things looked more hopeful. Still, it took 10 years to complete Phase I. The city had to take its time to ensure the line had everything, from the all-important working signals to air conditioning. The new part of the system runs over 8 miles from 125th Street in Harlem to Hanover Square. It officially opened on New Year’s Day, 2017, to the delight of subway commuters.

With all of the trials and tribulations, they did not scrimp on aesthetics either. As a tribute to the process, one photo included in the mural at the station shows the Second Avenue “EL,” the elevated lines that were taken down in 1942. A huge photo of a transit worker, wearing a five o’clock shadow and a somber expression, graces one wall of the new station. A tribute to the sacrifice of all whose labor played a huge part in creating this 21st-century wonder. There are also photos of today’s travelers, one in particular of a gay couple holding hands, which would have been nonexistent at the “grand opening” had the station been completed earlier. Phase II is in the works, spurred by the successful completion of this long-awaited Phase I.

This new Second Avenue Subway system is bright and airy, a whole new marvel, miles ahead of the subway systems of the past. Could Daniel Turner ever have envisioned that part of his plan would take a hundred years to accomplish? It was worth the wait for many New Yorkers.