Community Corner
New Smith-9th St. Station is Not Handicap Accessible
Brooklyn residents who are mobility impaired must negotiate stairs and escalators.
In all of the excitement surrounding the reopening of the Smith-9th St. station on Friday, most straphangers eyes were focused on renovation improvements. But for one segment of the population, the tallest station in the world remains inaccessible.
As first reported on Gothamist, MTA officials have confirmed that despite costing $32 million, and taking two years to complete, the 88-foot-high station renovations do not include handicap ramps or elevators.
"The design for ADA elevators at this station was structurally unwieldy and financially prohibitive due to the station's layout," MTA spokesman Kevin Ortiz was quoted as saying in the article. "There are ADA stations along the F line at Jay Street-MetroTech and Church Avenue."
In addition to those with mobility issues, those with strollers and the elderly will have to negotiate two sets of stairs as well as narrow escalators in order to board an F or G train at the station.
"How did NYC officials let that happen?" tweeted one local business owner in response.
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