One Platform at a Time Will Be Temporarily Closed to Customers as Work Progresses
MTA Calls for $12 Billion in Emergency Federal Funding to Keep Projects Like This From Being Postponed
The Canarsie-bound platform of the Livonia Av Station will be closed for customer usage from Monday, November 16, 2020 until March 2021, as MTA Construction & Development advances work to bring accessibility to more subway stations.
This work is part of the $53.9 million Livonia Av station project which includes construction of two new elevators and a new above-platform passageway. Pre-construction activities were included in the 2015-19 MTA Capital Plan with the remainder of the project allocated in the 2020-24 Capital Plan. The ADA project is currently scheduled for full completion in early 2022. The work comes at a time of a significant fiscal crisis for the MTA due to the COVID-19 pandemic – without $12 billion in emergency federal aid, many future improvement projects such as these are on hold.
“We have been able to complete seven accessible station projects in just the past few months demonstrating that we can deliver work that makes a difference for our customers - even during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Janno Lieber, President of MTA Construction & Development. “This project at Livonia Avenue is another significant opportunity to make our system more accessible, but we have more to do and, without support from Washington, our ambitious plan of making 70 additional stations fully ADA-compliant will slow to a crawl.”
“The residents of Brownsville and East New York deserve a station that meets all of their transportation needs,” said NYC Transit Interim President Sarah Feinberg. “When this project is completed, customers will have an ADA accessible station on the , as we await the necessary funding to provide a seamless connection between the and lines in Brooklyn.”
The Livonia Av project will include full vertical accessibility through the installation of two new elevators; one from the street to the Canarsie-bound platform, connecting to a new cross platform overpass, and the second from the new overpass to the Manhattan-bound platform.
The project will also rebuild two mezzanine-to-platform stairs, build two new platform-to-passageway stairs and make other improvements to architectural, structural, mechanical and electrical components. Current construction activity includes removing the platform pre-cast panels and replacing them with new ones, structural steel repairs, canopy installation, removal and installation of new windscreen panels and the installation of overpass steel.
As a result, customers traveling to Livonia Av in the Canarsie-bound direction along the line will have to travel one station further to the New Lots Av station and take a Manhattan-bound train one stop back to the Livonia Av station. Similarly, customers boarding at Livonia Av for New Lots Av, E 105 St, and Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway will have to take a Manhattan-bound train one stop to the Sutter Av station to take a Canarsie-bound train.
After this Canarsie-bound bypass is completed, the next phase will be a Manhattan-bound bypass of the Livonia Av station, which will require customers to take a Manhattan-bound train to the Sutter Av station and ride back one stop in order to access Livonia Av. This phase is currently scheduled to begin between in March 2021 and be completed in June 2021.
The Livonia Av project has been designed and awarded in combination with a companion ADA accessibility project at the Junius St station as well as a permanent connector linking the two elevated stations, which are less than 1,000 feet apart, under a single facility.
Currently, customers have been using the free MetroCard-activated transfer during the ongoing construction on the line.
The MTA has completed seven ADA station upgrade projects during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information about accessible stations across the MTA network, visit https://new.mta.info/accessibility/stations.