Clark St. station elevator work to begin Nov. 1

Trains will bypass Heights station until spring

October 4, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

Shops line the arcade leading to the 2 and 3 trains’ Clark Street station. Eagle file photo by Mary Frost

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The MTA on Friday announced that work to replace all three elevators at the Clark Street subway station in Brooklyn Heights will begin on Wednesday, November 3.

Crews will replace the elevators at the same time, which dramatically minimizes the duration of the project and avoids up to two years of service unpredictability.

Because Clark Street is a deep cavern station accessible only by elevator, subway service will bypass the station in both directions from Wednesday, Nov. 3, 2021 until spring 2022 in order to replace all three existing elevators.

Customers are advised to use nearby stations, including the High Street station located north three blocks and through a walkway to Cadman Plaza, or the Borough Hall-Court Street subway complex, located two to three blocks south and one to two blocks east, on Montague Street between Clinton and Court Streets. From the Clark Street station, these alternative stations can be reached via the B25 bus.

Janno Lieber, acting MTA chair and CEO.
Photo courtesy of MTA

“This project is a model for how the MTA can deliver infrastructure projects better, faster and cheaper,” said Janno Lieber, acting MTA Chair and CEO. “The plan to replace all three elevators at Clark Street simultaneously reduces the length of construction time and minimizes the impact that this disruption will cause for our riders.”

“These enhancements are an important step to ensure that New Yorkers have a safe, reliable transit system at all times,” said Craig Cipriano, interim New York City Transit president. “NYC Transit remains focused on welcoming New Yorkers back to a modernized system that is the quickest way to navigate the city.”

“Elevator replacements are a critical component of our Capital Plan, and when these elevators return to service, the public can look forward to increased reliability of the elevators at this station,” said Quemuel Arroyo, MTA chief accessibility officer. “We encourage customers to use nearby Borough Hall station during this closure, which is fully accessible on the lines and will become fully accessible on the lines as part of an ADA project in this Capital Plan.”

The elevators have been in service for more than 100 years and have reached the end of their useful lives. In 2000, the station was bypassed for five months to replace controllers and cabs, and repair three motors, but this replacement work would constitute the first full replacement of the Clark Street elevator systems in over a century.

NYC Transit originally presented the community with alternatives that would have led to repair work lasting for 22 to 24 months, but would have attempted to maintain train service to the station during construction work in Brooklyn Heights.

Under these scenarios, technicians would have worked on one elevator at a time, leaving two elevators in service. But because two elevators are needed to safely maintain train service to this deep cavern station that lacks stairway access, crews would have had to suddenly and unpredictably suspend train service whenever one of the two remaining elevators was taken out of service.

The upper level of the station will remain open, preserving public access to businesses. The project’s contractor, Forte Construction Corp., will have a street presence for this project beginning the week of October 25, 2021 in order to mobilize for the elevator replacement work.

All construction activity will be scheduled from 7 a.m. through 6 p.m. on weekdays, and the vast majority of work will be done within the Clark Street station.