Which Brooklyn Subway Stops Are On the Verge of Collapse?
D; 9th Ave station
The 9th Avenue stop on the D is an incredibly busy stop which is inspected regularly. So, great, right? No problem here. Well, except, surprise! The currently in use station is actually located above and supported by another, now defunct station which never gets inspected because it is not in use. And, this no longer-in-use, lower level station, which “supports the upper, active level of the station, including its platforms and tracks…is deteriorated in that it has dozens of ‘A’ defects” (“A” defects being the most severe class of defects). Furthermore, the MTA’s team of inspectors “has known for decades that the structure was in need of repair but had not corrected the conditions” because it claims “that while the structure was in need of immediate repair, in his judgment structural collapse was not imminent because it was ‘overengineered.’” Luckily, the independent auditor does not accept this line of bullshit, and made a firm recommendation that this station’s problems need to be remedied and the MTA says that they will comply with the request.
And, hopefully, they will. Reading this report was pretty much a terrifying experience because it was a reminder of how much we take for granted the fact that our infrastructure is basically sound and that we can make it to work without our subway derailing. For a city that invests so much in the subway when it comes to posting inflammatory ads about teen pregnancy, it would seem that it could do better at protecting people while they’re on the subways, forced to stare at those ads and those trite Poetry in Motion posters. I mean, we pay enough for our Metrocards to assume a baseline level of safety. Seriously. We pay way more than enough. Those last fare hikes were insane. Do better, MTA.
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