Cortlandt station to close in August for Fulton hub project

The new Fulton Transit hub will eventually transform Downtown into the Grand Central Station of Lower Manhattan, but for the foreseeable future getting around the neighborhood is going to be more cumbersome than ever.

Beginning in mid August, the Cortlandt St. station on the R and W lines will close for six to nine months while the Metropolitan Transit Authority begins work on a new Dey St. passageway connecting Cortlandt St. with the new PATH station, the World Trade Center site and the rest of the Fulton St. complex to the east at Broadway.

Plans to connect the R and W lines with the E line at Chambers St. were scrapped last month, along with other elements of the plan, to keep the $750 million project within budget. With the design scaled back, the project is now expected to cost $785 million, down from $825 million, although additional changes may occur in the future.

“We are modifying the design as we go along,” said William Wheeler, director of special project development for the M.T.A., at a recent Community Board 1 meeting.

Work on Dey St. will begin this month and continue through Oct. 2007 and at least one lane of vehicular traffic will remain open during the construction period. The M.T.A. will generally work on the project from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. on weekends as needed.

Work began on the project in January and is expected to continue through 2008, with periodic train line closures and re-routings mainly on nights and weekends.

—Ronda Kaysen

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