Work has finally begun to overhaul the 86th Street R train station in Bay Ridge.
Buoyed by a $13.5-million budget, Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers will re-tile walls, repair cracks and waterproof the entire station during a two-year project that was originally set to start in April.
All anyone could say was, “Finally.”
“That station has looked like a dungeon for about 40 years,” Community Board 10 member George Prezioso told the Bay Ridge Courier, our sister publication.
The mezzanine level will remain disheveled due to the MTA’s budget deficit.
And the transit agency is still trying to hash out what to do with its customers while the most invasive portions of the work is done. Spokeswoman Melissa Farley suggested that the station could be closed on some weekends, with shuttle buses ready to provide backup service.
She also said that an elevator would not be added to the station at this time.
“That’s a future project,” she said, citing the budget.
