Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
MTA sues Trump administration over order to halt Second Avenue subway funding
By
Stephen Nessen
and
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Mar 17, 2026
Modified Mar 17, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
By
Stephen Nessen
and
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Mar 17, 2026
Modified Mar 17, 2026
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The MTA sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for withholding federal funding for the expansion of the Second Avenue subway into East Harlem.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Federal Court of Claims, comes five months after the president’s budget director, Russell Vought, announced the White House would stop distributing a $3.4 billion grant for the project. Vought at the time wrote on social media the funding would not flow while the feds reviewed the MTA’s practices for issuing contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses.
MTA officials have since said they’ve complied with the review, but the funding was still not released. Now, the agency argues the U.S. Department of Transportation is in breach of contract.
The agency wrote in the lawsuit that it's owed $60 million from the federal government, which "has required the MTA to divert millions of dollars away from other critical transportation projects in order to fill the gap."
The Trump administration last fall also withheld grants and loans for the Hudson River tunnel project, known as Gateway. The attorneys general of New York and New Jersey sued the feds over the funding freeze for that project, and a Manhattan federal judge ordered the federal Department of Transportation to release the money.
“Once again, New York has been forced to sue the Trump administration to stop them from erratically shutting off billions of dollars in previously committed infrastructure funding,” Gov. Kathy Hochul wrote in a statement.
The MTA in its lawsuit wrote that the Trump administration froze funding for both the Second Avenue subway and Gateway tunnel projects "in order to put political pressure on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over the October 2025 government shutdown.
"Whatever the administration’s true motivations may be, there is no question that DOT is in breach," the lawsuit states.
Work on the subway extension is well underway, with the MTA already working on utility relocations and purchasing properties that need to be moved for construction.
The project aims to build three new subway stations along the Q line, extending it from the Upper East Side into East Harlem, ending at 125th Street where the Q would connect with the 4, 5 and 6 trains. With an estimated $7.7 billion cost, it's one of the most expensive subway expansion projects ever on a per-mile basis.
MTA officials have said they can’t award new contracts for tunneling until the funding from the feds has been secured. Hochul wrote in her statement that the funding freeze “has put the entire project at risk.”
MTA officials previously said they did not file a lawsuit because the agency had enough money to continue work.
The MTA in its lawsuit requested a judge immediately order the feds to restore the funding, warning the freeze risks "creating a 'domino effect' of cascading delays and inflated costs."
U.S. Department of Transportation spokesperson Danna Almeida said the agency is "considering all legal avenues" following the lawsuit.
The department "is committed to ensuring hardworking taxpayer dollars are being spent responsibly," Almeida wrote.
MTA Chair Janno Lieber pointed out during a City Council hearing on Tuesday that East Harlem has been promised a Second Avenue subway since the 1940s. New York officials have tried and failed to bring a new subway to the neighborhood since then.
“We don’t want that work to stop because of this funding gamesmanship that’s going on in Washington,” Lieber said. “We want to keep showing New Yorkers that this is in fact a new MTA.”
Tagged
Kathy Hochul
Politics
donald trump
manhattan
transportation
Stephen Nessen
Stephen Nessen covers transportation. Since 2008 he has reported on everything from Occupy Wall Street, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, Hurricane Sandy, to Trump’s campaign for president. His transportation reporting has taken him everywhere from the MTA’s secret Rail Control Center to the gleaming subways of Seoul. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
Read more
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Central Park birders, others remember 63-year-old woman killed in park
People who said they knew her described her as an artist and a familiar presence in the Ramble.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 7:04 p.m. ET
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .