Library, the contractor had to provide a $1 million bond. The project was expected to reduce crowding on the 42nd Street Shuttle by enabling riders to use the Queensboro Subway to directly access Times Square. 24,000 of the estimated 100,000 daily shuttle riders transferred to and from the Queensboro Subway. The line was to extend as far as Eighth Avenue to connect with the proposed IND Eighth Avenue Line. Powers-Kennedy started excavating the line westward from Grand Central in May 1922. The Flushing Line extension was to run beneath the original line from Vanderbilt to Fifth Avenue, running as little as under the original line. The tunnel also had to pass under a sewage line at Madison Avenue. The construction of the Fifth Avenue station required underpinning the New York Public Library Main Branch and extending the library's foundation downward. The subway tunnel ran below ground level. During construction, workers took precautions to avoid interrupting the flow of traffic above ground and interfering with preexisting tunnels. The contractors had completed the tunnels to Fifth Avenue by May 1923. Local civic groups advocated for the Fifth Avenue station to be used as a temporary terminal while the permanent terminus at Times Square was being completed. By the end of 1923, the Transit Commission had allocated $50,000 for the construction of a temporary crossover east of the Fifth Avenue station. The temporary terminal at Fifth Avenue was nearly complete by February 1926. The station had two entrances on the south side of 42nd Street (one next to the library and the other next to the park). A third entrance was placed within the Stern Brothers building on the north side. Stern's funded the construction of the entrance inside its building, which also included storefront windows. These entrances connected with a mezzanine above the platform. The platform was to be long, though only a section would be used initially.The Fifth Avenue station opened on March 22, 1926, extending the IRT Flushing Line one stop to the west from the line's previous terminus at Grand Central. In fall 1926, it was announced that the line would be completed by January 1, 1927. On February 8, 1927, the New York City Board of Transportation informed the New York State Transit Commission that work on the Times Square station was sufficiently completed to enable the start of train service beginning on February 19, 1927 with the