The MTA is accepting public comments through Friday, Nov. 13, on the scope of the environmental review for a project to build an east-west subway tunnel beneath 125th Street in Manhattan. The plan would have the tunnel boring machines used on Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway keep digging westward, cutting costs and construction time.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is accepting public comments through Friday, Nov. 13, on the scope of the environmental review for the 125th Street Subway Tunnel Extension, a project to build a new east-west subway tunnel beneath 125th Street in Manhattan. Comments can be submitted through the MTA project page (mta.info/project/125-street-subway) or by mail. The MTA plans to release a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (Draft EIS) in the first quarter of 2027, taking the comments received into account.
The project is tied to Phase 2 of the Second Avenue Subway, which is currently under construction. Phase 2 will extend the Q line north from 96th Street, add three new stations and end at 125th Street and Lexington Avenue. The two large tunnel boring machines (TBMs) working on that construction will finish their digs underground on West 125th Street between Lenox Avenue and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard. The MTA's idea is to have those same machines keep digging farther west.
Once built, the tunnel would form the basis of a crosstown line with transfers at Lenox Avenue (2 and 3 lines), St. Nicholas Avenue (A, B, C and D lines) and Broadway (1 line). 125th Street is the busiest east-west bus corridor in Manhattan. The MTA said that reusing the boring machines could save hundreds of millions of dollars and shorten tunnel construction by more than two years.
This project covers only the tunnel structure. Track, signals and stations will be designed and built separately in later phases. Funding for the feasibility study was included in Gov. Kathy Hochul's fiscal year 2026 budget. Amendments to the State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA) in the same budget will allow initial tunnel design to proceed in parallel while the environmental review is under way.