New York — The transit agency responsible for New York City’s subway system filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday, accusing it of breach of contract for withholding nearly $60 million in federal funding that was supposed to help build new stations in Manhattan.
The lawsuit filed by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is the latest in a series of legal battles between the federal government and officials in New York and New Jersey over funding for transportation infrastructure projects in the region — including Reconstruction project For Penn Station in New York, A New railway tunnel Between the two states and New York First in the nation Congestion fees on drivers entering the busiest part of Manhattan.
The latest lawsuit, filed in the Court of Federal Claims in Washington, said that since the government announced last year it had suspended funding for a project to extend the incubation period. Second Avenue Subway Linethe U.S. Department of Transportation has withheld more than $58.6 million — “with more to come soon.”
The lawsuit says the project is supposed to cost $7.7 billion, with the federal government paying about $3.4 billion of that. Without federal money, the state agency was forced to divert money from elsewhere, but if the suspension persists, the work will eventually cease, the suit says.
Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul said the situation put “the entire project in jeopardy.”
“Once again, New York has had to sue the Trump administration to prevent it from intermittently halting billions of dollars in previously committed infrastructure funding,” she said in a statement.
In response to the lawsuit, the Federal Department of Transportation said it is “committed to ensuring that hardworking taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly. We are examining all legal avenues.”
Republican administration Announced in October Suspended $18 billion in funding for the subway extension as well as a new tunnel under the Hudson River, citing the government shutdown and administration concerns that the funding was being spent unconstitutionally based on principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
A federal judge in February ordered the administration to refinance the tunnel.
The first section of the long-planned Second Avenue line Opened in 2017 With new stations on the Upper East Side. The new project will add three stations to extend the line into East Harlem