Harlem Transportation Hub: Columbia/MTA Partnership will Give Riders a Lift at W. 125th St.

The MTA and Columbia University held an upbeat morning press conference West 125th Street and Broadway to kick off a new public/private partnership between the two, facilitating long-awaited improvements at the 125th Street #1 Line Station.

With tie-ins to nearby ferry service, and eventually the westward extension of the Second Avenue Subway, the subway improvements are envisioned as a bid to make this part of northern Manhattan into a transportation hub.

Columbia pledged $33 million to help with widening the subway escalators, which were originally planned in 2007, according to a May 8 press conference.

State Senator Cordell Cleare spoke of residents at the Harlem Independent Living Center, pointing out more than 30 years ago the general lack of accessibility in Upper Manhattan. “Our community has been waiting for this day for some time.”

The aptly-named Elevator Lobby, a group of locals made up of the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, Morningside Retirement Health Services, and others had spent the last four years nudging Columbia to improve accessibility as a community commitment.

When Columbia’s new Manhattanville Campus, located north of 125th Street and west of Broadway was planned in the early 2000’s, no thought was given to any potential increased passenger volume generated by the new campus.

NYCHA complexes General Grant and Manhattanville Houses are also close by, as are the Morningside Gardens apartments, each with both aging populations and new families.

MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber was effusive in his remarks to announce the organization’s part in the station upgrade, slated to start in 2028. “A really big win,” he said, since “6,500 people use the station every day. We love doing accessibility, especially for this transit dependent community in NYC. This is a community where people do not take Ubers to work. The subway makes New York affordable.”

“These upgrades at 125 Street show how public-private partnerships can accelerate the improvements New Yorkers rely on,” observed MTA Construction & Development President Jamie Torres-Springer.

He mentioned that while Columbia needed to widen the two escalators, the MTA needed to make the station accessible, the platforms needed to be in a state of good repair. Three elevators will be installed, one from the street to the mezzanine and two from the mezzanine to the northbound and southbound platforms.

When completed, the elevators will enable accessibility for all, including the mobility-challenged, seniors, families with strollers, luggage-schlepping travelers and two-wheeled vehicle users, heretofore not available on the #1 line north of 96th Street.

But the good news didn’t stop there. In January, Governor Hochul, in her State of the State address, mentioned extension of the Second Avenue Line west to Broadway and West 125th Street, running more than a mile, with stations at Lenox Avenue, St. Nicholas Avenue, and Broadway, creating the first-ever east-west subway connection in Upper Manhattan.

MTA Chair Lieber observed that with an approved new state budget, it was a matter of sending the Second Avenue tunnel boring machine west of Lenox Avenue. “An incredible piece of serendipity and time, the project is moving forward as part of the new budget.”

Representative Adriano Espaillat spoke of the new Upper Manhattan subway connection between the East Side and West Side, a boon for residents who would no longer need to connect through Times Square. He also mentioned potential new ferries on West 125th and East 125th Streets, making for a Harlem transportation hub at a revitalized #1 station.

Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal added “For the thousands of students, commuters, seniors, improvements will make navigating the subway safer, easier, and more accessible. I’m grateful to the MTA and Columbia University for partnering to finance this critical project, and to the local elected officials, the Morningside Heights Community Coalition, and Community Board 9 whose years of advocacy helped make this investment possible.”

Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief accessibility officer Quemuel Arroyo was also in attendance. His story was far more personal than most others in attendance. Confined to a wheelchair, now to get to his office, he has to take two buses to transfer to the #1 train at 96th Street, where there is an elevator to help him on his daily commute.

Construction and Design President Torres-Springer told Straus News during a post-conference question and answer session that while design work was starting for the complicated project, actual construction work will commence in 2028. A dollar amount was not assigned, although previous elevators on the system have cost upwards of $70 million.