New York City’s subways are disgustingly dirty, with cars often found to have urine, feces, vomit, and blood. The stations and trains are a haven for homeless to gather. That’s to say nothing about the trains themselves, which are old.
So, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced it was adding a new entrance and stairs to the Times Square subway station, straphangers applauded.
Until the agency announced it cost $30 million, according to the New York Post.
MTA CEO Janno Lieber said the “stunning… first class” 15-foot-wide staircase would give tourists and straphangers a clear path in and out of the “Crossroads of the World.”
While the new staircase at Broadway Plaza at 43rd Street is larger than its predecessor, a narrow entryway that squeezed crowds into a small space, the project is way overpriced.
Taxpayers and riders are paying for the $30 million to replace the staircase, a street-level canopy, and expanded turnstile area, 18 new close-caption surveillance cameras, and a mosaic by the artist Nick Cave, officials said.
The Post reported that international experts have put New York’s transit projects at among the most expensive in the world. At least it will have a mosaic.
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