The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is now set to receive millions of dollars in delayed funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to continue construction of Second Avenue Subway Phase 2. The funding is set to be used to cover construction costs the authority has already incurred.
“We took the Trump Administration to court after they illegally froze funding for the Second Avenue Subway,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. “[T]hey backed down. The freeze is over. For East Harlem and every New Yorker who relies on our subways, release our money immediately.”
Funding for Second Avenue Phase 2 was paused alongside funding for the Hudson Tunnel Project on Oct. 1, 2025—though funding for that project resumed at the end of February.
USDOT was withholding roughly $60 million from the MTA while it reviewed the project. Overall, the project is supposed to cost $7.7 billion, with the federal government covering around $3.4 billion.
“It shouldn’t have taken seven months and a lawsuit to get here, but with the federal government’s concession today on the courthouse steps, the MTA can now confidently forge ahead with Second Avenue Subway Phase 2. The billion-dollar contract approved at our March Board meeting is being awarded and contractors are mobilizing right away,” said MTA CEO Janno Lieber. “Today’s MTA is determined to expand our network and give riders more and better service. Long-awaited transit justice for East Harlem is just the beginning.”
In a letter issued by the USDOT ahead of the oral arguments in the MTA’s lawsuit seeking to unfreeze the money, the Trump administration said a deal had been reached to free the funding. The administration said it had found “troubling” information that MTA contractors considered race and sex as part of the formal bidding process, but that the transit agency had agreed to make changes, according to Politico.
In the letter USDOT issued with the filing, it said that “in light of MTA’s agreement to take corrective actions, [US]DOT has completed its review and is resuming the processing of reimbursement requests pursuant to normal procedures.”
About the Author
Noah Kolenda
Associate Editor
Noah Kolenda is a recent graduate from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism with a master’s degree in health and science reporting. Kolenda also specialized in data journalism, harnessing the power of Open Data projects to cover green transportation in major U.S. cities. Currently, he is an associate editor for Mass Transit magazine, where he aims to fuse his skills in data reporting with his experience covering national policymaking and political money to deliver engaging, future-focused transit content.
Prior to his position with Mass Transit, Kolenda interned with multiple Washington, D.C.-based publications, where he delivered data-driven reporting on once-in-a-generation political moments, runaway corporate lobbying spending and unnoticed election records.