Major Progress at Kings Highway Station: Final Elevator Tower Installations

In the early hours of August 17^th and August 24^th, Forte Construction successfully completed the rigging of Elevator Towers EL 796 and EL 797, our final steel elevator towers at Kings Highway Station. These installations follow the first tower, EL 795, which was successfully installed this past May. Together, the three, two-stop elevator towers will transform accessibility at this elevated station, giving local and express, F-train riders convenient elevator access. EL 795 will transport passengers from street level up to the Control Area at the mezzanine level, and EL 796 and EL 797 will transport passengers from the mezzanine level up to the Northbound and Southbound platforms - these milestones are a part of a much larger effort to modernize this station.

In addition to the elevator towers, our scope of work includes the full demolition and reconstruction of the N557 Control Area at the north end of the station, which features an expanded footprint incorporating two new elevator machine rooms (EMRs), an expanded Communications Room, a reserve Electrical Distribution Room (EDR), a new Agent Booth, the latest MTA AFC equipment, and other architectural features which will aesthetically modernize the station. Additionally, our work includes extensions to the platform canopies, civil construction at street level, a Dry Fire Standpipe system, and upgrades to MEP and Communications. All these upgrades will bring a modern look to the station and improve functionality.

The steel elevator towers were fabricated entirely off-site and delivered in one piece. They were then installed using a hydraulic crane placed at street level. During the single-track outages, the local train closest to the crane operation would switch onto the express track and offload passengers onto the opposite platform. This allowed the F-train service to continue as scheduled without station closures or the need for supplementary MTA bus service.

The success of this operation came down to careful scheduling. To minimize disruption, our team carried out crane picks during the early hours of Sunday mornings, when express service was offline and local trains arrived only every 20 minutes. With additional approval from the MTA to briefly hold the next train for 10 minutes, the team was given just 30 minutes to complete each lift; a tight but carefully planned window that demanded precision and coordination at every step. This was a true test of timing, teamwork, and discipline. Every element had to come together perfectly: excavation, foundations, steel fabrication, and platform demolition all had to be completed precisely on schedule for the crane operation to succeed. Our Quality and Safety teams were central to this success, ensuring that while the work was completed under pressure, safety and accuracy were never compromised.

With the final tower installed, the Kings Highway Package 3 team has entered an exciting new phase of this project. This milestone not only brings us one step closer to completion but allows the team to shift their focus to planning the additional work in order to ensure we remain on schedule.

This operation would not have been possible without the coordination, collaboration and partnership with DOT, Transit, and the MTA. Forte is proud to be a key subcontractor to the Package 3 Design-Build Team led by Halmar International and Lead Designer, Dewberry Engineers, and the MTA; this major achievement represents what teamwork can accomplish!