New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority intends to close the main entrance to its Whitehall Street-South Ferry subway station at the lower tip of Manhattan while it completes its $194 million rehabilitation.
During this period, customers can access the complex, which serves the No. 1 and R subway lines, through the Staten Island Ferry terminal building or across the street at the Whitehall Street entrance.
In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy sent 15 million gallons of salt water into the new South Ferry station, destroying all electrical and mechanical systems and components and filling the entire structure from the track level to the mezzanine, 80 feet down. The flood water, a mix of seawater, sewage, and debris, caused extensive damage to the station and critical equipment.
The authority in 2009 completed a $600 million renovation – including decorative tiling -- for the station, which sits below the water table.
The ongoing 31-month rehabilitation project includes leak mitigation, replacement of track, mechanical, electrical, signal, and communications equipment, as well as ceiling and wall panels and other damaged assets, MTA officials said.
The restoration is part of an effort to make lower Manhattan's mass-transit system far less vulnerable to weather events and rising tides.
