STV’s New York team recently marked a major milestone with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) as the Church Avenue station on the B and Q subway lines in Brooklyn became fully accessible.
The program encompassed a new entrance on East 18 Street, two modern elevators, two new stairways, a new fare array and a transfer bridge featuring a customer information screen. Additional accessibility upgrades included Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)-compliant raised boarding areas and yellow tactile edge strips along the platform.
“The Church Avenue project represented the kind of thoughtful, hands-on engineering work that directly impacts riders’ daily experiences,” said Henri Dion-Gokan, resident engineer at STV. “From the elevators to the transfer bridge, every detail was designed to make the station safe, functional and welcoming.”
Church Avenue was one of several key accessibility milestones delivered under the MTA’s innovative public-private partnership (P3) program for transit accessibility. The STV team also supported the completion of two new elevators at the 34th Street-Penn Station subway complex, serving the A, C and E lines. The elevators were placed into service by the end of the year, further expanding accessible travel options at one of the busiest transit hubs in the city.
“Delivering accessibility improvements at a station as complex and heavily used as 34th Street–Penn Station required close coordination and careful sequencing to minimize impacts to riders,” said Stelinger Guillet, STV resident engineer for the 34th Street-Penn Station project. “Bringing these elevators online was a meaningful step toward improving access at a critical transportation hub.”
The Church Avenue and 34th Street-Penn Station projects are part of a design-build-finance-maintain (DBFM) contract to upgrade 34 elevators in 13 subway stations citywide, with Naik Consulting Group, PC serving as a key subconsultant to STV. STV, on behalf of MTA Construction & Development, is providing project management, construction management and design compliance services for the program, advancing systemwide accessibility across New York City.
“This project demonstrated our continued commitment to making the city’s subway system accessible and reliable for all riders,” said Carl Lightburn, STV team leader and project manager. “Our team’s dedication to quality, safety and adaptability ensured these improvements will serve the neighborhood for years to come.”
