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Then vs. Now Costs

Visuals in this post: Annual Ridership Hourly Rhythms Then vs. Now Costs Station Timeline
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Transit July 2026

The Express Tracks Cost $237M in Today's Dollars. Modern Projects Cost Billions Per Mile.

The 1961–67 project that finally gave West 4th Street's lower level its express service, two new tracks threaded under Sixth Avenue's local tracks and around the PATH tubes, cost $22 million, about $237 million in 2025 dollars. Second Avenue Subway Phase 1 cost roughly 20 times more per mile. The comparison echoes NYCuriosity's Interborough Express analysis: the IBX is the one modern project priced anywhere near the IND era.

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Only the Interborough Express is priced near the 1932 IND, at $393 million a mile against $374 million

Subway construction cost per mile in 2025 dollars, in chronological order. Historical costs are as reported at groundbreaking or opening, converted with the BLS Consumer Price Index; projected costs are shown as published.

  • West 4th Street's construction era
  • Modern projects (built)
  • Projected
Source: New York Times archives (1932, 1961), MTA project reporting, BLS CPI Note: East Side Access is excluded; its cost went mostly to caverns and terminal works, not route miles.

The gap is not inflation. Adjusted to the same 2025 dollars, the entire 1932 Eighth Avenue Line, roughly 12 miles with 28 stations including West 4th Street, cost about $4.5 billion: less than Second Avenue Subway Phase 1 spent on 1.8 miles and 3 stations.

The IBX is the outlier that proves the rule. At a projected $393 million per mile it is the only current project near IND-era economics, because it runs light rail on an existing freight right-of-way instead of boring new tunnel under Manhattan.

The 1961 express tracks opened in 6.6 years, faster than every modern project that has finished

Years from groundbreaking to opening. The express-track job was the hard kind of construction, new tunnel threaded through a live subway corridor, and it still beat every modern comparison.

Source: New York Times (1961), MTA project reporting Note: Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 is a projection, measured to its 2032 tunnel completion.

West 4th era projects: IND Eighth Avenue Line construction cost of $191.2 million and Sept 10, 1932 opening from the New York Times ("New Line First Unit in City-Wide System," Sept 10, 1932); the 1932 opening segment (Chambers St–207th St) was about 12 miles, with a further 2.2 miles opening in 1933. Sixth Avenue express tracks cost of $22 million and April 19, 1961 groundbreaking from the New York Times; express service began Nov 26, 1967 with the Chrystie Street Connection (a separate, larger program). The W 4th–34th St segment is about 1.5 miles (author's estimate from street geometry); its per-mile figure is approximate accordingly.

Modern projects: 7 Line Extension ($2.4B, 1.5 mi, Dec 2007–Sept 2015), Second Avenue Subway Phase 1 ($4.45B, 1.8 mi, April 2007–Jan 2017), and East Side Access ($11.1B, Sept 2007–Jan 2023) figures as compiled from MTA reporting. East Side Access appears only in the duration chart: most of its spending went to caverns, terminal, and yard construction rather than route miles, so a per-mile figure would be misleading. Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 ($7.7B including debt service, 1.5 mi, groundbreaking June 2026) and Interborough Express ($5.5B, 14 mi, opening projected early 2030s) are projections, shown in the lighter shade as published without inflation adjustment.

Inflation adjustment uses BLS CPI-U annual averages (1982–84=100): 13.7 (1932), 29.9 (1961), 237.0 (2015), 245.1 (2017), and 321.9 (2025). Historical figures are nominal costs as reported at the time, not final audited costs.

Sources: Author's analysis of New York Times archives, MTA project reporting, and BLS CPI data.