Livonia Avenue Station on the Canarsie Line in Brooklyn, NY has been named 2022 Project of the Year in the $10 - $60 million category by the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) Metro New York/New Jersey Chapter. The extensive renovations, implemented by a project team that included Citnalta TAP JV (TAP Electric, an affiliate of Forte Construction Corp.), bring the station serving Brownsville and East New York into full compliance with Americans with Disabilities (ADA) guidelines.
The project was part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA’s) ADA accessibility initiatives in New York City’s transit stations, through which current and recently completed construction enhancements are underway to meet the needs of subway riders with mobility limitations.
The project team included Construction Manager HDR and Design/Builder Citnalta TAP JV, a joint venture between Citnalta Construction Corp. and TAP Electric (an affiliate of NY-based general contractor Forte Construction Corp.). Gannett Fleming and Urbahn Architects were engaged as the designers for the project. All were reporting to MTA Construction and Development.
The rehabilitation included the installation of two elevators with a street-level elevator machine room; a passageway above the tracks to connect the platforms, new platform windscreens and canopies; new ADA compliant stairs to station platforms and passageways; and station agent booth upgrades. ADA improvements were made to the station’s architectural, structural, and mechanical components, and the control house and platforms were reconfigured to assist in ADA boarding.
In addition, all safety systems were upgraded and expanded to provide coverage throughout the renovated station, including a “state of the art” emergency call system installed in each elevator cab.
Stephanie Hudson, Vice President of TAP Electric said, “The installation of elevators and ADA compliant passageways and stairs at a station that has been continuously serving the public since 1905, is a modern-day engineering and construction feat that grants access and accessibility to countless New Yorkers with disabilities and mobility limitations. For MTA customers residing in the neighborhoods of Brownsville and East New York, the vast NYC Transit network and all its amazing destinations, are now so much more within reach for just the cost of one subway fare.”
Citnalta TAP JV performed all the construction, mechanical and electrical work, and the installation of the two elevators, ADA compliant passageways and stairs. The elevators installed were the first in the area to be retrofitted to a station, according to the MTA.
Prior to this vital upgrade, disabled and limited mobility passengers, seniors, and families with young children in strollers could travel to the Wilson Avenue Station in Bushwick – some 2.4 miles away – which was previously the closest ADA-accessible station on the L Line.
The L train line moves more than 30 million annual riders between 14th Street and 8th Avenue in the Chelsea section of Manhattan to its terminus point of Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie, Brooklyn, with connections to the Long Island Railroad. The Livonia Avenue station was originally put into service on July 28, 1905, receiving a previous upgrade in 2005-06. In 2007, artwork and stained-glass windows were installed along its elevated platforms.
A ceremony to honor New York’s Construction Project of the Year will be held on Thursday, June 8th, with a keynote address by NYC Department of Design and Construction Commissioner Thomas Foley.
Check out the press coverage below.
