The MTA’s next capital plan, a five-year program to be submitted to the state Legislature for funding this fall, will include $1.5 billion for the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway, extending it to East Harlem, officials said Thursday.
The first phase, consisting of Q-train stations at 96th, 86th and 72nd streets and connecting to the existing F line at Lexington Avenue/63rd Street, is scheduled for completion in ÂDecember 2016.
The second phase will include stops at 106th, 116th and 125th streets.
Most of the $1.5 billion will go toward planning, design and environmental studies, but MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast said there could be shovels in the ground as early as 2019.
The feds are expected to chip in on the second phase.
A state comptroller analysis released in July said the MTA could face a $12 billion gap in funding for planned capital improvements.
If legislators and the feds don’t step up, the MTA will have to pass along costs to riders, borrow or scale back.
The MTA also said Thursday it will add communication-based train control, a high-tech signal system, on the E, F, M, R, B and D lines as 7-line upgrade work wraps up in 2017.
The upgrade will let the lines carry more riders in the long term, but mean short-term straphanger delays.