MTA opens review of a 125th Street crosstown tunnel

The MTA has started the environmental review for a possible subway tunnel under 125th Street, and it wants riders and neighbors to weigh in before any decision to keep digging.

Second Avenue Subway Phase 2, already under construction, is planned to extend the Q line north from 96th Street to a new terminus at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. The tunnel-boring machines for that work are expected to finish their run under West 125th Street, between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. The question in front of the agency is whether those machines should continue west, so a future crosstown line would not have to start the expensive boring from scratch.

Harlem World, describing the MTA announcement, said a westward tunnel could tie into stations at Lenox Avenue, St. Nicholas Avenue and Broadway, and connect with Metro-North. Reusing the Phase 2 machines, the magazine reported, could save hundreds of millions of dollars and shorten tunnel construction by more than two years. amNewYork reported the same savings case from MTA construction president Jamie Torres-Springer, who tied it to a feasibility study.

How to comment

amNewYork reported that the public comment period opened Oct. 7 and runs through Nov. 13. Both outlets list the same hearings: two virtual sessions on Thursday, Oct. 22, from noon to 2 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m., and an in-person meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 27, from 6 to 8 p.m. in the second-floor community room of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building at 163 West 125th Street.

Given the huge potential to save time and money, it would be irresponsible not to explore options to keep digging westward under 125th Street.

That is MTA chair and CEO Janno Lieber, in a statement carried by both amNewYork and Harlem World. He also said community feedback is a priority as the review begins. amNewYork reported that leaders of the 125th Street Business Improvement District and Manhattan Community Board 10 had already told Lieber they were uneasy about the agency moving ahead without them. Lieber's reply, as reported there, was that the project is early and that the environmental review is the moment for that input.

The studies and the comments are supposed to feed a draft environmental impact statement. amNewYork said that document is likely in the first quarter of next year. Harlem World put the same marker on the first quarter of 2027. Nothing in either account says the MTA has decided to build the crosstown line. The review is about whether to keep the option open while the machines are already underground.