7 Line Extension Gets One Step Closer To Completion

While the 7 Line extension will not be open to the public until 2013, the tunnel boring machines that are excavating the project completed a major hurdle today.



The second of two tunnel boring machines broke into the cavern underneath the Port Authority Bus Terminal, where it will join up with the existing 7 line.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said extending the subway line will encourage growth in the city's far West side.

"It will revitalize that area of the city with new business and residences and parks and open spaces and most importantly, particularly now, jobs," Bloomberg said. The city spent $2.1 billion dollars on the project.

The subway now ends at 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue and is being extended to go to 34th Street and 11th Avenue near the site of a 26-acre property along the city's Hudson waterfront.

Plans for the subway extension originally planned for a second subway stop at 41st St. and 10th Ave., but it was postponed because the cost of the project was getting too high. Bloomberg said he wants the state and federal governments to pay for the additional subway station.

This project was meant to help open up the Hudson Yards area and facilitate the construction and development of an expanded Javits Center and sports facility (originally meant for the Olympic bid) and it will still help expand the transit system's reach to the West Side.

My chief concern is how the city will manage the ongoing operating costs once the project is complete given the MTA's recent hikes and service cuts. It's an issue that the MTA has yet to address substantively.