The North Bronx MTA station at the center of a lawsuit brought by disability advocates will finally get the elevators that a federal judge ruled the MTA should have installed a decade ago.
The MTA announced on Dec. 13 that the Middletown Road station on the Pelham Bay Park 6 line will now be included in an “accessibility package” adding upgrades that are compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to five stations throughout the city beginning in February.
The upgrades to the Middletown Road station will include the installation of one elevator on both platforms that will provide access to the mezzanine as well as the street. The work will also include upgrades to fare payment areas on both platforms and station staircases.
New York City Council Member Kristy Marmorato, who represents the district encompassing Middletown Road station, said in a statement that the upgrades were a positive development.
“While we celebrate this progress, we hope this is just the beginning of more investments like this for District 13,” said Marmorato. “Our community deserves continued improvements to our infrastructure and opportunities that strengthen our quality of life.”
The legal battle over the station’s need for an elevator started in 2016 when nonprofit Bronx Independent Living Services and two New Yorkers filed a lawsuit against the MTA. The plaintiffs claimed that when the MTA did renovations to the station in 2013, the upgrades failed to meet ADA requirements, according to court documents.
In 2013 the MTA closed Middletown Road station in Pelham Bay for seven months and spent over $27 million to make a series of improvements to the station, including replacing the stairs, according to court documents. But during the time the station was closed for renovations, the MTA failed to add an elevator, in violation of the ADA, plaintiffs said.
In 2018 the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York signed on to the lawsuit saying that before construction began two different federal transportation agencies spoke with the MTA about its obligation to make the station accessible.
“There is no justification for public entities to ignore the requirements of the ADA 28 years after its passage,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said when the justice department joined the suit.
In 2019 a federal judge agreed, granting a summary judgement for the plaintiffs that ruled the renovations to the Middletown Road station were substantial enough to require the MTA to install an elevator at the station, unless the agency could prove the upgrades weren’t feasible.
Bronx Independent Living Services and the MTA finalized a settlement in 2023 that required the MTA to install at least one elevator to Middletown Road station within seven years. A judge approved the agreement earlier this year, and Middletown Road was added to the list of stations getting upgrades.
The MTA estimates that construction on the elevators at the Middletown Road station will be completed in 2029. Middletown Road joins five other stations in the Bronx with ADA upgrades in progress: 149 St-Grand Concourse, Westchester Sq-East Tremont Av, Mosholu Pkwy, Van Cortlandt Park-242 St and Parkchester.
