For more than 100 years, New York’s Grand Central Terminal (GCT) has served as a major fulcrum point for the city – bringing together transportation, civic architecture and commerce within one of the world’s most famous and historically cherished buildings.

GCT’s cultural relevance and the significant value it brings to New York City and all of the communities it touches has made STV’s long-standing role supporting its prosperity and evolution so rewarding.

STV’s partnership with GCT and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) was most recently demonstrated with the unveiling of a new passenger tunnel connecting the terminal to the No. 7 Subway Line’s Grand Central 42^nd Street station. Serving as the designer- and engineer-of-record, STV was a key part of the design-build team led by Skanska that helped deliver this complex underground connector. With more than 500,000 visitors using the station every day, this new underground passageway – which was executed using the innovative Sequential Excavation Methods – is expected to significantly improve passenger circulation between the subway station and GCT.

But that’s just one example of how STV has worked with the MTA, the community and other key stakeholders to improve GCT’s operations and durability. That journey starts in the 1990s when, Grand Central – an established New York City landmark, but a facility that was sorely in need of improvements after decades of deferred maintenance – underwent a massive restoration program. Led by Beyer, Blinder, Belle, STV served as the lead engineer, delivering more than $160 million in improvements as part of a program that earned the Presidential Design Award, one of the most prestigious honors in our industry.

That program’s completion marked what most consider to be a new chapter in GCT’s history. With this increase in visibility and appreciation came new needs and challenges for the terminal. One of those was better streamlining the flow of MTA Metro-North Railroad commuters who were accessing the terminal from New York State and Connecticut. At the time, GCT’s upper and lower platforms could only be accessed through the main terminal, located at the southern end of the facility. The platforms beneath 42^nd Street extended northward four to six city blocks, and yet commuters had to backtrack into the terminal concourse to reach exits – causing delays for nearly 40,000 daily commuters.

STV provided architecture and engineering design services for North End Access, a program that brought four new street-level entrances: two between 45^th and 46^th streets, one on 48^th Street and Park Avenue, and one on 47^th Street east of Madison Avenue. Similar to the pedestrian passageway at Grand Central 42^nd Street station, North End Access delivered a more intuitive, convenient solution to the commuting public.

Concurrent with GCT’s rehabilitation and North End Access, the foundation for another major MTA program was being established – Long Island Rail Road’s (LIRR) East Side Access, now known as Grand Central Madison. For decades, the MTA was looking to expand LIRR capacity to the east side of Manhattan. STV conducted the initial operational and physical feasibility study and the Major Investment Study that allowed the project to receive federal funding. Then, when it was determined that the service would extend to a new terminal underneath the existing GCT, STV, in joint venture, provided tunnel, structures, systems, terminal design and environmental engineering services for the initiative.

The largest single construction program ever undertaken by MTA Construction & Development, the service dramatically shortens travel times for Long Island and Queens commuters traveling to Manhattan’s east side. The new station – located two levels below GCT – features eight tracks and four platforms, as well as retail and restaurant space and waiting areas. In a call back to the historical grandeur of the terminal above it, Grand Central Madison received the 2024 Prix Versailles Interior Award, marking it as the “World’s Most Beautiful Passenger Station.”

In our industry, we relish the opportunity to deliver transformative infrastructure that has a generational impact on communities. For STV, our decades of support for GCT has given us that opportunity – plus the ability to contribute to the enduring legacy of one of the world’s most unique facilities.