The MTA is touting the opening of a new subway entrance the Times Square station as the symbol of a new era in how capital projects are completed.
It's located in the pedestrian plaza near the corner of 43rd Street, across from where the Times Square New Year’s ball drops, and it features a 15-foot wide stairway and elevator with access to the shuttle to Grand Central Terminal. The project is part of the MTA’s $300 million 42nd Street Connector project, which seeks to improve the busiest station in the subway system.
MTA Accessibility chief Quemuel Arroyo exits the new elevator, onto the subway level
Speaking at the station Monday, MTA Chairman Janno Lieber said this project, and the other work on escalators and improving the Times Square shuttle, are how the MTA expects to do big projects going forward.
“The 42nd Street connection project represents what the MTA was doing in the middle of the pandemic, which was building faster, building better, getting the system ready for New Yorkers to come back and we’re very proud," he said. "This is a highlight of that effort."
The MTA said that the new entranceway cost a total of $40 million, with $30 million coming from the agency and $10 million, for the new elevators, paid by Jamestown Properties, the company that owns One Times Square.
The new elevator for the Times Square station.
The new entrance also gives commuters a look at a sweeping, 468-foot mosaic by the artist Nick Cave — the longest mosaic in the subway system, according to the president of MTA Construction and Development, Jamie Torres-Springer. Before Monday, commuters could only see a third of the mosaic, but now that construction is complete the full piece is on display.
The renovations also included the addition of 18 new CCTV cameras.
“Every new elevator the MTA installs is another opportunity for someone to access the subways who otherwise might not be able to. This project — which came in on time and under budget — brings in added bonuses of private investment, great art, more space and circulation, and clearly-needed security cameras,” Lisa Daglian, executive director of Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA, told Gothamist.
More detail of the Nick Cave mural
During the ribbon cutting for the new entrance, Lieber also gave an update on the current plan for installing more elevators throughout the subway system. Currently, there are 80 elevators under development and contracts for 26 this year are signed. That’s a bump up from the initial 70 elevators the MTA had initially planned for the current capital plan.
“It may not seem like a big deal, but adding a second street-to-mezzanine elevator at this busy hub is really crucial for ensuring full-time access to 4 subway lines at this station, which are currently served by a single surface-level elevator,” Jessica Murray, chair of the MTA’s Advisory Committee for Transit Accessibility, said in a statement.
She added, “It’s not a problem if the MTA relies on private companies to pay for elevators as long as they make sure that they are properly maintained and any funds saved are reinvested into one the roughly 350 NYC Transit and Staten Island Railroad stations that are still inaccessible.”
About 640,000 subway riders use the Times Square subway station each week day.
MTA officials, including Chairman Janno Lieber at the lectern, at the opening of the new entrance. CCTV cameras, which are round orbs, can be seen hanging from the ceiling.
