The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) unveiled three new elevators and two new staircases at the 170 St 4 subway station on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx, making the station accessible to all customers for the first time.
“Everyone at the MTA shares a commitment to create the most inclusive transit system possible,” said Janno Lieber, Acting MTA chair and CEO. “Accessibility projects will continue to be a top priority for all of us in the years ahead. We will push them to follow the example set by 170th Street, which was completed on budget and ahead of schedule.”
The station is the 14th to be made newly accessible in the past 22 months, the fastest rate of new station accessibility upgrades in MTA history.
“Hastening the speed of accessibility upgrades holds costs down and enables the MTA to perform more upgrades more quickly,” said MTA Construction and Development President Jamie Torres-Springer. “We are using every tool at our disposal to make stations accessible, including setting in motion 26 new stations for accessibility upgrades at the end of last year.”
At 170 St, crews built a new elevator that touches down at the southeast corner of 170th Street and Jerome Avenue, replacing what had been a stairway. From there, customers can ride to the mezzanine, where crews built two additional new elevators, one each between the mezzanine and the northbound and southbound platforms.
Crews also renovated two pre-existing stairways on the south side of 170th Street and built two new stairways north of 170th Street, allowing customers from the north to reach the station without having to cross the busy street for the first time.
Additional work at the 170 St station includes new lighting, repair of some platform and canopy areas to ensure ADA compliance, replacement of tactile strips, some sections of rubbing boards and installation of CCTV security cameras.
“With every new ADA station, we can attract new subway and rail users, and close the geographic gaps between accessible stations on our subway map,” said MTA Chief Accessibility Officer Quemuel Arroyo. “These new elevators will improve the experience at this station for customers with mobility disabilities, and the countless riders who travel with luggage, strollers, bicycles and more.”
An installation by artist Dina Bursztyn features a series of faceted glass windscreens and windows using the unique vantage point offered from the elevated trains and platforms.
The most recent station accessibility upgrades have come in four boroughs. In the past year, accessibility upgrades have been completed at the Avenue H Q station in Brooklyn, the 57 St N, Q, R, W Station in Manhattan, the Gun Hill Rd 5 Station in the Bronx and at Court Sq-23 St in Queens.
The 170 St station was built in 1916 by the Interboro Rapid Transit Corp.
The work on this project was performed under MTA supervision by Citnalta-TAP J.V., a joint venture of the Citnalta Construction Corp. of Bohemia, N.Y., and TAP Electric Contracting Services, Inc., of Holbrook, N.Y. The elevators were manufactured by Hydraulics-Mongrain Vertical Transport and Elevator Doors & Elevator Cabs Inc and installed by Mid-American Elevator.
