Inwood Sewer Project Will Mean 4 Years Of Construction, MTA Says

INWOOD, NY — An MTA project to fix flooding problems at an Inwood subway yard will mean more than four years of construction near West 207th Street station, according to officials.

The transit agency plans to build a flood wall at the 207th Street subway yard, found just north of the station, so that its trains are protected from water that overflows from the underground sewers during a storm.

The project, which they estimate will take 50 months, was prompted by flooding in the subway tunnel during Hurricane Sandy, MTA officials told Community Board 12's Traffic and Transportation Committee earlier this month.

To build the wall, workers will need to move all the sewer regulators out of the train yard, shift the "inceptor sewer" to 10th Avenue and dig into the ground every 300 feet, officials said.

Officials said the "micro-tunneling" method of digging is meant to be less disruptive to the neighborhood. Workers will use sensors during the tunneling to measure its vibrations and noise levels, officials said.

(Keep up with NYC events and news by subscribing to Washington Heights/Inwood’s Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

Most of the work will be contained to the subway yard, where officials said work will likely wrap up by 8 p.m. each day, even though contractors are allowed to work 24 hours a day within the property.

About two years into the project, construction will spill out onto nearby streets.

That phase of the project, which will take up parking lanes on West 212th and 215th streets, will be done from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. each day, officials said.

The MTA told the committee that a nearby parking garage will not be impacted by the project, but that they will come back with more specific information about how parking will change on the local streets.

Transit officials did not immediately respond to questions about when the project is scheduled to begin.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.