Workers renovating the 86th Street subway station at Central Park West said this week that the station is scheduled to open Friday afternoon. The station, which accesses B and C trains, has been closed since June. The station is expected to get structural upgrades along with new digital features like enhanced countdown clocks.
The MTA’s Enhanced Station Initiative is meant to renovate stations quickly by shutting them down for several months, instead of attempting to do the work over a longer period with more intermittent disruptions. The stations at 110th and 72nd Street already reopened, though not without some hiccups.
just in time for the rain overnight and subsequent flooding
Yay!!!
I would prefer them to delay the opening until Monday. Take the extra time to make sure that everything is at 100%, that there are absolutely no problems with the stations themselves, and that they are structurally sound and waterproof.
This station took the longest, hopefully, it is the most prepared. Its first test is gonna be tomorrow anyway.
Keeping it closed would not help ensure its preparation at all.
(That said, closing it in the first place was always unnecessary…)
The ESI was problematic from the getgo. They went for all the wrong stations. Quite frankly, something should’ve been done though, there’s no easy way to go about this. If I’m being truly honest, they should’ve kept the subway shut down for several more weeks after Sandy. Opening it, even partially, after 3 days, was a grave mistake, and is one of many roots to our ailing subways.
Looking at the MTA’s weekend service changes a few days ago, they had already removed the advisory that the station was closed. Passing through the station on the train this week one evening, there were at least 200 visible workers on the uptown platform, so I knew they were determined to meet their deadline.
It’s a shame they make riders endure a six month closing when, if they devoted workers as much as they did in the last week continuously, they could probably do it all in a few weeks.
There is no reason to close it in the first place. 81st street received a much more extensive rebuild than either 86 or 72 without closing for any significant period of time.
Honestly, it looks worse than before. Maybe the better lighting shows the flaws more. The walls were NOT retiled, and the floors look like a construction zone still. 6 months, $150million. No infrastructure improvements.
And yes, dripping could already be heard on the tracks.
Something criminal has happened here.
I could NOT believe it. I walked in, mouth agape. I thought I was going to get dust all over my shoes from walking across the floor. They hadn’t even swept!! The juxtaposition of this new concrete floor with the old tiles makes it look APPALLING.
To close- I’m sorry to say, that mural is ugly. Was looking forward to a station like 72nd street, but we got a station you’d find at the southern terminus of the C train instead.
I absolutely agree.
Whether or not there is any tangible improvement to the subway, we can be thankful that the project resulted in jobs for MTA workers. Government jobs help to make sure that the NY economy works for everyone, not just the super-rich.
We need more spending, right now. When will we get it, Governor?
Kinda doubt that this renovation was a great use of precious funds. Always seemed fine to me. But maybe it had structural issues that we couldn’t see? Otherwise, I’d much rather that $ be spent making the trains run on time.
The million-dollar (or more!) question is, what on earth is the purpose of those (for lack of a better word) THINGS that are wooden on the top, with black metal poles? You can’t sit on them, though I’m sure some creative people will try to. Are we supposed to lean on them? Is that what this has come to?
I’m grateful for the new station, but my god, the mosaics and paintings look hideous together!