Trump says he'll try to help complete a long-awaited New York City subway project which would revolutionize commutes

Ellen Cranley

August 24, 2019 7:20 PM

President Donald Trump resurfaced a project involving the New York City subway over the weekend that was revealed in 2017 through leaked documents to be among his administration's top priorities.

trump second ave

Trump wrote on Twitter Saturday that he was "Looking forward to helping" the city "complete the long anticipated, and partially built, Second Avenue Subway."
The Second Avenue Subway is a massive extension project that has been sluggish to progress for more than 10 years.
Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .

President Donald Trump resurfaced a project involving the New York City subway over the weekend that was revealed in 2017 through leaked documents to be among his administration's top priorities.

Trump wrote on Twitter Saturday that he was "Looking forward to helping New York City and Governor @andrewcuomo complete the long anticipated, and partially built, Second Avenue Subway."

"Would be extended to East 125th Street in Harlem," Trump added, referring to the three remaining phases of the extension project. "Long in the making, they now have the team that can get it done!"

The Second Avenue Subway is the system's first major expansion in 50 years . The drawn-out project that was first broken ground on in April 2007 and the first phase on the Upper East Side of Manhattan was completed and opened to the public on January 1, 2017.

The entire project is slated to span 8.5 miles in total, connecting 125th Street in Harlem, north of Manhattan, to Hanover Square in lower Manhattan. However, it remains unclear when the remaining three phases will be completed.

The project's sluggish progress seemed to catch Trump's eye after leaked documents obtained by two McClatchy newspapers in 2017 said the expansion's second and third phases were shortlisted for funding from the administration.

The report projected the cost of the extension that would connect Hanover Square and Harlem to be $14.2 billion , and total job creation would be around 16,000.

Trump took office amid a flurry of promises for infrastructure spending and most recently agreed to a deal with Democratic lawmakers for a $2 trillion plan that would upgrade highways, railroads, bridges, and broadband across the country.

Despite the deal, stalled and fizzled infrastructure plans have plagued the administration, and The New York Times reports that a $1 trillion infrastructure plan remains unfulfilled from comments he made on his 2016 campaign when he focused instead on the Affordable Care Act and a 2017 tax overhaul.

NOW WATCH: 7 secrets about Washington, DC landmarks you probably didn't know