After years of confusing transfers and subpar facilities, a subway complex in Long Island City received a long overdue facelift.
Community leaders joined MTA officials in marking the expansion of the new Court Square Subway Station Complex. The project links the G line station at Long Island City-Court Square with Court Square Station on the No. 7 line and the Court Square-23rd Street Station on the E and M lines.
The unveiling of the upgraded and expanded station was attended by State Senator Michael Gianaris, Assemblymember Catherine Nolan, Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, Community Board No. 2 Chairperson Joseph Conley and Citigroup’s L.I.C. site President Maria Veltre.
“Not only has New York City been our home for almost 200 years, but we also have nearly 4,000 people working in Long Island City,” said Veltre at the ribbon cutting ceremony on Friday June 3. “We are proud to work with the MTA to bring a better transit experience to our neighbors, guests, colleagues and the community.”
Part of that new experience involved the renaming of the station. The new complex is in line with the MTA’s policy of rationalizing station names so that all platforms in a station complex have the same name, reducing customer confusion. Court Square is now the unifying name for all three stations.
The total cost of the project rings close to $47.6 million, of which NYC Transit paid $13.9 million with the remainder funded by Citigroup. NYC Transit will also undertake a capital project scheduled later this month to make all platforms in the 7 line station ADA compliant. This work includes full platform replacement, platform windscreen replacement and the installation of ADA boarding areas, tactile warning strips and signage.
“The creation of this complex will facilitate travel for customers heading to and from Queens and give choices in the case of a disruption on any of the lines,” said NYC Transit president Thomas Prendergast. “This is very similar to our project in Downtown Brooklyn, where we linked two stations, Jay Street and Lawrence Street into the Jay Street-MetroTech complex and improved travel options for thousands of subway riders from day one. There is also a project underway to provide a free transfer between the Sixth Avenue Line to the uptown 6 at the Broadway-Lafayette and Bleecker Street stations.”
The Court Square subway improvement was a mandatory requirement of the NYC Zoning Code for the development of a 15-story office building situated just north of the complex.
