MTA Sprucing Up Ozone Pk. Stops
After wrapping up this week a five-month partial closure of two Ozone Park A train stations for repairs, the MTA plans to close the other side of both stops later this month.
Trains began stopping again on the Ozone Park/Far Rockaway-bound side of the 88th Street stop and the Ozone Parkbound platform at the 104th Street station as of 5 a.m. Monday morning, Sept. 29. Both platforms closed in May to undergo extensive renovations through the MTA’s “Station Renewal” program.
“For these stations, originally opened in the early 1900s, these improvements will create significantly better conditions for our customers,” Carmen Bianco, president of MTA New York City Transit, said in a statement last Thursday, Sept. 25, announcing the platforms’ reopening. “We appreciate the community’s patience and understanding while we carry out this important work.”
Later this month, the MTA will close the Manhattan-bound platforms at 88th Street and 104th Street through January 2015 to conduct similar repairs. As it did during the Ozone Park-side closures, the MTA will provide free shuttle bus service connecting riders at both stops to the Rockaway Boulevard and 111th Street station.
The planned improvements for the Manhattan-bound side are similar to the work the MTA just completed on the Ozone Parkbound side, which included repairs to staircases, mezzanine floors, doors, windows and both interior and exterior walls.
Additionally, crews also replaced canopies, windscreens and railings, repaired steel support beams, renovated mezzanine lighting and installed tactile yellow warning strips along the platform edges.
As part of the renewal program, the MTA-through its Arts for Transit & Urban Design initiative-commissioned a number of artists to “create durable, vibrant metal artworks” for the platform windscreens.
Beatrice Coron created for the 104th Street station “On the Right Track,” described as a “sculpted steel artwork” that includes “imagery similar to a giant deck of cards” representing passenger moods.
At the 88th Street station, artist Haresh Lalvani installed “MORPHING88,” a series of laser-cut stainless steel panels “depicting patterns with morphed shapes.”
For more information on station renewal program and service disruptions, visit www.mta.info.
