Prospect Ave. Subway Station Will Close Through Fall

GOWANUS, BROOKLYN — The Prospect Avenue subway station will close soon for renovations and upgrades that will run through the fall, the MTA said. The station will close next Monday, June 5, for the work that is expected to be completed "within six months."

The upgrades are part of the MTA's "Enhanced Station Initiative," the same thing that closed R stations at Bay Ridge Avenue and 53rd Street. In total, those three stations will cost about $72 million, the MTA says.

So what's coming to the stations? Upgrades to tracks and signals that would be a productive step toward curbing snowballing delays?

Unfortunately, not.

The upgrades are largely cosmetic in nature, consisting of things like lighting, display screens and charging stations (see a full list below). Here's a rendering of what similar renovations at the 53rd Street station will look like:

"Once the renovations at Prospect Av are complete in fall 2017 and all three stations are fully reopened, this first group of upgraded stations will show customers that these temporary closures were well worth the wait," New York City Transit Acting President Darryl Irick said in a press release.

"The stations will have amenities that our customers use every day, which means everyone who takes the subway in those communities can reap the benefits of improved features like redesigned wayfinding and brighter, more comfortable platform environments."

The MTA asks people who usually use this station to use nearby R stations at Fourth Avenue-Ninth Street or 25th Street or use the B37 or B63 buses.

Here's a full list of upgrades coming to the station, via the MTA:

Station entrances

All entrances will be refurbished and receive new handrails, stair treads, wall tiles, totems and digital screens providing real-time service information at the street level before customers enter the station. Canopies will be installed at select key entrances.

Turnstile areas

Walls and ceilings will be repaired, and new granite flooring, informational dashboards and glass barriers will be installed.

Mezzanines and platforms

LED light fixtures for brighter, more secure areas will be installed, along with security cameras and Help Point Intercoms. Digital screens for real-time arrival information and informational dashboards will be installed. Customer amenities include new station art; electronics charging stations built into station furnishings; new platform edges, and new benches and leaning bars.

The “Enhanced Station Initiative” project is part of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s robust package of enhancements and capital investments to improve reliability, capacity and the customer experience inside stations. These stations will have Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, intuitive wayfinding, and other features that customers will see or use on their daily commutes.

High-resolution renderings of the station renovations are available here.

Lead image via MTA