U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg joined New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Senator Chuck Schumer, Congressman Adriano Espaillat, and MTA CEO Janno Lieber to announce the investment of more than $3 billion in an extension of the New York City subway system that will provide convenient and improved transit service to Harlem. 

The Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 extension will expand service in the northern borough.

“New York City has the most extensive public transit system in America, yet there are still transit deserts that don’t have easy access to the subway—including those communities where people are most likely to rely on public transit to get around,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “The extension of the Second Avenue Subway will make it possible for thousands of New Yorkers to get to work and school, access healthy groceries and health care, and see their loved ones—all while easing congestion on other subway lines and reducing carbon pollution.”  

FTA Sign Funding Agreement

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) signed the $3.4 billion Full Funding Grant Agreement, part of the Capital Investment Grant program that received record funding under the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The funding will help support the 1.8-mile extension of the Q line along the east side of Manhattan to 125th Street, relieving overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue Line, which transports 200,000 riders per day.

The $7.7 billion extension project is the second of four planned phases to extend the Second Avenue Subway to improve the region’s public transportation network.

The Second Avenue subway extension includes three new accessible stations, power substations, signal systems, track infrastructure, and communication systems. It will connect the northern end of the subway line – Phase 1 reached 96th Street – to the existing Lexington Avenue Line at 125th Street.

The subway extension will take place within the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City and will serve approximately 118,000 residents and 50,000 employees who commute to work in the area.

A new connection at Metro-North’s Harlem-125th Street Station is planned to improve regional access to the East Side and Lower Manhattan for commuters entering and leaving Manhattan from New York and Connecticut suburbs located north of Manhattan.