 Construction restarted in 2007 following the development of a financially secure construction plan . The Metropolitan Transportation Authority ( MTA ) awarded a tunneling contract for the first phase of the project to the consortium of Schiavone / Shea / Skanska ( S3 ) on March 20 , 2007 . This followed preliminary engineering and a final tunnel design completed by a joint venture between AECOM and Arup . Parsons Brinckerhoff is serving as the Construction Manager of the project . A full funding grant agreement with the Federal Transit Administration for the first phase of the project was received in November 2007 . A ceremonial ground @-@ breaking for the Second Avenue Subway was held on April 12 , 2007 . The first phase of the line consists of three new stations and two miles ( 3 @.@ 2 km ) of tunnel , costing $ 4 @.@ 45 billion . The contractor prepared the initial construction site at 96th Street on April 23 , 2007 . The tunnel boring machine launch box was completed in May 2010 , and on May 14 , MTA 's contractors completed the TBM installation and turned it on . On March 28 , 2011 , S3 , having completed the west tunnel to 65th Street , began drilling for the east tunnel , which completed its run to the Lexington Avenue – 63rd Street station 's bellmouth on September 22 , 2011 . As of July 1 , 2016 , the first phase was 96 @.@ 3 % complete . 
