Gross Dust Cloud Created By Work At UWS Subway Stop, Report Says

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Work to rid an Upper West Side subway station of caked-on sediment and dirt ended up creating a cloud of trash-infused dust that made it hard to breath for commuters and forced the MTA to bypass the station during Monday morning's rush hour, the Daily News first reported.

Planned Monday morning work at the West 72nd Street and Broadway station included "cleaning drains and troughs" near the station as part of the MTA's subway action repair plan, MTA officials told the Daily News. The order required workers to scrape the roadbed of "nontoxic sediment and caked dirt" the Daily News reported.

What the MTA wasn't counting on was the dried-up dirt and trash creating a cloud of dust big enough to generate a fire scare. Although crews initially thought the cloud was smoke, it turned out to be byproduct of the muck that was being cleared from the station, the Daily News reported.

A smoke cloud forced trains to bypass the West 72nd Street station between 7-8:30 a.m. and to move slowly through the station between 10:30 a.m-12 p.m., an MTA official told the Daily News.

Read the full Daily News article here.

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