Kings Highway Station Becomes Fully Accessible for the First Time

Three new elevators were placed into service at Kings Highway Station on August 14, making the F-line station fully accessible for the first time. EL 795 connects the street to the mezzanine, while EL 796 and EL 797 connect the mezzanine to the northbound and southbound platforms, respectively.

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As a key subcontractor to the Package 3 Design-Build Team led by Halmar International, Forte Construction worked alongside the MTA, Lead Designer Dewberry Engineers, and project partners to complete the accessibility upgrades at Kings Highway.

Upgrades extended throughout the station and included reconstructing the N557 Control Area with a newly designed full-time agent booth, installing temporary and new fare control equipment, extending the platform canopies, reconstructing the accessible boarding areas, and completing sidewalk and street-lighting improvements. The project also added new elevator machine rooms, a new reserve electrical room and upgraded the station’s electrical, communications, HVAC, full station fire alarm and life safety systems.

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A major part of the work involved installing three elevator towers that were fabricated off-site and carefully rigged into place. The street-to-mezzanine tower was installed during a full-station outage, while the two platform towers were installed during consecutive weekend single-track outages. These operations required close coordination among the construction team, MTA operations, NYC DOT, and project partners within the station’s constrained footprint.

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Before being placed into service, all three elevators completed the required inspections and testing through close coordination among Forte’s field team, Halmar, the MTA and PCEO, Dewberry, subcontractors, and commissioning teams.

The impact of the improvements was clear during the station’s opening celebration. Community members shared their excitement about having elevator access closer to home instead of traveling farther to reach an accessible station. Kings Highway now provides an important new accessible connection for riders on the F line.

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Kings Highway is the fifth and final station included in Forte’s Package 3 scope. Its completion represents the hard work and collaboration of the many team members and project partners who brought the station from construction through final commissioning and into service.