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The Metropolitan Transportation Authority sued the Trump administration in federal court to restore nearly $60 million in withheld federal funding for the extension of Manhattan’s Second Avenue subway line, the agency said in a complaint filed in Washington. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the Court of Federal Claims, accuses the U.S. Department of Transportation of breaching a contract by withholding money officials said was meant to help build new stations.
In the complaint, the MTA said that after the federal government announced last year it was suspending funding for the Second Avenue project, the Department of Transportation withheld more than $58.6 million—“with more to become due soon.” The agency warned that continuing the suspension would eventually force delays so severe that the work could come to a stop.
The suit says the Second Avenue extension is expected to cost $7.7 billion, with the federal government paying around $3.4 billion. It said the state agency has diverted funds from elsewhere to keep the project moving while the federal payments remain on hold.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned that the dispute put the project at risk. “Once again, New York has been forced to sue the Trump Administration to stop them from erratically shutting off billions of dollars in previously committed infrastructure funding,” Hochul said in a statement, adding that the situation has “the entire project at risk.”
The MTA also framed the dispute as part of a broader pattern of legal battles between the federal government and officials in New York and New Jersey over transportation infrastructure spending in the region. The complaint cited other cases involving projects such as a reconstruction effort at Penn Station, a new rail tunnel connecting the two states, and New York’s congestion pricing program for drivers entering Manhattan’s busiest area.
In response to the MTA lawsuit, the Department of Transportation said it is continuing to review the matter and taking steps to respond in court. The department said it is “committed to ensuring hardworking taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly” and added that it is “considering all legal avenues.”
The Trump administration announced in October a hold on $18 billion in transportation funding, including money for the Second Avenue extension and a new tunnel beneath the Hudson River. The administration said the hold was tied to a government shutdown and concerns that funding was being spent in ways it said were unconstitutional based on diversity, equity and inclusion principles.
A federal judge in February ordered the administration to restore funding for the Hudson River tunnel, according to the report. The MTA’s current filing focused on the suspended Second Avenue payments and asserted that without federal support, the project’s schedule would become increasingly jeopardized—potentially leading to a “screeching halt.”
The first section of the long-planned Second Avenue line opened in 2017 with new stations on the Upper East Side, and the latest project would add three stops to extend the line into East Harlem.