Fulton Street Transit Center

The MTA has posted the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Fulton Street Transit Center (FSTC). This is one of the major transit projects receiving Federal funding as part of the post-9/11 aid package.

The FSTC is a massive reconstruction of the Fulton-Broadway-Nassau station complex, the 9th busiest in the subway system, where the Broadway (2,3), Lexington (4,5), Eighth Avenue (A,C) and Nassau St (J,M,Z) Lines meet. It was originally four separate stations, constructed early in the 20th century by three competing companies that had no interest in working together. Free transfers between the lines were added when the city took over the entire subway system at mid-century, but the design of the complex was never rationalized. It is a bewildering array of ramps and staircases, with dozens of entrances, many of which are poorly located and far too narrow to accommodate peak passenger loads.

As part of this project:

The 2/3 and 4/5 stations, which are basically unchanged since they were built in the early 1900s, will be rehabilitated.

The A/C mezzanine will be totally rebuilt, eliminating a confusing series of ramps, and improving connections to the 2/3 and 4/5.

The whole station complex will become ADA compliant.

There will be a new "grand point of entry" on the east side of Broadway, between Fulton and John Streets. Five buildings on that block will be demolished, with only the historic Corbin Building (on the corner of John and Broadway) surviving.

There will be new entrances Broadway and Maiden Lane. The entrances on the west side of Broadway will be totally rebuilt, including a new headhouse at the corner of Dey and Broadway (with the low-rise building on the south corner of that intersection demolished). Most other entrances will be widened and made more accessible.

There will be a new underground passageway along Dey Street, connecting the complex to the World Trade Center.

There will be a new free transfer between the N/R and the E at the World Trade Center.

The MTA considered ten alternatives, of which two will receive further analysis in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) later this year. The two surviving alternatives differ mainly in how they deal with the Corbin Building at the corner of John and Broadway. In one alternative, the Corbin Building is untouched; in the other, the Corbin building is acquired as part of the project, and integrated into the new entrance building along Broadway. The description in the DEIS strongly suggests that the MTA prefers this latter option.

Construction is set to start in late 2004, with completion in 2007.