 However , the city soon experienced its most dire fiscal crisis yet , due to the stagnant economy of the early 1970s , combined with the massive outflow of city residents to the suburbs . By 1974 , New York City mayor Abraham Beame was considering reallocating $ 5 @.@ 1 billion of funding from the Second Avenue Line to the existing infrastructure , which was rapidly deteriorating and in dire need of repair . In September 1975 , Beame issued a stop @-@ work order for the line . Construction of the line was halted , and no other funding was to be allocated to the line 's construction . Besides the Chrystie Street Connection , only three sections of tunnel had been completed ; these tunnels were sealed . By 1978 , when the New York City Subway was at its lowest point in its existence , State Comptroller Arthur Levitt stated that there were no plans to finish the line . During the 1980s , plans for the Second Avenue line stagnated . Construction on the 63rd Street Lines continued ; the IND portion of the line opened in 1989 , but it did not include a connection to the Second Avenue line . Of this failure to complete construction , Gene Russianoff , an advocate for subway riders since 1981 , stated : " It 's the most famous thing that 's never been built in New York City , so everyone is skeptical and rightly so . It 's much @-@ promised and never delivered . " 
