Astoria Blvd. Subway Station Closed For 9 Months

ASTORIA, QUEENS — The Astoria Boulevard subway station is closed for the MTA to add elevators and make other improvements.

The N/W train station closed at 10 p.m. on Sunday, March 17, for nine months, according to the MTA. The agency plans to add four elevators to the station and raise the height of the station to prevent trucks from hitting infrastructure underneath the station.

The MTA advises commuters to use the Ditmars Blvd. and 30 Ave. N/W stations while Astoria Blvd. is closed.

“We’ve been on a steady march of improvement work on the entire Astoria Line to increase reliability and improve safety and the customer experience, and this elevator project is a huge win for our customers,” NYC Transit President Andy Byford said. “Raising the height of the station is also vitally important for our train service and structure as well as the vehicles that use the streets below those elevated tracks.”

The MTA recently finished renovating the N/W stations at 30th Ave., 36th Ave., 39 Ave.-Dutch Kills and Broadway as part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's enhanced station initiative. Riders have criticized Cuomo's project as focusing on aesthetic fixes over accessibility and other much-needed repairs.

A federal judge this month ruled that the MTA must add elevators as part of certain subway renovation projects regardless of the cost.

In May 2018, Byford introduced his "Fast Forward Plan" to modernize the subway system, including a goal to add enough new elevators so riders will never be more than two stops away from an accessible station.

Click here for more information from the MTA on plans for the Astoria N/W line.