[URBAN NOTE] "NYC subway’s Second Avenue line faces deadline to open after 45 years"

[rfmcdonald]

The Toronto Star carries Jake Pearson's Associated Press article noting how New York City's Second Avenue subway line is nearing a deadline. Will it meet it? We'll see.

New Yorkers have become accustomed to waiting on the subway. But nearly 45 years?

That’s how long it’s been since construction began on a much-needed subway line beneath the east side of Manhattan. And if history is any guide, it’s anybody’s guess whether a Dec. 31 deadline to open it will actually be met.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been pushing the end-of-the-year deadline set by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) hard in recent days, saying it’s become about more than the long-delayed Second Avenue subway — it’s about the faith people have in government.

“Nobody believes it’s going to be done on time, nobody,” the Democratic governor said in a radio interview this week. But, he added, “If we can get it done on time … if we can open that thing up at the beginning of the year, maybe people will start to say once again, “Wow. Maybe we can do something.”

The Second Avenue subway, seen as crucial to alleviating traffic on one of the world’s busiest transit systems, has been star-crossed since it was first envisioned by the city’s transportation board in 1929. Those plans were derailed by the stock market crash a few months later.