The 2nd Avenue subway will open in 20XX

Cost overruns and time extensions are part of infrastructure development. They are really common. So common, in fact, that they often seem fishy. But we don't know what is happening with the 2nd Avenue subway and East Side access (bringing the LIRR to Grand central) projects. What we do know is that:

In this case, the Second Avenue Subway was initially supposed to be $4.1 billion, with completion slated for June 2014; East Side Access was budgeted at $6.3 billion, to be finished in December 2013.

And now, after today's announcement by the MTA and Federal Transit Administration:

By these estimates, the Second Avenue Subway is now estimated to cost $4.98 billion, another $307 million beyond the numbers the M.T.A. had been working off, with completion in February 2018, up from December 2016. East Side Access is now at $8.1 billion, up $328 million, with completion in April 2018, up from September 2016. (At the same time, the M.T.A. still says that it believes it can bring the projects in below these numbers and on its schedule.)

These are really bad outcomes on both time and budget. I do love the MTA's optimism about bringing the projects in on-time and under-budget.