Results tagged “2ndavenuesubway”

Not Shocking: Second Avenue Subway Will Be Delayed

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?

2008_11_lex.jpgA 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.

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.

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.

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