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Construction contracts were let about 1974 for four
sections, but the city budget crisis prevented further work. The
contracts begun were completed and so these four bits have been
completed:
- Chinatown, near the Manhattan Bridge: From the east side of the
Bowery along Division Street, to Chrystie Street. Passes in front of
Confucius Plaza (apartment tower), P.S. 124, under private property
(notice a ventilation structure aboveground), and then under Manhattan
Bridge plaza to near the north side of the plaza, ending a bit short
of the Chrystie St line. (This is a short distance, about 2 blocks
total.) The structure underpins the subway coming off of the Manhattan
Bridge (the existing "Canal Street Bridge Line" and the former
connection to the Nassau Street loop). North of here, contract
drawings indicate that the tunnel would continue to come into Grand St.
station on either side of the existing route, offering cross-platform
transfers. It is unknown whether the Chrystie Street construction
included the 2nd Avenue tunnels which would run along Chrystie
St. north and south of Grand Street for a few blocks. (See the proposed track map for the Grand
Street track connections.) South of here, the likely route would be
St. James Place, Pearl Street, Water Street to Whitehall Street
terminal; or a connection to the unused Manhattan Bridge approach from
Nassau Street (which would provde a lower Manhattan terminal without
any lower Manhattan construction).
- Second Ave, from 2nd St to 9th St, 2 tracks. Rumors about this
particular section claim alternatively that this section was filled
back in after excavation; or that it wasn't excavated at all and that
the only work actually performed was limited to utility relocation in
the area.
- Second Ave, from 99th St to 105th St, 2 tracks.
- Second Ave, from 110th St to 119th St, 2 tracks.
- In addition to those four contracts, bellmouths for the
connections at 63rd Street were incorporated into the construction of
the 63rd Street Tunnel (see the proposed track map). It is unknown
how much was actually built, but the bellmouths are clearly visible
from trains passing through the 63rd Street Tunnel.
None of these sections included the stations, which were
to be located near these segments at 96th-99th St., 105th St., and
125th St. In 2003, the MTA resumed planning and environmental
analysis for a full-length Second Avenue Subway, from 125th Street to
the Financial District in Lower Manhattan, with construction planned
to begin by the end of 2004. Presumably the 63rd St. Tunnel to 125th
Street portion would be completed first to provide some crowding
relief for the Lexington IRT services.
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