East Harlem residents are a step closer to having subway access Wednesday after the MTA announced it was soliciting the first contract for a long-awaited continuation of the Second Avenue Subway.
The second phase of the long-delayed effort to put more subway tracks under Manhattan’s East Side will connect the eastern section of Harlem to the Q train at 96th St. and Second Ave, adding service at E. 106th, E. 116th and 125th streets.
“Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway is an investment in transit equity and a truly life changing project,” MTA chair Janno Lieber said in a statement.
“The East Harlem community has waited decades for it, and this expansion will serve over 100,000 riders daily, connecting Harlemites to jobs, education and opportunity throughout the region.”
The neighborhood has been without train service since 1940, when the now-demolished Second Ave. elevated line ceased service north of 59th St.
When completed, phase 2 will add new stations at E. 106th St. and E. 116th St., before the track turns west to link up with the existing 4, 5, 6 station at E. 125th St. and Lexington Ave.
MTA representatives will be meeting with potential Phase 2 contractors on Tuesday ahead of the start of the bidding process.
The MTA released renderings of the proposed addition to the 125th street station Wednesday, showing a spacious glass steel entrance proposed for the new Q train tracks.
In a statement, an agency spokesperson said the new stations will have “space for possible ground-floor retail and community uses.”
The MTA is still negotiating to acquire some property needed for station access and construction, the agency said in a statement.
Wednesday’s contract is expected to be awarded in the fall, with work beginning before the end of the year.
The Second Ave. Subway — which was first proposed in 1920, begun in the 1970s, and abandoned soon after amid a city fiscal crisis — finally opened its first phase to riders in 2017.
That part of the line, a tunnel…
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