Homero Tello lives in East Harlem between 102nd and Second Avenue and to get home he has to take the bus because he has no other option.
“And look at me, I’m carrying now because there is no bus right away, the train is faster, cheaper, more efficient.“On the bus I have to wait in the sun for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, so I hope that the governor puts emphasis on this project and gets more money to carry out the project,” said Tello.
Homer is referring to the project that would extend the Q line on Second Avenue, which only goes as far as 96th Street and Second Avenue and whose work began in November 2023 and which has been in the planning stage for more than 80 years.
And although it seemed to be a reality, the work was halted due to the governor’s pause in the collection of the congestion charge for entering Manhattan from 60th Street.
With Tuesday’s announcement, the governor has indicated that the state will provide 54 million dollars to continue with the work on the extension of the Q line.
“It would help a lot of people for the same reason, as you say, because of the jobs, the different train lines that those who work on would not have to walk to the second one and it would be more convenient, especially if one train doesn’t work, the other one might work and it would help a lot to get to different places very quickly,” said Patricia Espinoza.
In her statement, the governor clarified that the pause in the collection of the congestion fee will not affect critical and important projects, and that she will review them one by one, so that they continue to be executed.
The money will be used to pay for the relocation of power lines in subway tunnels. In January of this year, the MTA had planned this work at a cost of $182 million. So the funds announced today will only cover 30%.
“The project is very good, it would help all of us on the train line a lot if it were extended, but the amount of 54 million is too little compared to the distances and the stops that it has to make,” added Tello.
The MTA has said it will take a total of $8 billion to complete the project, which would extend the Q line from 96th Street to 125th Street along Second Avenue.
“I think it would be a great help to have a Q train station here so we can travel easily to other places, go to work and the Q train makes other connections with other trains,” said Reina Cristal Singal.
MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said he was grateful to the governor for providing some of the money needed to continue the work, but that he still had to decide where the state would provide the $15 billion the agency needs in its budget.
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