Nicholas Roberts for The New York Times The Smith-Ninth Street subway stop in Brooklyn has been closed to passengers for nearly two years.Nearly two years after closing for repairs, and one year after it was expected to reopen, the Smith-Ninth Street subway station in Gowanus, Brooklyn, will return to service next Friday at 10:30 a.m., transit officials said.
The station last served passengers in June 2011, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and its absence has drawn the ire of F and G train riders from Gowanus and Red Hook.
The stop, which the transportation authority says is 88 feet high, making it the “world’s highest subway station,†was closed as part of an effort to rebuild the Culver Viaduct, which opened in 1933 as part of the IND system. Station reconstruction work included rehabilitated stairs and platforms and a new metal panel escalator enclosure.
An earlier plan for the roughly $300 million project had called for the station to reopen partly last spring, but remain without Coney Island-bound F train service until the fall.
“This has been a long and complicated project, but we are grateful for the community’s patience while we performed this necessary work,†Thomas F. Prendergast, the authority’s acting executive director and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s nominee to be chairman, said in a recent statement. “This station will be 80 years old this summer and this rehabilitation will see it reach that milestone with a much improved appearance and functionality.â€
The authority said that some construction would continue after the station reopened, but that it would not affect service.
