New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has released the draft scoping document for the planned 125th Street Subway Tunnel Extension.
Second Avenue Subway Phase 2, currently under construction, will extend the Q Line from its current terminus at 96 Street with three new stations, ending at 125th Street and Lexington Ave.
Phase 2 will use two TBMs that will complete their drives under West 125th Street and the MTA says they could then be used to build the tunnel for a future crosstown subway under 125th Street.
The future extension, first identified in the MTA’s last 20-Year Needs Assessment, would improve travel across 125th Street – the busiest crosstown bus corridor in Manhattan. It would connect to seven subway lines and Metro-North and improve connections between Harlem and Manhattan’s East Side and West Sides.
MTA says reusing the two Phase 2 TBMs could save taxpayers hundreds of millions while speeding tunnel construction by more than two years.
“Given the huge potential to save time and money, it would be irresponsible not to explore options to keep digging westward under 125th Street,” said MTA chair and CEO Janno Lieber.
MTA Construction & Development president Jamie Torres-Springer said the 125th Street tunnel extension was an example of the MTA’s commitment to explore ways to deliver upgrades better, faster, and cheaper, saving time and money by reusing the TBMs.
Funding to advance the project’s feasibility study was included in Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2026 budget. It also included an amendment to the State Environmental Quality Review Act to allow early design work and engineering on the tunnel to proceed while an environmental review is under way, speeding up the project timeline.
Planning for the 125th Street tunnel extension began in 2024, when Governor Hochul and the State Legislature funded a feasibility study, which concluded the project was achievable and beneficial. The project would construct the new subway tunnel beneath West 125th Street, with subway infrastructure such as tracks, signals, and stations designed and constructed at a later stage. Environmental review is now under way to study how the proposed tunnel construction would impact the surrounding community and environment.
The scoping document released the specific topics, issues, and potential impacts that will be analysed during environmental review. The public comment period closes on November 13. The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2027.
