The Incredible Costs of Building a New York Subway

Cost of construction is depriving New York's MTA of crucial funds.

New York Subway Tunnel
Workers are viewed in a tunnel underneath Manhattan at the Second Avenue Subway project site on January 10, 2014 in New York City. New York City's long awaited Second Avenue Subway line, which will extend the route of the Q train into the Upper East Side, has been delayed since plans were first proposed in the 1920s and 1940s. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Abnormally-high costs of construction are draining the MTA of money and diverting resources away from other pressing needs, according to a new investigation in the New York Times. The disparity in costs between New York and the rest of the world is striking: while the MTA is spending $3.5 billion on each mile of track for the new East Side Access project, the average cost per mile in the rest of the world is less than $500 million. The Times finds blame for the ballooned cost in overstaffing as stipulated by labor contracts, and overcharging by construction companies and consulting firms. The problem of high costs is urgent in New York, where overdue subway maintenance and improvements in accessibility have become urgent debates.

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