New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) reopened the northbound side of MTA New York City Transit’s Cortlandt Street subway station on the R and W lines, adjacent to the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan, on Nov. 25.

The station, like the neighboring Cortlandt Street Station on the 1 line, sustained major damage in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that brought down the World Trade Center towers. The R/W station initially reopened on Sept. 15, 2002, but closed again in 2005 to accommodate excavation and construction of the Dey Street underground pedestrian concourse, part of the Fulton Street Transit Center being built by MTA Capital Construction.

The station incorporates such improvements as wider stairways to allow more people to enter and exit with less crowding; widening of a 150-foot-long section of the newly rehabilitated northbound platform; and new tiling on the walls.

Federal funding covered the entire $7.25 million cost to rehabilitate and improve the northbound side of the station. The MTA expects to open the southbound platform, which is within the World Trade Center reconstruction footprint, on Sept. 11, 2011.

“Today we celebrate a significant step forward in the rebuilding of lower Manhattan,” said MTA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jay H. Walder. “The MTA has played a key role in the revival of downtown, and we’re excited to provide customers with an improved station just in time for the holidays. The opening re-establishes a key travel link for lower Manhattan residents, commuters, shoppers, and tourists.”

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) added: “Today’s reopening of the Cortlandt Street Station is proof positive that lower Manhattan is healing and regenerating eight years after 9/11. This greatly improved R/W station is a clear indication that the MTA, city, state, and federal government have pooled their resources to revitalize our city and reconnect—both literally and figuratively—New Yorkers to their downtown.”

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