A dozen subway stations are newly slated for accessibility improvements, transit officials announced Tuesday.
The stations, selected in concert with public feedback surveys, span four boroughs.
“This is open government, this is good government,” MTA Chairperson Janno Lieber said Tuesday at a press conference outside the Franklin Ave. – Medgar Evers College stop on the No. 2, 3, 4 and 5 lines in Crown Heights — one of the stations on the list.
“We made a promise to the advocates, many of whom are here today, when we came to that historic agreement settling the longstanding litigation about ADA and the subways,” Lieber added. He was referencing the MTA’s 2022 agreement to make 95% of the city’s 472 subway stations accessible to riders in wheelchairs and other mobility devices in order to settle a pair of lawsuits
“We are determined to deliver,” Lieber said.
In addition to Franklin Ave., elevators will be added at the adjacent Botanic Gardens stop on the Franklin Ave. Shuttle, the system’s oldest line. Brooklynites will also get elevators at the nearby Grand Army Plaza station for the Nos. 2 and 3 trains, as well as the 53rd St. station on the R.
In the Bronx, the Woodlawn stop on the No. 4 line and the Eastchester – Dyer Ave. stop on the No. 5 will get elevators, as will the Fordham Rd. station on the B and D lines.
Queens riders will get elevators at two M and R train stations — Grand Ave. – Newtown and 63rd Drive – Rego Park.
Manhattanites will see new elevators installed at 190th St. on the A train, and Cathedral Parkway – 110th St. on the No. 1.
The elevator projects announced Tuesday are still in the planning stages. Jamie Torres-Springer, head of MTA construction and development, said the projects would be bundled according to subway line before being contracted out, but had no firm timeline as to when that would begin.
The MTA has budgeted for 60 new accessible subway stations in its 2025-2029 capital project plan.
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