[title]
A pair of key subway stations on the Upper West Side will close for roughly five months beginning next week, as MTA crews make critical structural repairs and improvements.
The affected stops are at 72nd and 86th Street on the B and C lines, which run along Central Park West in the neighborhood. The 72nd Street stop will close on May 7 and reopen in early October, and service at 86th Street will be shut down beginning June 4 and is expected to reopen in late October.
According to data provided by the MTA, the two stations served a combined 21,000 riders every weekday in 2016 and another 17,000 on weekends. Trains on the B and C lines will still operate at 59th Street-Columbus Circle, 81st Street and 96th Street during the course of the repairs, but commuters who rely on the stations in question will be forced to walk to another station or hop on the M10 bus (which will be operating with increased service), for five months.
The construction will make critical repairs to each station’s infrastructure, as well as add waterproofing and security upgrades. The project was approved last October, and the closure dates were finalized in February.
Now, with the first of the closures just a week away, more than 20,000 commuters will need to find alternate routes.
Sign up to receive great Time Out deals in your inbox each day.