A crucial contract for the second phase of the Second Ave. subway has been revived.
Gov. Hochul announced Tuesday that she’s earmarking $54 million in state money toward the subway extension project’s first contract — the relocation of utilities along a five-block section of Second Ave. from E. 105th St. to E. 110th St.
A spokesman for Hochul said the money will be enough to kickstart the $182 million relocation contract — which screeched to a halt last month when the governor’s surprise decision to indefinitely delay congestion pricing threw the MTA’s capital funding into disarray.
“I have been committed to the Second Avenue Subway since the day I took office, and we will deliver this project for the people of East Harlem and the millions of riders who will use it every day,” Hochul said in a statement.
“When I announced the pause on implementing congestion pricing, I directed my team to think creatively about how to keep these generational investments moving forward,” her statement continued. “Now, we are committing the funds needed to continue the utility relocation contract, the first step to building this transformational project to meet the needs of everyday New Yorkers.”
The utility relocation work, awarded to Queens-based firm C.A.C. Industries and announced early this year, is necessary before another set of workers — under a yet-to-be awarded contract — can dig a new station at E. 106th St., and connect it to both to the existing tracks at E. 105th St. and an abandoned ’70s-era tunnel running from E. 110th St. to E. 120th St.
From there, and under another contract, a tunnel boring machine is expected to dig north, west, and down, connecting the spur of the Q train to the Nos. 4, 5 and 6 train station at E. 125th St. and Lexington Ave.
In all, the project is expected to cost $7.7 billion, $3.4 billion of which have been promised to the project by the feds.
But Hochul’s decision to pause congestion pricing — revenue from which had been expected to secure $15 billion in MTA bonds — has complicated that as well.
In an effort to maintain funding for necessary repair and replacement work, MTA announced last month that it would be reallocating $3 billion in funds away from the Second Ave. project, a move that could endanger $2 billion in federal grants that the MTA is supposed to match.
Federal transportation officials, MTA officials, and the Hochul administration have all said they are negotiating to keep that $2 billion on the table — a task that could be made easier if initial work like utility relocation is kept on schedule while the MTA works to plug the holes in its capital budget.
“We are grateful the governor was able to identify new funds to advance the utility relocation project along Second Avenue without impacting funding available for state-of-good-repair investments,” MTA chairman Janno Lieber said Tuesday in a statement.
“Advancing that utility work now – while congestion pricing is on pause – puts MTA in a position to keep the overall Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 project on schedule while Albany resolves how to fund the $15 billion outstanding for the MTA’s 2020-24 capital program,” he added.
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