Two major MTA repair projects reached completion on time and on budget over the weekend, the agency announced.
The 101-year-old 30th Avenue and 36th Avenue N/W stations along the Astoria Line reopened Friday after being restored and modernized, and weekend 2/3 service through the Clark Street Tube under the East River, which was severely damaged by Hurricane Sandy, resumed at midnight on Sunday.
“These stations were in desperate need of repairs to their deteriorating structures, but now they look and feel brand new, which is amazing for two above-ground structures that had been in daily continuous use for more than 100 years,” NYC Transit President Andy Byford said of the N/W stations.
The work at the stations, which originally opened in 1917, included repairing deteriorated concrete and steel structures, renovating stairs, railings and canopies, improving signage and lighting and more.
The work is part of an MTA NYC Transit initiative to repair or upgrade all stations along the N/W line. Starting July 2, the Broadway and 39th Avenue stations will close for “up to seven months,” the agency said.
Critical repairs on the 1.2-mile-long Clark Street Tube, which began in 2017, included repairing structural defects, extensive track work and signal repairs and raising and hardening equipment to protect from possible future storm events among other work.
“More than 145,000 customers take the 2/3 lines through the Clark Street Tube between Manhattan and Brooklyn each day, yours truly among them,” said MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota. “This project is critical to the long-term viability of the 2/3 lines and will help keep the system protected from future catastrophic events. … I look forward to riding the 2/3 on weekends again.”
The Clark Street Tube was one of nine tunnels damaged during Hurricane Sandy, and the seventh tube project to be completed since the superstorm ravaged the area in 2012.
