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The project is scheduled to be complete by the end of 2008
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A little more than three years since it began, construction of the new South Ferry subway terminal is now in its final phase. The new $517 million station is on target for a December 2008 opening, with the heavy-duty work complete and only finishing work outstanding.
Contractor Judlau Construction is handling the multi-faceted finishing job. Currently, crews are focused on final track and utility installation, as well as tying in station signals to the electric system.
The electric will power the new terminal’s seven escalators and two elevators, which will make South Ferry ADA-compliant for the first time ever.
Crew members are already using the station’s three new entrances -- open now only as bare concrete -- including two outside Whitehall Ferry Terminal and one outside Battery Park at State Street. Each new entrance will have its own headhouse, providing direct access to the north, middle, and south platform areas.
Unlike the original station, which connects to the street with only one flight of stairs, easing access is vital at the new station where platforms are 80 feet below grade. The station’s low depth has also required the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to control the station’s climate by installing an air-tempering system, similar to the one used at the Grand Central subway station.
Inside, a new concourse will link South Ferry to the R/W Whitehall Street station. And on the mezzanine level, a section of one of three 17th-century walls discovered during the 2005 excavation will soon return to the site -- rebuilt as it stood for centuries as part of an early New York fort. (Additional sections of the walls may also be rebuilt in Battery Park.)
Within the next few weeks, more than 2,000 feet of steel tracks will have been installed at the new terminal. The electric system should be up-and-running by then, and project managers will be operating work and test trains through the station.
If construction plans continue on schedule, the new 10-car-long South Ferry terminal will open at the end of 2008. The MTA will then seal the original five-car-long station, making a relic out of a platform built more than a century ago.
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