The Fulton Transit Center in August 2011

The August 1st opening of the new Fulton Street Transit Center entrance at 135 William Street marked a significant achievement on the stations path to completion. Now six years into construction, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has already completed several project phases, but the new entrance is one of the largest pieces of the puzzle to open to the public so far.

Today, customers benefit from the added convenience of the 135 William Street entrance, which captures the historic feel of Lower Manhattan and improves access to the subway lines at Fulton Street, said Michael Horodniceanu, MTA Capital Construction president. The opening of the entrance also marks another step towards the completion of the Fulton Street Transit Center, which will integrate mass transit and retail space within a state of the art facility poised to become Lower Manhattans next great public space.

The new eastern entrance is part of a larger contract that reconfigures the Fulton Street A/C mezzanine. Designed to ease congestion between the Fulton Street 2/3 and A/C stations, the 135 William entrance provides customers with improved access to the 2/3/4/5/A/C/J/Z lines. It features a restored original terra-cotta mural and decorative black iron gate from the 1912 McAlpin Hotel, which were previously installed in the Fulton Street A/C station; the mural is one of six that are being refinished and re-installed throughout the Transit Center.

The new entrance shares some of the same design elements that will carry through the entire complex. For example, on the A/C mezzanine -- scheduled to open in 2013 -- final finishes are now going up, including glass tiles and LCD-lit advertising panels. Some of its improvements will include two additional staircases from the platform to the mezzanine (for a total of 10 new staircases), along with five new elevators and two new escalators. Center columns on the mezzanine have also been removed to improve pedestrian flow. Additional entrances at 150 William Street and 129 Fulton Street set to open in 2012 will add to station-access improvements.

Other elements of the Fulton Transit Center continue to progress. Superstructure steel for the main building is slated for completion this fall. The southbound Cortlandt Street platform on the R line will reopen on or before September 11th, with new elevators and escalators to follow.

Station rehabilitation on the 4/5 continues, while the Dey Street Concourse is structurally complete, with crews at work on its interior wall cladding. They new entrance building at the corner of Broadway and Dey also is making progress towards a July 2012 opening.

Rehabilitation of the historic Corbin Building is continuing inside the 1888 landmark high rise, including structural work, exterior cleaning, and restoration of many original design elements. That project also is expected to be complete in late 2012.

Subway riders already are enjoying some Transit Center completed components, including the rehabilitated 2/3 Fulton Street station, new 4/5 platform southern entrances, and the northbound Cortlandt Street platform on the R line.

The Fulton Street Transit Center project is now more than 50 percent complete and proceeding on schedule. When it opens in June 2014, the $1.4 billion Fulton Transit Center will connect eleven subway lines across five platforms, improving access for more than 300,000 daily riders. The completed complex also will create more than 25,000 square feet of retail space at the corner of Broadway and Fulton Street, and will make the entire complex fully ADA compliant.

To read the MTAs July 2011 community stakeholders presentation (a PDF file), click here.

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