western end of the tunnel lay dormant under Second Avenue at 63rd Street for three decades. By the time that construction on the LIRR tunnel level stopped, the tunnel was built for a distance of 8600 ft. The 8,600-foot "tunnel to nowhere" was completed "largely for structural reasons - to support the subway tunnel above."

The 63rd Street subway line and LIRR tunnel were completed as far as 29th Street in Long Island City, Queens, with the subway level of the tunnel opening in 1989. The LIRR tunnel