Broadway Junction, which services the A, C, J, L and Z lines, is notoriously convoluted. The busy subway station includes a variety of underground and elevated platforms that are accessible only through a winding series of staircases and elevators, making transit inaccessible to disabed individuals who need it.
A new $15 million grant from the federal government is aimed at changing this.
The funding will make the station — which is the third largest in Brooklyn — fully compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) by adding seven new elevators and redesigning multiple staircases.
“Projects like these are key to modernizing the system and making the subway more accessible for the riding public, including New York’s disabled community, which has long suffered from poor access to our region’s mass transit system,” said Senator Chuck Schumer.
The $15 million is coming from the Department of Transportation’s preexisting RAISE (Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity) program rather than from the recently passed Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill.
Grants from the RAISE program were recently secured to reimage the Cross Bronx Expressway, and Schumer expressed his hope that the new Bipartisan Bill will also go towards similarly equitable projects citywide.
“This station is getting the attention it needs and deserves,” Schumer added. “Equity, fairness, that is very, very important.”
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries echoed a similar sentiment.
“We want elevators for everybody,” he said. “We’re going to give working-class people and those with physical challenges a state-of-the-art station.”
The MTA announced a program earlier this year that aims on improving station accessibility systemwide through new public-private partnerships. The program will provide incentives to private developers willing to include accessibility projets at nearby stations.
A number of projects are already underway, including the installation of new elevators at the Hoyt-Schermerhorn stop along the A,C, and G lines.