{"id":135006,"date":"2025-08-10T18:41:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T18:41:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/135006\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T18:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T18:41:14","slug":"nycs-tallest-subway-station-to-get-elevators-putting-accessibility-on-the-ascent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/135006\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC\u2019s tallest subway station to get elevators, putting accessibility on the ascent"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"brooklyn-rain-smith-9th-streets-links-2023-sdevries-3\"\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Heavy rain at the Smith-9th Street station in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

Photo by Susan De Vries<\/p>\n

New York City\u2019s tallest subway station will soon have elevators, ending the daunting climb to the platform, state officials announced Friday.\n<\/p>\n

The Smith-9th Street subway stop in Gowanus, Brooklyn is the tallest station in New York City and one of the tallest in the world. Rising nearly 90 feet above ground, it lacks elevators and efficient escalators, making accessibility difficult for many New Yorkers \u2014 including people with disabilities, seniors and commuters carrying packages.<\/p>\n

However, the accessibility challenges at the busy station, home to the F and G trains, are about to change. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, who represents the area, said on Aug. 8 that the station will get elevator access as part of the MTA\u2019s approved $68.4 billion capital plan for 2025-2029.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day, New Yorkers hike the stairs up this station like they\u2019re climbing Mount Everest, struggling to catch the train on time. And if you use a wheelchair, push your child in a stroller, travel with luggage or simply struggle climbing the stairs, forget about it,\u201d Gounardes said. \u201cWith elevators coming to the Smith-9th Street station, that\u2019s finally going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The MTA did not say when the elevators would open at the 92-year-old station. But the announcement follows the opening of the fully ADA-accessible Bay Ridge-95th Street station<\/a> in Brooklyn on July 8.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon commended the MTA<\/a> for making accessibility a priority in its capital plan, adding that the Smith-9th Street station has a \u201clong history\u201d of escalators breaking down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAdding elevators to the station is a huge win for transit equity and for the thousands of riders who rely on this stop every day,\u201d Simon said. \u201cClimbing the tallest station in the system shouldn\u2019t be an endurance test. I commend the MTA for making accessibility a priority in the Capital Plan, especially at tough stations like Smith-9th that present greater challenges than most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials said the upgrades will bring the subway system to more than 50% accessibility.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cNo station better demonstrates the need for accessibility than Smith-9th Street, the highest point in the entire subway system, and we\u2019re excited to start work there and throughout the borough soon,\u201d MTA chief accessibility officer Quemuel Arroyo, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The MTA has to meet a court-approved settlement to ensure that 95% of NYC\u2019s subway stations are ADA-accessible by 2055.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heavy rain at the Smith-9th Street station in Brooklyn. Photo by Susan De Vries New York City\u2019s tallest…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":135007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,1121,81501,9904,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,81502,81503,11900,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-135006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brooklyn","10":"tag-jo-ann-simon","11":"tag-mta","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-nys-senator-andrew-gounardes","19":"tag-subway-stations-with-elevators","20":"tag-transit","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115005940584234840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}