at a cost of $222 million. The section of the line up to Long Island City was projected to open by the end of 1985, but flooding in the tunnel caused the opening to be delayed indefinitely. The MTA's contractors concluded in February 1987 that the tunnel was structurally sound, and the federal government's contractors affirmed this finding in June 1987. Opening The station opened on October 29, 1989, along with the entire IND 63rd Street Line. The opening of the subway resulted in a steep decline in Roosevelt Island Tramway ridership. The train served the station on weekdays and the train stopped there on weekends and late nights; both services used the Sixth Avenue Line. For the first couple of months after the station opened, the JFK Express to Kennedy Airport ran on the line, but did not serve the station, until it was discontinued on April 15, 1990. The tunnel had gained notoriety as the "tunnel to nowhere" both during its planning and after its opening; the line's northern terminus at 21st Street–Queensbridge, one stop after Roosevelt Island, was not connected to any other subway station or line in Queens. The connection to the Queens Boulevard Line began construction in 1994 and was completed and opened in 2001, almost thirty years after construction of the 63rd Street Tunnel began. Thereafter, the F train was rerouted to serve the station at all times, which it still does to this day. At an April 14, 2008, news conference, Governor David Paterson announced that the MTA would power a substantial portion of the station using tidal energy generated by turbines located in the East River, which are part of the Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project. This was part of a larger MTA initiative to use sustainable energy resources within the subway system. The initiative stalled due to development problems, but was revived in October 2020. To save energy, the MTA installed variable-speed escalators at Roosevelt Island and three other subway stations in August 2008, although not all of the escalators initially functioned as intended. Station layout The station has two tracks and two side platforms. It is the fourth-deepest station in the New York City Subway at about below street level (approximately 10 stories deep) behind 34th Street–Hudson Yards, 190th Street, and 191st Street stations, also in Manhattan. Due to its depth, the station contains several features not common in the