As construction of the new Fulton St. Transit Center continues, straphangers will see more service interruptions in the existing station.
The biggest planned change is that from March through October, A/C trains will bypass the station on weekends, except for on major holidays, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.
“That will allow us to accelerate the work,” said Michael Horodniceanu, president of capital construction for the M.T.A., at a Community Board 1 meeting Monday night.
The $1.4 billion transit center, connecting 12 subway lines and the World Trade Center PATH trains, is scheduled to open in June 2014. Horodniceanu said the current schedule shows the station opening even sooner, but he allowed that construction can be unpredictable. The new station was once slated to open in 2009 but was delayed mainly because the M.T.A. could not fund it. A $424 million boost of federal stimulus money last year put the project back on track.
Horodniceanu said the only missing funding piece now is from the Port Authority to repair the southbound R/W station at Cortlandt St., which was damaged by the Port’s World Trade Center construction. The northbound R/W Cortlandt station opened in December, and the M.T.A. hopes to open the southbound side by the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, as long as the Port Authority comes through with the necessary $20 million to $25 million.
“The wheels are not moving as fast as we would like them,” Horodniceanu said, but he added that he was not concerned about getting the money from the Port eventually.
Steve Coleman, Port Authority spokesperson, said in an e-mail that the Cortlandt St. money was just one of many issues the Port was discussing with the M.T.A.
— Julie Shapiro
