(Bloomberg) -- New York Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday allocated $54 million to restart work on extending New York City’s Second Avenue subway, weeks after her surprise decision to postpone a congestion pricing plan caused transit officials to halt the $7.7 billion project.
The governor directed discretionary state capital funds toward the effort, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. The money will be used to relocate utility lines along Second Avenue, part of a planned expansion to connect the 96th Street station to 125th Street and provide subway service to East Harlem residents.
“When I announced the pause on implementing congestion pricing, I directed my team to think creatively about how to keep these generational investments moving forward,” Hochul said in a statement. “Now, we are committing the funds needed to continue the utility relocation contract, the first step to building this transformational project to meet the needs of everyday New Yorkers.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, operator of the city’s subway, bus and commuter train lines, stopped work on the extension after Hochul in June indefinitely paused the congestion pricing plan, citing its impact on residents and visitors.
The proposed toll on motorists driving into Manhattan’s most traffic-clogged areas would generate $1 billion a year that the MTA would borrow against to provide $15 billion to modernize its system, including the Second Avenue subway.
Restarting the work will help the MTA retain $3.4 billion of federal funds tied to the project. That money was at risk if the MTA failed to move forward with the extension plan.
“Advancing that utility work now – while congestion pricing is on pause – puts MTA in a position to keep the overall Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 project on schedule while Albany resolves how to fund the $15 billion outstanding for the MTA’s 2020-24 Capital Program,” Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
The MTA delayed $16.5 billion of infrastructure upgrades after Hochul put the tolling initiative on hold, including replacing subway signals from the 1930s, accessibility projects and purchasing electric buses.
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