As a subconsultant, SI Engineering, P.C. (SIE) provided construction management and quality compliance services for improvements to Babylon, Forest Hills, and Hollis stations to bring them into ADA compliance and a state of good repair. The project aimed to enhance passenger capacity and accessibility.
At Forest Hills station, another priority was to preserve the station’s historic essence. Forest Hills station is one of New York City’s oldest active railway stations, and the renovation was certified by the State Historic Preservation Office to ensure that its distinctive brick and stucco design remains intact. Work at this station included demolition of the existing ramps, which were too steep to meet current ADA standards, and replacing them with new, compliant ramps, lighting, and railing. Both platforms were also replaced with new 10-car platforms including ASIMS piping, tactile warning strips, and rubbing boards. Additional tasks included demolition and replacement of stairs and ramps, installation of employee track access stairs, and installation of new platform canopy, wall, railings, and lighting, as well as lighting under the bridge and communication and security systems. Signage, including braille signage, was replaced, and missing roof tiles were provided to match existing tiles. MTA Help Points were installed, and ADA improvements were provided in the station restroom.
Hollis Station had been largely unchanged since its station house was destroyed by arson in 1967. Four new shelter sheds were installed to replace the open-air shelters. In addition, the project installed one new ADA compliant elevator with a storefront vestibule, a new platform substructure, two new eight-car platforms to increase the current four-car capacity, and new signs, railings, surface-mounted tactile materials, rubbing boards, benches, bike racks, MTA Help Points, and other components. Stairs and ramps were demolished and replaced to meet ADA guidelines and egress requirements, and employee track access stairs were installed at both ends of both platforms, with gates and railings.
The most extensive and challenging renovation was at Babylon Station. The middle island platforms were constructed while trains were in service, requiring innovative methods to remove cast-in-place concrete canopies and platforms adjacent to operating trains. An additional challenge lay in installing the new ASIMS integrated platforms – weighing approximately 20,000 pounds each – on the elevated platforms. Other work at this station included demolition and replacement of two platform waiting rooms with new amenities, structural repairs to the viaduct superstructure, and replacement of all stairs between the platform, plaza, and street level, as well as installation of new stairs as needed to address code and accessibility deficiencies, installation of two new elevators, and refurbishment of two existing elevators. The work also included replacement of the escalators with wider versions, upgrading the electrical service and electrical room, a new boiler room at the plaza level, upgrading the station plaza, replacing all platform lighting, providing two new structures at street level for concessionaires and the MTA Police Department kiosk, signage replacement, bird deterrent system installation, reconfigured and improved parking per ADA requirements, new MTA Help Points, and new communication and security systems.
