Officials held a groundbreaking at the Classon Avenue station in Brooklyn on Monday for a project that will make the stop along the G train line fully accessible. 

The majority of the $57 million project is being paid for with federal funds, part of a larger bundle of $500 million in federal funds for accessibility upgrades to 13 stations across the city. 

What You Need To Know

  • Officials held a groundbreaking at the Classon Avenue station in Brooklyn on Monday for a project that will make the stop along the G train line fully accessible

  • The majority of the $57 million project is being paid for with federal funds, part of a larger bundle of $500 million in federal funds for accessibility upgrades to 13 stations across the city

  • The groundbreaking comes at a time when the MTA has warned that other accessibility projects will have to be put on hold due to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing

“Here at Classon Avenue, we’re talking about adding three new elevators and 3,500 square feet of space through customer circulation improvements,” MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said at the event. “A wider mezzanine, seven refurbished staircases, four new turnstiles.”

House Democratic leader and Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries was on hand to celebrate.

“I used to think that the G in ‘G train’ stood for gangster, because it was a rough line,” Jeffries said. “But over the last several years, certainly the last several decades, under the leadership of the MTA, a lot of tender love and affection has gone into making the G train the subway line that it should be.”

But the groundbreaking comes at a time when the MTA has warned that other accessibility projects will have to be put on hold due to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s pause on congestion pricing. 

While the pause has caused the MTA to move some state funding away from accessibility upgrades and toward what’s called “state of good repair” fixes, Lieber says these specific accessibility projects are funded with federal money that can only be used for this purpose.

“When we have projects that, where the money can only go to ADA, we’re on it like, like we’re on a cheap suit, or white on rice, whatever phrase you want to use,” Lieber said.

It’s not the only station in Brooklyn undergoing construction to become more accessible.

Service changes began Monday morning at the Church Avenue B and Q station in Brooklyn, where the MTA is set to make some major upgrades, including new street-to-platform elevators, two new stairways, a new fare control area, and ADA compliance upgrades.

Southbound B and Q trains will skip the station until the fall. B trains will also run on local tracks between Prospect Park and Kings Highway. 

Commuters like Rhona Melsky say the station is long overdue for some upgrades, and walking to nearby Parkside Avenue for southbound service would be worth it.

“I think it’s a good project in the end. Of course, it’s an inconvenience, but that’s New York. So, as long as there’s another way. I think we have to walk to the other station, so, I think it’s long overdue,” Melsky said. “And this station has been really, really bad, especially when it rains. I’m always afraid to walk on it, I’m afraid I’m going to trip and slip and fall and break my neck, to be honest with you, so hopefully they’ll fix that issue as well.”