Work on the future station's foundation has been underway for nearly a year

Since it secured nearly a half million dollars in additional funding last May, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is moving full speed ahead on Fulton Street Transit Center construction.

According to Program Executive Uday Durg, who updated Community Board 1 this week, several early milestones have been met for the main Transit Center site at Broadway and Fulton Street. The main building’s foundation work has been steady for nearly a year now, and with secant pile walls now complete, MTA crews are excavating the site down to about 40 feet below grade through December 2009.

Meanwhile, the $14.7 million project to underpin the historic Corbin Building has started with Skanska Construction crews installing a jet-grout plant inside the work zone at Broadway and Dey. The grout, a cement-like slurry, will be pumped below Broadway to the base of the Corbin Building to shore up its foundations -- the first step in its ultimate restoration. And to keep that initiative on track, the MTA will issue the Corbin Building restoration work RFP later this month, with work to begin late next year.

Beneath the main building site, one of the biggest components of the Transit Center construction is ramping up. Skanska crews have started the $119 million reconstruction of the “A/C mezzanine” that links to the 4/5 platform. They are in the process of removing the murals and the historic gate on the mezzanine for preservation offsite, and putting up barricades that separate riders from work zones inside the station.

Since this work involves extensive reconstruction, service disruptions will be necessary, predominantly on weekends, and with more rush-hours station staffers on site. Durg said that the MTA is placing advertisements in local publications, posting signs, and reaching out to local stakeholders to help raise awareness of the project’s scale and duration. The A/C mezzanine work is slated for 2013 completion, though the accompanying work on a new entrance at William Street will wrap up earlier, in 2011.

For the 4/5 platform rehabilitation and Dey Street Headhouse construction, a separate contract was awarded in August to contractor WDF Inc. Their crews are gradually starting that work, and will escalate it later this year following the jet-grout work at the Corbin Building.

The MTA is committed to rolling out project elements as they are completed, and to that end, in December the northbound platform of the R/W Cortlandt Street station will be reopened. Durg said the tentative plan is to reopen the southbound platform by September 11, 2011, though that greatly depends on the state of World Trade Center redevelopment along Church Street.

Quality of life initiatives are top of mind as Durg’s contractors continue their heavy construction. Crews are using low-emission diesel fuel in its equipment, thoroughly wash vehicles exiting the work site, and try to work under the decibel threshold for noisy operations. The MTA also is closely monitoring vibrations and settlement of surrounding buildings, as well as recycling soil and other materials as they are excavated.

Durg’s team is coordinating the extensive work with the city Department of Transportation, since road closures on Broadway and several other streets will be necessary, especially in rehabilitating the 4/5 subway platform’s roof.

The MTA is working to issue all four of the remaining the Transit Center contracts as soon as possible to “take advantage of current market conditions,” said Durg. That would help keep construction costs as low as possible, with contractors bidding more competitively.

Related Links