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| New York’s Second Avenue line’s 96th Street station. |
By Matt Villano, AFAR
It was a project nearly 90 years in the making, but New York City finally has extended its Second Avenue subway line.
The three new stations that opened this weekend provide expanded underground public transportation for Manhattan’s Upper East Side, extending the Q line about two miles to 96th Street from its former northern terminus at 63rd and Lexington. The 63rd Street station also got a makeover.
Train service to the latest stops is included with the basic $2.75 subway fare.
For New Yorkers, the new stations are a really big deal—the Upper
East Side is one of the most densely populated areas of Manhattan, and
residents in this part of the city previously had to take buses or walk
to the Lexington Avenue line. According to the city’s Metropolitan
Transit Authority (MTA), the Q line now is expected to carry 200,000
riders a day.
But the new Q stops at 72nd, 86th, and 96th streets are a boon for travelers, too—opening up another part of the city for easy and efficient exploration.
The idea of extending the Second Avenue subway certainly has been percolating for a while. According to an article in TIME, the city’s transportation board first envisioned a Second Avenue subway in 1929, but the stock market crash and the Great Depression “derailed” the plan.
Decades later, the MTA finally worked through bureaucracy to start construction in 1972, but a fiscal crisis in the city foiled the project again. (For more about that, read this.) The most recent iteration began with tunneling in 2007 and was supposed to be completed by 2013; it ran into delays when local residents raised concerns about construction noise.
It was a project nearly 90 years in the making, but New York City finally has extended its Second Avenue subway line.
The three new stations that opened this weekend provide expanded underground public transportation for Manhattan’s Upper East Side, extending the Q line about two miles to 96th Street from its former northern terminus at 63rd and Lexington. The 63rd Street station also got a makeover.
Train service to the latest stops is included with the basic $2.75 subway fare.
But the new Q stops at 72nd, 86th, and 96th streets are a boon for travelers, too—opening up another part of the city for easy and efficient exploration.
The idea of extending the Second Avenue subway certainly has been percolating for a while. According to an article in TIME, the city’s transportation board first envisioned a Second Avenue subway in 1929, but the stock market crash and the Great Depression “derailed” the plan.
Decades later, the MTA finally worked through bureaucracy to start construction in 1972, but a fiscal crisis in the city foiled the project again. (For more about that, read this.) The most recent iteration began with tunneling in 2007 and was supposed to be completed by 2013; it ran into delays when local residents raised concerns about construction noise.
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