MTA New York City Transit today announced that a project to bring full accessibility to the Greenpoint Av  station will begin this summer, the second Brooklyn subway station in as many months to begin a major elevator installation project as NYC Transit works to improve accessibility for subway customers.

“We are deeply committed to expanding accessibility for our customers, and the Fast Forward Plan if fully funded will mean that after five years, no one will ever be more than two stations away from a fully accessible subway station,” said MTA New York City Transit President Andy Byford.  “In the meantime, we’re expanding accessibility where funding allows and I’m pleased to announce work to install elevators at two stations in Brooklyn in as many months.”

The Greenpoint Av  elevator project will install three new elevators and update station infrastructure such as stairs, handrails, turnstiles, powered gates and Braille signage. An elevator will link the southern end of the station mezzanine to the sidewalk on the east side of Manhattan Avenue between Greenpoint Avenue and Kent Street. Two other elevators will provide access to the northbound and southbound platforms, respectively, from the station mezzanine. In addition, the station agent booth will be modified to a wheelchair user-friendly height and new sidewalk pedestrian ramps will be installed.

Construction is expected to begin by early September and take 28 months. More than 9,400 weekday customers use the station, which will remain open to service during the work, though short-term outages such as one-way station bypasses are expected to accommodate work that requires platform or track access. Announcements, signage and outreach to the affected communities and local elected officials detailing those service changes will be posted and disseminated ahead of each service change as they are scheduled.

The MTA has invested nearly $5 billion to make subway stations accessible, including $1.4 billion in the 2015-19 MTA capital program for adding accessibility to 20 stations. The 2015-19 capital program includes $479 million to replace 42 existing elevators and 27 escalators. Future capital programs will include funding for additional stations. Work on an accessibility project to add two new elevators and other Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) features at the 86 St  station in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, began in June.

In May 2018, New York City Transit President Byford unveiled the Fast Forward plan to establish a roadmap for the modernization of the subway and bus networks. It proposes to add, in the span of five years, enough new elevators to ensure that all subway riders will not be more than two stops away from an accessible station.  The plan proposes making more than 180 subway stations ADA accessible over course of 10 years. In June, Byford appointed the agency’s first systemwide accessibility adviser, Alex Elegudin, to implement accessibility initiatives outlined in the plan.

The $23.4 million contract for the Greenpoint Av  elevator project was awarded to Paul J. Scariano Inc.