Subway project to create 70,000 jobs.

The $17billion Second Ave. Subway project--estimated to take 17 years to build--could create 70,000 construction jobs and the capacity for an additional 86,000 jobs after construction.

The much anticipated subway could also generate more than $14 billion for the City with each year of its construction, said several state officials earlier in the week.

The findings of an economic report conducted by the Regional Plan Association suggest that Second Avenue subway project could generate more than $14.4 billion in annual Gross City Product (a measure of all the goods and services produced in the city), $7 billion in additional wages, and $1.26 billion in economic activity per year in the city.

The report was announced by Second Avenue Subway supporters, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Representatives Carolyn Maloney and Charles Rangel, Manhattan Borough President C. Virginia Fields, and Robert Yaro, President of the Regional Plan Association.

"New York State is very committed to this project and I consider it my highest priority," said Speaker Silver, who has already raised $1 billion for the project. "It is important that we capitalize on this commitment and not let this opportunity to improve our transportation system get away."

Supporters of the project stressed that the benefits of the station, such as easing crowds on the Lexington line, and easier access to the Lower East Side, Chinatown and the Financial District, were well worth the wait and the price tag.

The group also mentioned that a new subway would improve city's air quality by reducing car and bus travel and also reduce traffic.

The House of Representatives recently approved $2 million for the Second Avenue subway for Fiscal Year 2004, and Congress appropriated $2 million for the Second Avenue subway in FY03, $2 million in FY02, and $3 million the year prior.

This is almost double what had been marked in a five year federal transportation bill by Congress in 1999. Fields also allocated $1 million in funds for the project.

The Second Avenue subway would be New York's first new subway line built in 60 years. It would relieve massive congestion on the most overcrowded subway line in the nation--the 4, 5,6 trains on Manhattan's East Side.

It would also alleviate sharp increases in commuter traffic on the 4,5,6 lines that are expected to result from the connection of the Long Island Railroad to Grand Central Station, a project know as East Side Access. When completed the full length Second Avenue subway will carry 600,000 people daily.

The Second Avenue subway has been rated "Recommended" by the Federal Transit Administration.

The MTA is moving forward with environmental review and is nearing completion of preliminary design and engineering work. A Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was submitted to the FTA this fall.

In December of 2001, the MTA Board approved a $200 million contract for preliminary engineering for the full length Second Ave subway project.

This work included the design of the tunnel structures from 125th Street to lower Manhattan and the rehabilitation of the existing tunnels to conform to new tunnel construction.

The work also included the design of station envelopes, utilities, track work, mechanical systems, life safety systems, communications systems and maintenance facilities and storage yards.

Preliminary Engineering and Design and the FEIS must be approved before the MTA can ask for a Record of Decision. Construction is slated to begin in 2004.

During the 1970s, three tunnel segments were built for the Second Ave. Subway--between 99th and 105th Street (1,814 feet), between 110th and 120th Street and Bowery--Manhattan Bridge Plaza (2,556 feet), and Division Street to Canal Street (736 feet).