Astoria Weighs Costs, Benefits of 8-Month Subway Station Closures
The 30th Avenue and 36th Avenue subway stations in Queens will be closed for up to 8 months starting October 23rd, according to DNAinfo. The stations will receive $83-million dollars in renovations, including rehabilitated station entrances, LED lighting, granite mezzanines, countdown clocks, and Wi-Fi service.
The renovations are part of the Enhanced Station Initiative (ESI), a project which will upgrade and modernize 33 stations by 2020. According to MTA Managing Director Ronnie Hakim, closing the stations entirely allows them to limit the inconvenience to customers by granting contractors unlimited access so they can “get in, get done, and get out as quickly as possible.”
The station closures have drawn both criticism and support from the community. “It’s a double-edged sword,” said Florence Koulouris, District Manager of Community Board 1 in Astoria. “We have the MTA’s blessing with this amount of money for these extravagant and wonderful improvements,” said Koulouris. “However, people are going to have to live through the changes.”
Queens resident Freddy Edelhart lives off the Astoria-Ditmars station in Queens, and is concerned that the stations surrounding the 30th Avenue and 36th Avenue stops will be overcrowded. “Queensboro Plaza and Astoria-Ditmars are going to get super clogged at rush hour,” said Edelhart. Edelhart added that the closures will make it difficult to visit the neighborhood. “I’ll have to walk to any place in the neighborhood that’s past Astoria Boulevard,” said Edelhart, “and that makes me sad.”
City Councilman Costa Constantinides of Astoria criticized the project in an interview with Times Ledger, saying the MTA is prioritizing cosmetic renovations rather than improvements that would make service more reliable, such as track work and updated signals. “If the MTA doesn’t actively and comprehensively address service along our subway lines with long-term improvements, it will continue to fail Astoria residents,” said Constantinides.
An amendment approved by the MTA in May added $2.9 billion dollars to the Capital Program, allocating $751 million to the ESI. There was no additional funding for state of good repair investments, like track work and signal system updates.
Koulouris says she believes the renovations are imperative and overdue. “This isn’t just about getting Wi-Fi,” said Koulouris. “These stations are old and antiquated. They need the renovations desperately.”
Jamison Dague, the Director of Infrastructure Studies at the Citizen’s Budget Commission, agrees that the station upgrades are necessary, but says the MTA should make sure they serve practical purposes. “Is the money going to be spent on stabilizing stairwells and making sure platform edges are in good condition,” he asked, “or will the money be spent on design-oriented things?”
The renovations to the two stations will include structural repairs to station entrances, but will not include the addition of elevators or ramps for elderly and disabled passengers, which Dague sees as “a missed opportunity.”
Koulouris says the community will face challenges in the coming months, but that critics of the renovations need to be patient.
“New Yorkers want things, but when we get them, we complain about getting them,” Koulouris said. “We need to realize that when we get them, we’re going to be inconvenienced.”
The MTA will meet with Community Board 1 on October 17th to discuss the closures. You can find alternative transportation options here.
