Renovated UWS Subway Station Floods Days After Reopening: Report

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An Upper West Side subway station that was supposed to be waterproofed during a recently-completed renovation has been hit with a flooding problem, according to reports.

Commuters are forced to trudge through pools of water on rainy days at the Cathedral Parkway-West 110th Street B/C station, which reopened over Labor Day weekend after being shut down in April, the New York Post reported. Most of the flooding issues are located near the station's West 109th Street entrance and in corners of the subway platforms, the Post reported.

An MTA spokesman blamed the flooding on contractors who incorrectly installed new tiles at the station during the five-month renovation, the Post reported. A "permanent fix" is coming to the station, the spokesman told the Post.

An MTA spokesman did not immediately return Patch's request for comment.

The transit authority said that contractors performed waterproofing work throughout the West 110th Street station while it was shut down for repairs as part of the MTA's Enhanced Stations Initiative. Other work as the station included new railings, digital signs, information dashboards, way-finding signs and a turnstile area with brighter lighting, MTA officials said. The MTA also completed structural fixes to the station's steel and concrete structure, mezzanine, walls, stairs and platforms.

"We're thrilled to be returning this station to the community in better condition than it's been in for decades, with critical structural repairs performed and brand new features that will make planning and taking trips with us easier and more convenient than ever," NYC Transit President Andy Byford said when announcing the ahead-of-schedule reopening.

Local elected officials held a rally at the station in April to criticize the MTA's decision not to include a wheelchair-accessible entrance to the station as part of the expensive renovation project.

The West 110th Street Station services 7,500 customers per day — mostly from the nearby Upper West Side and Harlem neighborhoods — transit officials said.

Photo by Patch