☞ READ: Second Ave Subway Connected to 96th

The big news yesterday was that the tunneling is actually complete for the Second Avenue Subway's first phase which is now connected to East Harlem's most southern border at 96th Street. A photo released from the MTA shows the massive tunnel boring machine breaking into the wall of the Lexington Avenue 63rd Street Station and thus linking the new tunnel with an existing station further south.  Now that the first part of the tunnel is complete, all that needs to happen is laying down the tracks and getting the new stations at 96th, 86th and 72nd Street up and running.  This apparently will not be complete until December 2016 so there still is some time before the east side line will actually be functioning for commuters.  More in the New York Post: LINK