MTA threatens to sue Trump over stalled Second Avenue Subway funds
Credit: Marc A. Hermann / MTA on Flickr
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says it will sue the federal government unless funding for the Second Avenue Subway expansion resumes within a week. The MTA on Wednesday sent a letter to President Donald Trump’s administration, warning that the agency will pursue legal action unless the federal government restores more than $58 million owed for the project by March 6, citing concerns that further delays could stall the long-planned expansion. Funding for the Second Avenue Subway was halted during the October government shutdown, along with funding for the Gateway project.
Construction on the $7.77 billion second phase of the project has only recently begun. Slated for completion in 2032, the project extends the Q train from 96th Street to 125th Street in East Harlem, delivering long-awaited subway service to a historically transit-deprived area.
The project, which received a $2 billion tunnel-boring contract in August, the largest in MTA history, will add three fully accessible Q train stations at 106th Street, 116th Street, and 125th Street. Tunneling is expected to begin in 2027, as 6sqft previously reported.
In 2023, the federal Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) approved a $3.4 million grant for the extension, covering about half of its estimated $7.7 billion cost, as reported by Gothamist.
Funds for the project were initially frozen as part of an effort to pressure New York Democrats to agree to end the last government shutdown. In September, however, the U.S. DOT told the MTA that the money had been suspended due to a review of the agency’s race- and sex-based contracting requirements, according to the New York Times.
The Gateway project, another major transit initiative connecting New York and New Jersey, has also drawn the ire of the Trump administration. Funding ceased in October, prompting the two states to sue the federal government earlier this month to recover the money. Following an appeal by the administration, a judge allowed the funding freeze to continue temporarily until February 12.
Last week, Trump released funding for the project, with the White House paying a total of $235 million over three installments, including $205 million the federal government owed to Gateway and $30 million in reimbursements from work completed in January.
The Gateway Development Commission (GDC) announced construction resumed at the site this week, but said two major procurements remain on hold until the GDC “regains access to all $15 billion in federal grants and loans.”
Jamie Torres-Springer, president of construction and development at the MTA, said the agency complied with the administration’s demands but encountered the same result.
“We were asked to comply with certain changes to the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program within the scope of this contract. We complied immediately. We submitted a plan and a schedule immediately for doing that to the apparent satisfaction of the federal agencies we interact with,” Torres-Springer said.
According to Lieber, federal authorities have blocked the MTA from accessing the online portal it uses to file reimbursement claims with the U.S. DOT. The agency plans to award the excavation contract for the planned 106th Street station, but the funding dispute could jeopardize those plans.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Lieber said the MTA couldn’t “chance” further delays to the already long-stalled project or let the situation “drag on and on.”
“The project is on time and on budget, moving forward with getting the tunnel boring machine in the ground and the utilities out of the way, and there’s an excavation contract that needs to get awarded,” he said. “We can’t chance that impact to the project’s schedule and budget by letting the federal situation drag on and on.”
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