7 Train Extension Won't Include 10th Ave Station

Attention passengers: The next stop on this westbound 7 train extension will not be 10th Avenue and 41st Street. Due to a sick economy, MTA officials will bypass plans for a 10th Avenue station. However, they're still going through with building a new station at 34th Street and 11th Avenue to accommodate the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. City Room reports that last fall the MTA signed a $1.14 billion contract with a company to dig a new 7 train tunnel and build the 34th Street station; a second station at 41st and 10th would have cost $450 million, and officials say the budget won't allow it. The city defended the change, explaining that "a 10th Avenue station is not necessary to drive growth there." But Andrew Albert of the NYC Transit Riders Council scoffs to NY1: "Is that the only reason we build subway stations now, to spur development? How about to serve the people that are already in a neighborhood?" The extension is expected to be finished in 2013. Please be patient.