NYC Can't Afford to Build the Second Avenue Subway, and It Can't Afford Not To

In New York City history and lore, the Second Avenue subway is the Loch Ness Monster crossed with the Abominable Snowman. Politicians, transit planners, and everyone in between have witnessed this East Side subway line face countless stops and starts, lost promises and changed plans. So even as construction crews work around the clock to build a portion of this long-aborning line, many native New Yorkers (my father among them) say they won't believe in its existence until they ride the train itself.

And yet, the Second Avenue line has become a beacon for New York's future and a symbol of the numerous challenges facing a global city that must, in light of massive costs and slow build-outs, expand its transit network to stay competitive. Ask anyone who has to ride the 4, 5, or 6 trains into Manhattan south of 60th Street during a morning rush hour, and the need for a Second Avenue line becomes clear. These trains aren't just crowded, they're packed to the gills. Very often, riders standing on a subway platform in Manhattan's Upper East Side—the most densely populated neighborhood in the country—have to let multiple trains go by before they can squeeze on board.