Astoria Boulevard N, W station to close for nine months for elevator and mezzanine repairs
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The Astoria Blvd N and W station in Queens will close at 10 p.m. on Sunday, March 17 and remain shuttered for nine months as New York City Transit works on a multi-phase repair project. The elevated station will get four new elevators and other accessibility features. In order to construct the street elevators, the mezzanine level will be demolished and rebuilt with more vertical clearance to prevent strikes by trucks and other over-height vehicles on the road below.
Several stations along the century-old elevated N, W Astoria line have already received extensive repairs, including the 30 Avenue, 36 Avenue, 39 Avenue-Dutch Kills and Broadway stations.
“We’ve been on a steady march of improvement work on the entire Astoria Line to increase reliability and improve safety and the customer experience, and this elevator project is a huge win for our customers,” NYC Transit President Andy Byford said in a statement.
The elevator installation project will also address platform gaps and install boarding areas, stairs, railings, and other elements to make sure that the station is fully compliant with ADA standards. The elevators will also make it easier for customers to transfer to and from the M60 Select Bus Service to LaGuardia Airport.
Increasing the vertical clearance of the mezzanine may ultimately lead to better service overall. Each time a vehicle strikes the elevated structure, a manual inspection must be performed to check for damage and that ends up delaying service for the whole line. “Raising the height of the station is also vitally important for our train service and structure as well as the vehicles that use the streets below those elevated tracks,” Byford added.
The Astoria Blvd work began in September 2018 and has now reached a phase that will require a full closure of the station for nine months. When the project is completed in 2020, the station will have two street-to-mezzanine elevators, two mezzanine-to-platform elevators, a new station mezzanine, repaired or replaced structural columns and foundations, repaired concrete platform surfaces, new street and platform stairs, new platform stair enclosures, and new platform canopies and mezzanine overpass walkway canopies. The new station structure will be reinforced to support the weight of the new elevators and facilities and all of the lights, signs, and gates will also be replaced.
The project will overlap with scheduled weekend track work on the Astoria Line that begins Saturday, March 16. Beginning Sunday, March 17, Astoria Blvd customers can use the nearby Ditmars Blvd and 30 Avenue stations as alternate subway service.
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