Governor Kathy Hochul says she hopes construction of the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway could get under way next year. 

A concrete shell of what will be the new subway tunnel already exists below Second Avenue in East Harlem. It's a remnant of an earlier attempt at the long-in-the-making project from the 1970s.

The MTA hopes to use the shell as it extends the Second Avenue line from 96th to 125th Street, adding three new stops along the way.

Still, the 1.5 mile stretch is expected to cost $6 billion and could take 8 years to complete. The MTA expects federal grants to cover half the costs, and says it will cover the other half.

Construction of the three stops that made up the first phase of the Second Avenue Subway took nine-and-a-half years.