MTA reopens Clark St. subway station in Brooklyn Heights with new elevators after 6-month closure
A subway station in Brooklyn Heights is open again after an overhaul of its elevators kept it shut for six months.
The Clark St. station in Brooklyn Heights closed down Nov. 3 as Metropolitan Transportation Authority contractors replaced a set of aging elevators, which are the only way for riders to get from the turnstiles to the mezzanine below.
The station — which serves the Nos. 2 and 3 lines — is still not accessible for wheelchair users as the elevators do not take riders all the way to the platform. MTA officials last year said there was not enough space in the 100-year-old station to build another set of elevators from the mezzanine to the platform.
Transit officials in 2019 estimated the elevator replacement would take up to two years — but in Feb. 2020 former NYC Transit president Andy Byford announced the agency shaved the project timeline to eight months.
Last fall, MTA chairman Janno Lieber announced he’d cut another two months off the project’s schedule. The station reopened late Wednesday.
“I am thrilled that we were able to reopen the Clark Street station on schedule — and within budget — to deliver Brooklyn Heights customers modern and reliable elevators for years to come,” Lieber said in a statement. “This project shows how the MTA is making good on the commitment to deliver construction projects faster, better, and cheaper.”
The work at Clark St. was bundled into a larger $61 million contract that includes elevator replacements at the Upper East Side’s 63rd St. station on the F and Q lines as well as those at Brooklyn’s Court St. station on the R line.
MTA officials said the Court St. elevators will soon close — but the station is to remain open while the project is underway.
