NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- The Metropolitan Transportation Authority warned the Trump administration that it will sue unless it receives about $60 million of funding for a subway extension project that’s been stalled since October.
New York City’s mass transit operator sent a letter to the federal government asking for the suspended funds in the next week, said Janno Lieber, the MTA’s chief executive officer, during the transit agency’s monthly board meeting on Wednesday. If the money is not released, it will need to file a lawsuit, he added.
“There’s an excavation contract that needs to get awarded and we can’t chance that impact to the project’s schedule and budget by letting the federal situation drag on and on,” Lieber said. “So we have sent the letter to the feds just putting them on notice that honestly, time’s up.”
The US Department of Transportation in October paused its federal reimbursements on the MTA’s Second Avenue subway extension to Harlem — along with freezing funding on a new rail tunnel underneath the Hudson River called Gateway — while it reviews whether the infrastructure projects meet a new federal rule that prohibits contracting requirements based on race or gender.
Earlier this month, involved parties including the Gateway Development Commission sued the federal government to free up money for the new rail tunnel. The legal actions worked, for now. Gateway received $235 million from the Trump administration after a federal judge ordered the money to be released.
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