Manhattan-bound and Trains to Bypass Station for Two Weeks
Manhattan-bound Service Available at Accessible Queens Plaza Station
Line Service Outage from 5:00 a.m. Monday, July 31 through 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 14
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced upcoming construction at Queensboro Plaza subway station that will require Manhattan-bound trains to bypass the station for two weeks, beginning 5:00 a.m. Monday, July 31 through 5:00 a.m. Monday, August 14. The work will consist of demolishing, removing and rebuilding the middle section of the entire Manhattan-bound platform, an area amounting to approximately 10,000 square feet of space. The new platform will be raised and leveled to align with trains and the newly constructed platform edges, which were recently completed. This work is part of an accessibility project underway to make Queensboro Plaza a fully accessible station, including installation of two elevators: one at the southern entrance of the station and one connecting the mezzanine and the two platforms.
Customers seeking Manhattan-bound service at Queensboro Plaza are encouraged to use the nearby elevator-accessible Queens Plaza r station to avoid having to back-ride. Queens Plaza will have service in both directions during this time. If customers have already paid a fare and entered the Queensboro Plaza station, they can take a Flushing-bound train to 33rd Street-Rawson or an Astoria-bound n w train to 39th Av – Dutch Kills to switch to Manhattan-bound service.
“Making our transit system accessible is essential and while construction is underway, customers looking to commute into Manhattan can use the already accessible Queens Plaza station which is about a 5-minute walk from Queensboro Plaza,” said NYC Transit President Richard Davey. “Accessibility is such an integral part of mass transit, especially for a city like New York where millions of riders rely on it every day, and we remain committed to delivering these improvements as quickly and efficiently as possible.”
“The demolition, removal, and releveling of this island platform is labor intensive and requires a service outage to allow the concrete to properly set,” said MTA Construction and Development President Jamie Torres-Springer. “While this work may pose a short-term inconvenience to riders, the long-term benefits of achieving full ADA accessibility at Queensboro Plaza will be invaluable to customers with disabilities.”
"We are advancing accessibility projects at an unprecedented rate, which will have enormous benefits for riders with disabilities, caregivers with strollers, visitors with luggage, and many others who rely on elevators and ramps at accessible stations," said MTA Chief Accessibility Officer and Senior Advisor Quemuel Arroyo. “This next phase of construction brings us closer to another fully accessible station, and a critical transfer complex at that."
Queensboro Plaza is a station with high ridership, serving approximately 97,000 riders on an average weekday this past May – this estimate includes both customers who swipe in at this station and those who are transferring between the and trains – while also being in the center of a rapidly growing neighborhood making it a complex construction project in the heart of a busy, 11–lane wide approach to the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge, two of which are bike lanes. This project is also in coordination with the construction of a redundant accessible entrance on the north side of the station under a Zoning for Accessibility (ZFA) project.
In 2022, MTA Construction & Development delivered a presentation on the costs and complexities of the Authority’s infrastructure projects, including the challenges of building elevators in often constrained spaces. For remarks directly related to elevator accessibility projects, see here.
More About the Project
The project being carried out by the MTA consists of building two elevators, one connecting the street and mezzanine level and another connecting the mezzanine to both platforms. The project will also consist of:
- Expansion of the mezzanine by approximately 2300 sq ft, improving customer flow within the station
- New lighting for the expanded mezzanine
- Updates to the pedestrian bridge
- New boarding areas compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) including new platform edges
- Upgrades to existing street and station stairs to current ADA standards
The project for building an accessible entrance on the south side is budgeted for $74 million and is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2024.
The station’s accessibility upgrades will also include security and communication enhancements such as a fire alarm system, installation of a new security camera system, a new public address system, and digital information screens, offering better communication with clearer announcements and greater access to information via digital screens.
The Queensboro Plaza accessibility project is one of many improvements coming to the Line, across Manhattan and Queens, as outlined here.
Additional weekend service changes are anticipated later this year and in 2024. Customers are advised to sign up the MTA Weekender, a weekly newsletter sent every Friday to inform customers of weekend service changes throughout the transit system. Service notifications will also be available on the MTA website, the MYmta app and social media. Customers can also sign up for text and email alerts at MTA Service Alerts.