The MTA’s Capital Program Committee voted Monday to advance a $1.1 billion construction contract for the Second Avenue Subway’s Phase 2 extension, even as the agency battles the Trump administration in federal court over nearly $60 million in withheld funding it says it needs to actually award the deal.

The contract covers excavation of a new station box at 106th Street, along with structures connecting it to existing tunnels running north and south. A joint venture between Skanska USA Civil Northeast, Walsh Construction Company, and Traylor Bros. is in line to receive the award, but MTA officials made clear Monday that no contract will be signed until the federal money comes through.

The full MTA board is expected to approve the contract Wednesday. But MTA Capital and Construction President Jamie Torres-Springer told the committee that the vote moves forward “subject, of course, to the uncertainty created by the federal government’s recent refusal to reimburse us for the project under our contractual agreement from 2023,” referring to the agency’s funding deal signed under former President Biden.

MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber framed the board action as a readiness move. “The fact that we’re being asked to approve the award is just to cut short the timing if and when we get a court decision that allows us to move forward or the administration changes its position,” he said.

Last week, the MTA filed suit against the U.S. Department of Transportation in the Federal Court of Claims, arguing the federal government breached its 2023 funding agreement by withholding reimbursements for reasons not specified in the contract. Federal money has been frozen since October. MTA attorneys are seeking an expedited ruling to force the funds’ release.

At stake is more than one contract. The full Phase 2 project carries a price tag of nearly $7 billion and would push the Q train from its current northern endpoint at 96th Street on the Upper East Side up to 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in East Harlem. Three new stations are planned, at 106th, 116th, and 125th Streets.

MTA lawyers argue in the lawsuit that the prolonged funding freeze threatens to derail the entire project. The agency says Phase 2 would serve roughly 110,000 additional daily riders once complete, bringing subway access to parts of East Harlem that have long been left off the map when it comes to rapid transit options.

That matters to people I grew up around. East Harlem sits directly above the Bronx, and the same transportation deserts that define parts of my borough define that neighborhood too. The communities waiting on these stations are not abstract riders in a spreadsheet. They are working people who spend hours on buses or transfer twice to get somewhere a train could reach in minutes.

The MTA’s decision to keep the procurement moving, even without the funds to execute it, signals the agency is betting on a court win or a policy shift from Washington. It is a calculated posture, designed to avoid losing months of contracting lead time if the legal fight breaks their way.

What remains unresolved is whether the Trump administration will contest the suit aggressively, quietly release the funds, or let the litigation drag on long enough to force real delays. The MTA’s 2023 funding agreement with the federal government was negotiated and signed during the Biden era. The current administration has offered no public explanation for why the reimbursements stopped in October.

For Phase 2, the clock has always been the enemy. The project has faced decades of delays, cost increases, and political turbulence before a single shovel breaks ground on these new stations. Another prolonged fight over federal dollars is the last thing communities in East Harlem need from a project that was already long overdue before construction on Phase 1 finished and the 96th Street station opened years ago.

The board vote Wednesday will not change that math on its own. But it keeps the MTA in position to move fast the moment a path forward opens.