Badly needing repairs, eight subway stations have been approved for $240 million renovations including two in The Bronx.
167th Street along with 174th-175th Street on the B line along the Grand Concourse will undergo renovations which in the past have taken roughly six months to complete.
During that time, the stations will be closed and commuters will have to make alternate plans.
Many have questioned why money is being spent on station upgrades when New York City’s subway system is severely in disrepair and need of upgrades to improve the quality of service or lack thereof.
amNY reports:
The three “no” votes on the program came from board appointees of Mayor Bill de Blasio: Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, Veronica Vanterpool and Carl Weisbrod.
The trio voiced criticisms against the MTA that varied from spending to transparency. The MTA has not provided the board with enough documents to rationalize the authority’s selection of stations, they said. They also voiced concerns that the $1 billion program could be better spent elsewhere as the MTA grapples with a subway service crisis.
“I’ve never said that I thought all the work in these stations is aesthetic . . . that has never been my concern about it,” Trottenberg said. “My concern about it has been, I don’t understand the methodology of how we chose these stations for this program, other stations for other programs.”
The New York Post reports that the New York City Transit president felt differently.
Andy Byford, president of New York City Transit, warned that delaying construction any longer would endanger straphangers.
“Stations would be at the back of the line, and it would be literally years before they get done,” he said, adding, “Some stations would fall into a dangerous state of disrepair before we get to them.”
Other stations that will undergo renovations are the 7th and 8th Avenue sections of Penn Station, 23rd and 57th on the 6th Ave line, 28th on the Lexington Avenue line and 145th street but it is unclear which line as both amNY and the New York Post incorrectly state it’s om. The Lexington Avenue line but no such station exists there.
No timeline has been revealed as to when any of this will happen.
