One of New York City’s oldest subway stations is now ADA-accessible. On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority completed a $106 million renovation of Downtown Brooklyn’s Borough Hall station, which now has three new elevators that make all of its platforms fully accessible and flood-mitigation measures that prevent water from running down stairs and grates during heavy rain. The project also repaired a section of the station’s ceiling that collapsed in 2018 and hit a woman.
Borough Hall is Brooklyn’s fourth-busiest subway station, serving the 2, 3, 4, and 5 trains. The station opened in 1908 as the first underground subway station in Brooklyn.
At 118 years old, the station is also one of the system’s oldest and, for more than a century, underwent few major upgrades, leaving it in “terrible shape,” Jamie Torres-Springer, president of MTA Construction & Development, said at Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, as Gothamist reported.
Those deteriorating conditions came to a head in June 2018, when a section of the station’s ceiling collapsed and struck a woman, leaving her with a concussion. At the time, the MTA’s inspector general issued an audit stating that the incident could have been avoided and criticized “flaws” in how NYC Transit conducts station inspections.
Passengers should no longer have to worry about falling ceilings at the station, as the MTA has completed the five-year project. Though not visible to riders, a 50-foot steel support girder now spans the entire station to reinforce the structure, according to Gothamist.
The agency also replaced the floors and subway tiles, upgraded lighting and critical systems including communications, plumbing, fire alarms, and drainage, installed new countdown clocks, and is restoring 10,000 square feet of the station’s historic terra-cotta mosaics from the original 1908 Interborough Rapid Transit Company station.
New flood-proofing measures have raised the curb and deepened the roadway on Joralemon Street adjacent to the station, preventing rainwater from spilling over the sidewalk and entering the station. The entrance’s top steps were also raised to reduce water runoff during heavy rainfall, a recurring issue across the city’s subway system.
The station’s upgrades are part of the MTA’s broader effort to make the subway system accessible for riders with disabilities. In June 2022, the agency committed to making 95 percent of subway stations ADA-accessible by 2055 as part of a settlement in two class-action lawsuits challenging the system’s inaccessibility, as 6sqft previously reported.
Completed during Disability Pride Month, the project added three new elevators, including one connecting the street to the mezzanine and two connecting the mezzanine to the platforms, now serving riders in both directions.
Work crews also reconstructed platform edges and tactile strips, installed new ADA boarding areas, enhanced the station’s agent booth, and added a new accessible employee bathroom.
“Delivering accessibility at Borough Hall required careful coordination while maintaining service at one of Brooklyn’s busiest stations,” Torres-Springer said. “It’s all part of the MTA’s commitment to deliver a transit system that every New Yorker can rely on—and celebrating this milestone during Disability Pride Month makes it even more significant.”
As of Wednesday, the project was not fully complete. According to Gothamist, several countdown clocks remained wrapped in plastic, while Torres-Springer said crews were still completing remaining work.
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