6 NYC subway stations begin ADA upgrades funded by congestion pricing
Photo by Angeline Wagner on Unsplash
The first subway station elevator built with funds from congestion pricing began construction this week. Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday announced the groundbreaking for the accessibility upgrade project at the 42nd Street-Bryant Park/5th Avenue complex, which includes four new elevators, a stair-free corridor in the station, accessible bathrooms, and new fare gates. Bryant Park is one of six station accessibility projects that kicked off this week, paid for using revenue from the city’s congestion pricing program.
During the first year of the congestion pricing program, which has charged drivers a toll to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street since January 2025, the MTA raised $550 million. More than 70,000 fewer vehicles entered the congestion relief zone on any given day.
According to the MTA, revenue generated by congestion pricing will provide $15 billion in funding for the 2020-2024 Capital Plan, which includes $3 billion for the Second Avenue Subway second phase, $3 billion for signal upgrades, $2 billion for new railcars and buses, $5 billion for state of good repair work, and $2 billion for accessibility improvements to 23 stations.
The Bryant Park project includes the construction of four new elevators, including three new mezzanine-to-platform elevators. One will connect the Times Square Shuttle pedestrian pathway to the 42nd Street-Bryant Park platform, and another will link the mezzanine to the platform at the 5th Avenue station.
A new accessible corridor will be built between 42nd Street-Bryant Park, home to the B, D, F, and M trains, and 5th Avenue 7 train.
Both stations will get reconstructed platforms, accessible fare gates, upgraded stairwells, and accessibility upgrades to bathrooms.
“New Yorkers have already been feeling the benefits of less traffic, safer streets, and cleaner air thanks to congestion pricing, now we take the benefits to the next level as we unleash billions in investment to improve our transit system,” Hochul said.
“As Governor, I have made upgrading our subway system to make it truly accessible to all a core priority, with renovations to dozens of stations either completed or under construction today. Thanks to funding from congestion pricing, we can expand that effort to the major hub at Bryant Park and five more stations across the system, improving the rides of over 100,000 New Yorkers every day.”
Congestion pricing is funding ADA upgrades at five additional subway stations: Kingsbridge Road, 167th Street, Gates Avenue, Briarwood, Parsons Boulevard. New signage will highlight the projects.
“New Yorkers want to know how this program is working — new subway cars, modern signals, making stations ADA accessible, and now towards a better 42 St-Bryant Park station,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. “We’re making it easy to spot with signage highlighting projects made possible by Congestion Pricing here and all over the MTA system.”
Accessibility projects under way across the system are the result of a lawsuit settled by the MTA that required 95 percent of its 472 subway stations to be ADA by 2055. Under the agreement, the agency committed to making 81 stations accessible by 2025, another 85 by 2035, 90 more by 2045, and the final 90 by 2055.
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