Harlem's Park Avenue Viaduct To Start Big Repair Project, MTA Says

EAST HARLEM, NY — The Park Avenue Viaduct, along which thousands of Metro-North trains have rumbled above East Harlem for more than a century, will get a major rehabilitation to bring it back to good condition, the MTA announced Wednesday.

A $382 million contract will be awarded for the project, which will replace segments of the elevated steel structure between East 115th and 123rd streets. (This is just the first phase of a long-term project, which will eventually stretch further south and north between 110th and 132nd streets.)

Construction on the first phase will start around the middle of 2023 and wrap up by 2026, an MTA spokesperson said.

This phase will also entail replacing tracks, power lines, communications and signal systems along the eight-block stretch. Thanks to modern design and materials, noise and vibration levels in the surrounding neighborhood will be lower than those of the current viaduct, the MTA said.

In the works for years, the project has faced some skepticism in East Harlem because it will temporarily displace businesses that make their homes under the viaduct. The Urban Garden Center, a popular plant shop below the tracks at East 116th Street, will be temporarily moved during construction to an empty lot a few blocks south, according to Community Board 11 chair Xavier Santiago.

Meanwhile, the La Placita community space at La Marqueta — which completed a major renovation just three years ago — will close at some point during construction, Santiago said.

Built in 1893, the Park Avenue Viaduct carries every Metro-North train heading to and from Grand Central Terminal — totaling 750 trains and 220,000 passengers per day before the pandemic, according to the MTA.

But it is no longer in a state of good repair, with its current usage levels "well above" its original design, the MTA told CB11 in a February presentation. Critically, since it is a "single point of failure," any mishap at the viaduct would cripple service across The Bronx, Manhattan, the Hudson Valley and Connecticut.

"Hundreds of trains carrying thousands of customers cross the viaduct every day," said Metro-North Railroad President Catherine Rinaldi in a statement. "This multi-million investment in repairing and rehabilitating the Park Avenue Viaduct is essential to the future of Metro-North and to the riders who depend on it."

Despite the neighborhood disruptions, Santiago credited the MTA with helping affected businesses plan their relocations, and for working closely with residents to explain the repairs — avoiding the messiness of more controversial projects like the Second Avenue Subway.

"There have been some lessons learned with the MTA," he said. "They’ve been much more engaged with the process than in past projects."

The repairs will also include an artistic component — akin to the 1999 sculpture "Harlem Encore" that now adorns the viaduct at East 125th Street, the MTA has said. The agency also said it would consider design requests raised by some in the community, like painting the viaduct a lighter color, improving lighting underneath it, installing car-blocking bollards between columns, and incorporating green infrastructure and stormwater drainage systems.

Responding to neighborhood demand, the MTA says the project will also create job opportunities and training for Harlem residents, through a partnership with the Apprenticeship Readiness Collective.

Construction of the first phase will run from north to south, starting around East 123rd Street, Santiago said. Sometime next year, residents hope to get a clearer timeline of the project's second phase, which will continue the repairs southward starting at La Marqueta on East 115th Street.

East Harlem Assembly Member Eddie Gibbs acknowledged that the work would "cause disruptions to nearby businesses and residents," but praised the project as "essential to upgrading our outdated and aging transit infrastructure."

"I look forward to working with the MTA to ensure this project is completed quickly and as safely as possible for the people of East Harlem," he said.

More information about the project is available on the MTA's website.