A reader sent us a photograph of a Second Avenue Subway construction worker at 73rd Street and Second Avenue. Reader Mike G said he's "singing Sinatra with a mic and amp" and received "loud applause from the small gathering." Aww, that's a small consolation when area residents and businesses have to listen to this—not to mention deal with noxious smells and dust plumes and hazardous road conditions—racket every day: more ›

For over three years, a growing number of business owners on the Upper East Side have struggled to stay afloat while the massive 2nd Avenue subway project drives off their customers. The construction zone now covers a 22 block radius, from 90th to 68th Street, and some merchants say their revenues have dropped as much as 70 percent. They blame the dirt, the garbage, the cracked sidewalks, and the ugly chain-linked fences, among other things. "We can't get a delivery, the trucks can't go through. It's a disgrace to leave this kind of mess," one Second Avenue business owner fumed at a rally yesterday. more ›

Lest you think the presence of giant Tunnel Boring Machines is a sign that the Sisyphean Second Avenue subway project is making great progress, the Times is here to report that underground utilities, "including water pipes, gas lines, fuel tanks and electrical wires, are to blame for at least six months of delays and more than $130 million" in overruns. "What due diligence didn’t happen that we are having these cost overruns?" Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer rhetorically wants to know! The project is nearly $1 billion over the last estimate in 2007, when federal financing is secured. It's ultimately expected to cost $4.98 billion—and that's just phase one! Still, it's a small price to pay to avoid having to walk over to Lexington Avenue to catch a train. more ›

[UPDATE BELOW] It's TBM's Gone Wild over at the Second Avenue Subway project! Earlier this morning this alarming report came over the wires: "Accident | Units Operating With A Subway Boring Machine That Accidently Bored Through 2nd Avenue And Collapsed A Verizon MANHOLE. All Utilities Requested To Respond And Check For Further DAMAGE. Road Closures In EFFECT." As you may recall from our many breathless posts about tunnel boring machines, these suckers are gigantic, and the one drilling the Second Avenue subway is over 300 feet long, weighs 485 tons, and has a blade head that's 22 feet in diameter. You do not want to be in the vicinity when this bad boy goes rogue! more ›

Last week on The Rachel Maddow SHOWwas "Geek Week," which featured Maddow interviewing Nobel Prize-winning Energy Secretary Steven Chu, visiting Ground Zero, and checking out the Iwo Jima helicopter carrier (which is here for Fleet Week). On Friday, she headed to the Second Avenue Subway launch box at 96th Street, noting the many starts and stops of the future "T" line and how it's desperately needed, pointing out the crowded Lexington Avenue line carries more people than the Boston, Chicago and D.C. subways combined each day. more ›

Today was a big day for the Second Avenue Subway project: the enormous tunnel boring machine that will dig the "phase one" tunnel from 92nd to 63rd Street was switched on for the first time. (It arrived at the location last month.) We stopped by the site this morning to take some pictures of the current site and the sandhogs who are working down there. And after the jump, some video of the boring machine beginning to turn. more ›

Since it was proposed in 1929, the long-awaited Second Avenue subway line has been knocked off track by two financial crashes and one world war. Now, the massive transit project is facing another formidable adversary: residents of an Upper East Side co-op who have filed suit over the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's controversial plan to construct above-ground ventilation structures, which some say will blight the neighborhood and lower property values. more ›

Residents of the Upper East Side are wondering if their respiratory problems are connected to subway work. Our Town reports on the recent complaints, pointing to one woman who says in the past two years her asthma has gotten worse — she's blaming the Second Avenue subway construction. more ›

While most subway stations rely on sidewalk grates for fresh air, the new stops on the long-awaited Second Avenue line will be cooled with a modern ventilation system. But residents and politicians say the ventilation system, which will be housed in permanent above-ground structures, "many as large as midsize apartment buildings, rising up to nine stories tall," will turn vibrant Upper East Side blocks into "dead corners," blighting the neighborhood and lowering property values, according to the Real Deal. more ›

We're sure everyone saw this coming: According to the Daily News, "Straphangers seeking relief from the overcrowded Lexington Ave. line may have to wait until 2017 for the arrival of the MTA's cure - the Second Ave subway, sources told the Daily News Tuesday... [After an analysis] The conclusion: the official completion date for phase one of the project should be pushed from June 2015 to December 2016, with possible future delays placing the opening in the summer of 2017, the sources said." Okay, so 2017 translated from MTA time should be sometime in 2020, no? more ›

A new study put out by City Councilman Daniel Garodnick hopes to save east side trains in Manhattan from suffering the ax that is likely coming to various lines around the city. The survey of the Lexington Avenue lines at rush hour discovered "130 riders kept off of each downtown 6 train at 77th Street during morning rush, ...on two days, the number was over 400." The MTA says that with trains running every two minutes during rush hours, there isn't much more they can do. The only relief they offer up is the building of the 2nd Avenue line--scheduled to open in 2015. Garodnick also highlighted how many passengers get stranded on platforms during weekday home games at Yankee Stadium and called for more bus lines to the Bronx. The MTA thinks that burden should be alleviated by the opening of a Metro-North station near the stadium next spring. more ›

While Upper East Side residents feel it's been hell without a second subway line, some Second Avenue business owners are feeling the pinch from the MTA's construction of the long-awaited Second Avenue Subway. Yesterday, businesses asked Mayor Bloomberg to give them a hand, by boosting state legislation aimed at aiding them. more ›

Believe it or not, there was once a time when the subway was celebrated! Channel 13 just launched a video site hosting their visual vault of old shows. The below is from a program that originally aired in 1975, and in part shows the 1870 attempt at an underground transit system. The Beach Pneumatic Transit was a demonstration line secretly built by Scientific American editor Alfred Ely Beach. He constructed the 312-foot tunnel in 58 nights, unbeknownst to those above ground, and once complete it was unveiled to the masses. What they found underground wasn't just a subway, but a ballroom of sorts -- complete with grand piano. Fancy! The glory days didn't last long though, and the program's main focus is on the much less celebrated 2nd Avenue subway, a story that couldn't differ more from the small success of Beach's line. more ›