The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on Wednesday said it will start key transit projects funded by revenue generated by congestion pricing that will affect Brooklyn subway commuters.
The MTA approved $1.75 billion in key transit projects, including modernizing subway signals on the A and C lines.
“Almost one year since implementation, the list of improvements funded by congestion pricing keeps growing," MTA Chair and Chief Executive Officer Janno Lieber said in a statement. "These latest projects mean that riders on the A and C will get faster and more reliable service and less time being delayed by old signals.”
The project will bring Communications-Based Train Control to the Fulton Street Line in Brooklyn and the Liberty Avenue Line in Queens between Jay Street-MetroTech and Ozone Park-Lefferts Boulevard stations, replacing century-old legacy signal systems that date back to the line’s opening in 1936. It will also repair and replace switches, install upgraded tunnel lighting and run cabling to support the deployment of cellular service through the tunnels, officials said.
In addition, the Gates Avenue station, on the border of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick, on the J and Z lines will get accessibility upgrades.
“Nearly one year in, congestion pricing has already sped up traffic and cleaned our air, and now it is supporting generational upgrades to our subway system,” Governor Kathy Hochul said. “We've already shown what we can do when we support transit — ridership continues to climb and subway performance is at record highs. When these projects are completed, hundreds of thousands of riders will benefit from even more reliable and accessible service thanks to these significant investments.”
