NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) — New York City’s transit agency is set to approve a $1 billion excavation contract as part of its Second Avenue subway expansion — but the deal might be stalled if federal funds for the project are not released.
While the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is expected to authorize the agreement on Wednesday, the transit agency won’t be able to enter the contract until it receives about $60 million of suspended funds, according to MTA officials. The operator of the city’s subways, buses and commuter rails last week sued the Trump administration for the money, which has been on hold since October as the US Department of Transportation reviews the transit agency’s contracting process.
MTA officials have warned that the $7 billion subway project is at risk of delays if it is unable to enter into the excavation contract on schedule. Getting board approval this week will allow the agency to ink the contract once the federal funding is resolved, Jamie Torres-Springer, head of construction and development at the MTA, said Monday during a committee meeting for MTA’s capital program.
“There is the unnecessary uncertainty regarding the federal government’s meeting its obligations to reimburse the MTA for funds that are expended on this project,” Torres-Springer said. “And so as we’ve noted, this may impact the timing of the award.”
The project calls for building three new subway stations that would extend the Second Avenue subway from 96th Street to 125th Street. When complete it will provide mass-transit service to East Harlem residents, who have been waiting decades for subway access in their community.
The $1 billion contract is for excavating and digging a tunnel for a new station at 106th Street. The MTA plans to award the contract to a joint venture that includes Skanska USA Civil Northeast, Walsh Construction Company II, and Traylor Bros., according to a summary of the agreement. The agency had planned to sign that contract this month, or shortly thereafter.
The Trump administration has stalled transit money for several major infrastructure projects, so it can review whether contracting awards are following a new rule that bans hiring based on race or gender.
The funding suspensions have generated two other lawsuits. The builder of a new passenger rail tunnel under the Hudson River, called Gateway, is suing the federal government to free up $15 billion. Construction work was suspended for about two weeks in February while it waited for reimbursement payments of $254 million that the federal government provided under a court order.
The Chicago Transit Authority last week sued the federal government to release billions in halted payments that will modernize and expand two of its elevated train lines.