MTA Begins Accessibility Work at Bryant Park and Brands Projects ‘Made Possible by Congestion Pricing’

Overview

• The MTA and state officials announced Thursday that construction has started at the 42nd Street–Bryant Park/5th Avenue complex, the first visible subway elevator project financed with congestion-pricing revenue.
• The agency has begun placing “Made Possible by Congestion Pricing” signage on funded projects to show drivers and riders how tolls are being used.
• The Bryant Park work will add four new elevators, build a stair-free corridor between the B/D/F/M and 7 lines, reconstruct platforms, upgrade fare gates, and renovate station bathrooms with a target to complete the next phase by late 2028.
• Congestion-pricing revenue is being counted as $15 billion of the MTA’s 2020–2024 Capital Plan with about $2 billion earmarked to make 23 stations accessible and immediate projects at five other stations in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens.
• The upgrades respond to a 2023 court-approved settlement that requires roughly 95% of stations be ADA-accessible by 2055 and follow early congestion-pricing results that raised about $550 million in year one while cutting roughly 70,000 daily vehicle entries into Manhattan’s toll zone.