Jabin Botsford/The New York Times A milestone in the construction of the Second Avenue Subway.Updated 6:52 a.m. | The builders of the Second Avenue Subway - that nearly century-old pipe dream on Manhattan’s East Side - would like to offer some good news:
For the first time in the project’s modern history, a shipment of rails is arriving.
For now, they are being deposited in a cavern at East 96th Street.
But the rails will eventually be placed on the first segment of the project, which runs from 96th Street to 63rd Street.
It is to be finished in late 2016.
There is no firm timeline for completion of the full line, which transit officials hope to extend from Harlem to the Financial District.
The Second Avenue Subway represents the first major expansion of the system in over 50 years.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has sought in recent years to improve relations with Upper East residents most affected by construction.
The authority said it would post regular online updates on air quality in the area.
In July, it opened an information center near East 84th Street, seeking to better explain what Adam Lisberg, the authority’s chief spokesman, called the “inherently disruptive†construction work.
Here’s what else you need to know for Wednesday.
THIS JUST IN
The New Haven Line on Metro-North is suspended temporarily from Stamford to Grand Central Terminal because of a power issue.
WEATHER
Sunny and mild, with a high of 74 degrees. Outdoor lunch time.
OTHER TRANSIT & TRAFFIC
- Mass Transit: Subways are fine. Click for latest M.T.A. status.
- Roads: No major delays. Click for traffic map or radio report on the 1s.
Another day of street closings for the United Nations General Assembly. Here’s the list. Or follow @GridlockSam on Twitter.
Alternate-side parking is in effect today, though not Thursday or Friday.
COMING UP TODAY
- Bill de Blasio, the Democratic mayoral candidate, is endorsed by the firefighters’ union.
- Today is your last chance to see James Turrell’s exhibition, which reconfigures the Guggenheim with natural and artificial light. [$22, 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m.]
- The rapper Big Freedia, who was twerking long before Miley Cyrus, wants to set a world record for most people twerking simultaneously. Herald Square at noon.
- The New York Red Bulls lead a youth soccer clinic in Central Park. [R.S.V.P. required, 4 p.m.]
- The Esperanza Azteca Youth Orchestra of Mexico has its first performance in the United States, at St. Peter’s Church in Midtown. [Free, 6 p.m.]
- The Harriman Institute at Columbia University sponsors a discussion on Russian politics and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. [Free, 6 p.m.]
- For more events, see The New York Times’s Arts & Entertainment guide.
IN THE NEWS
- His name is President Obama and he endorses that de Blasio family Afro. Mr. de Blasio and Joseph J. Lhota, the Republican candidate, also agreed to three debates. [New York Times]
- After losing in the Democratic primary, the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, will not try to win the general election on the Republican line after all. [Politicker NY]
- The Bronx and Brooklyn had the two highest unemployment rates by county in the state last month. [Politics on the Hudson]
- Mariano Rivera bobblehead night at Yankee Stadium had everything. Except, for awhile, Mariano Rivera bobbleheads. [New York Daily News]
- One-third of this year’s MacArthur geniuses live in New York City, fueling more than eight million local superiority complexes. [New York Times]
- More than 4,500 cabdrivers have more than six violation points on their licenses, but were not discovered due to a computer glitch. [Associated Press]
- The M.T.A. was not amused that Aflac, the insurance company, put a duck in a subway station. [The Village Voice]
- A Greenpoint restaurant is serving some of its meals in silence. [The Brooklyn Paper]
AND FINALLY…
A little more subway news:
The M.T.A. announced the winners of an app competition this week.
The grand prize, and $20,000, went to Citymapper, which uses real-time information on subways, buses and bikes to improve travel guides.
Other honorees included SubCulture.FM, which connects riders with subway musicians, and AccessWay, which helps visually-impaired riders navigate stations using sensors and audio messages.
And if you want a countdown clock in your pocket - at least on most numbered lines - there is already an app for that.
Joseph Burgess and Sam Roberts contributed reporting.
New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till about noon.
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