BY XIMENA DEL CERRO
Stair-weary straphangers
in Park Slope are fi nally getting
a long-awaited elevator,
as construction has begun on
a lift to the Seventh Avenue
subway station.
“What comes down into
the subway, must come up”
read protesters’ signs, as Park
Slope neighbors gathered outside
the F and G station in 2018
to demand an elevator. Now,
construction is starting at the
corner of Ninth Street — taking
over one lane of parking
spaces, while leaving the bike
lane clear and causing minor
traffi c disruptions.
The project entails building
three elevators — two from
the street on Seventh Avenue,
and one from the mezzanine
that takes passengers to the
platform. Construction will be
complete by July 2023, according
to Metropolitan Transportation
Authority offi cials.
The MTA announced the
pending construction of the
lifts last year, which came after
10 years of community advocates
COURIER LIFE, F 10 EBRUARY 11-17, 2022
battling city authorities
for an inclusive way to access
the station — which is the closest
to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital
and Park Slope Center
for Successful Aging, which
serves more than 4,000 seniors
each year.
Only about 25 percent of
the 493 stations across the fi ve
boroughs have elevators. Community
members with mobility
diffi culties, walking disabilities,
and those who travel
with strollers or carts have to
plan their commute accordingly,
and choose less practical
routes.
Community activist
groups, including Good
Neighbors of Park Slope and
members of the older adult
center Heights and Hills, rallied
at council and MTA board
meetings until a three elevator
shafts plan was approved
in December 2020.
“We were told it was going
to take way longer than that,”
said Joyce Jed, president of
Good Neighbors of Park Slope,
when she heard the elevator
would be ready next summer.
The project was on a list of
50 stations waiting for accessibility
upgrades. The MTA
has set a 2024 goal of having
an accessible station every two
stops, which would guarantee
that mobility-impaired individuals
could have access to
the necessary infrastructure
within a certain geographic
area of their destination.
The funding for the multimillion
dollar lift will come
from the $4 billion the MTA
received as part of the second
COVID-19 federal stimulus
deal reached in Congress in
Dec. 2020 and a $250,000 dollars
down payment from the Participatory
Budgeting process.
The project is still fully
funded regardless of the MTA’s
latest fi nancial struggle, which
was caused by a decrease in
ridership since the beginning
of the pandemic.
So far, Hallen Construction,
the contractor company working
on the project, has performed
demolitions inside the
station and excavation outside.
National Grid, the British multinational
electricity and gas
company, will relocate utilities
this week. Asbestos abatement
for all four platform edges is
now complete.
Some Park Slope neighbors
say the construction
work is inconvenient because
of the clutter and the diffi culties
for trash picking that it is
causing — though they support
the project.
“It has made parking
much more diffi cult on this
block and the next because
they are turned up,” said
Andy Ryan, who lives in a
brownstone right in front of
the site. “We kind of have to
suck it up because it’s part of
living in the city and people
need to ride the subway, so it
doesn’t bother me.”
To plan an accessible commute,
visit new.mta.info.
Giving Slope a lift
Construction underway for 2023 completion
of elevator at 7th Ave subway stop
Construction materials, trucks and an excavator occupy the parking lane
through two blocks of Ninth Street between Fifth and Seventh avenues
in Park Slope. Photo by Ximena Del Cerro.
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