Is MESA a “First Phase” for a Full 2nd Ave. Subway ?
“The MTA has suggested in its public briefings that the MESA stub could be viewed as a down payment to a larger subway expansion plan. However, the MTA has never shown even a sketch plan of what that larger expansion plan would entail. Every other city that has built its subway system in stages (Metro in Washington, BART in San Francisco, MARTA in Atlanta) laid out the full network before breaking ground on the first segment. In the case of the MESA stub, the proposed first segment is likely to perform so poorly, that it will be impossible to convince the public of the need to extend it to the markets that truly need it, and may indeed be impossible to build in the first place.
