N.Y. MTA seeks design-build teams to bring accessibility to stations

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is seeking qualified design-build teams to bring accessibility to 23 stations across the five boroughs as called for in the MTA’s 2020-2024 Capital Plan.

The teams will make full vertical accessibility at the stations by installing elevators and making other improvements in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The expedited design-build contracts will be awarded to the companies whose proposals offer the best value to the MTA based on an evaluation of qualitative factors, as well as cost and schedule.

“Accessibility is a top priority for the MTA, and we are committed to completing these accessibility projects as quickly as possible,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Patrick J. Foye. “The Capital Plan’s historic $5.2 billion investment in accessibility brings us one step closer to creating the equitable transit system New Yorkers deserve.”

Work at each station will generally include the design and construction of:

• Two to three new elevators per station.
• Structural and excavation work to accommodate new elevator installations.
• Electrical power upgrades, when necessary.
• Station communications systems upgrades, when necessary.
• Relocation of existing public and transit utilities.
• Replacement, relocation, and/or addition of staircases from street to mezzanines and mezzanines to platforms.
• Reconstruction of entire platform edges and/or reconstruction of ADA boarding areas.
• Additional work may be necessary based on existing conditions at the stations.

The historic 2020-2024 Capital Plan will invest $51.5 billion across the region’s subways, buses, commuter rail systems, and bridges and tunnels over the next five years. The plan is the largest in MTA history and includes $40 billion devoted to NYC Transit’s subway system and bus network, with priority given to accelerating accessibility. NYC Transit’s Fast Forward plan to modernize the subway system established the goal of making at least 50 more subway stations accessible in five years so that customers would not have to travel farther than two stops to reach an accessible station. The 2020-2024 Capital Plan not only meets that goal, but goes beyond it with a total of 70 stations.

The first 48 stations identified in September met the “never more than two-stations away” coverage goal, and went even further by including several important transfer points and complexes, and other community priority stations. The 20 additional stations identified in December further increase citywide geographic coverage and were chosen based on factors including demographics, transfers and intermodal connections, constructability, ridership, and synergy with other work planned for the 2020-2024 Capital Plan in order to maximize resources and minimize adverse impact on customers and communities from the construction process.