Overview
- The State of the State proposal funds design and preliminary engineering to extend the Q west along 125th Street to Broadway with new stops at Lenox Avenue, St. Nicholas Avenue and Broadway, connecting to seven north–south lines and serving an estimated 240,000 daily riders.
- The design funding requires legislative budget approval, and construction of the westward leg would follow completion of the East Harlem phase, with tunneling slated to start in 2027 and service projected around 2032.
- The MTA has a $2 billion tunnel-boring contract for the East Harlem work, and the agency says it is recertifying contractors to navigate a federal funding freeze tied to new DEI rules while work continues.
- Hochul committed $50 million for design of a reimagined Jamaica Station to improve circulation and connections among the LIRR, the E/J/Z subways and the JFK AirTrain at a hub that handles roughly 200,000 daily riders and has not seen a major upgrade in more than two decades.
- The plan departs from the long-envisioned southward Second Avenue buildout; prior MTA analyses pegged the 125th Street extension cost in the roughly $7.5–8.1 billion range, with projected benefits including reduced car travel, while the governor also moves to expand SCOUT teams, add platform edge barriers at 85 stations and fund $77 million for overnight NYPD patrols.