Reconstruction of the 1 & 9 Cortlandt Street Station

Cost: $92 million

Development Team

Owner: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NYC
General Contractor: Tully Construction Inc./A.J. Pegno Construction Corp., Joint Venture, Flushing, N.Y.
Architect: Metropolitan Transportation Authority with Parsons Brinckerhoff, NYC
Engineering Consultant: Gannett Fleming, Audubon, Pa.
Mechanical Contractor: WDF Inc., Mount Vernon, N.Y.
Consultant: The LiRo Group, Syosset, N.Y.
Steel Supplier: Michaelman-Cancelliere, Bath, Pa.
Steel Erector: Budco, Bronx, N.Y.
Concrete Form Supplier: Conesco Industries, Ltd., Little Ferry, N.J.
Concrete Supplier: Ferrara Brothers Building Materials Corp., Flushing, N.Y.
Signal Contractor: Judlau/Cumberland Joint Venture, College Point, N.Y.
Electrical Contractor: Five Star Electric Corp., Ozone Park, N.Y.
Tile Contractor: Garcia Marble & Tile Inc., Long Island City, N.Y.
Masonry Contractor: Koehler Masonry Corp., Farmingdale, N.Y.
Door Supplier: Long Island Fireproof Door, Port Washington, N.Y.
Track Installer: Northstar Contracting Corp., New Rochelle, N.Y.

It is was one of the most impressive construction jobs of 2002, and it meant a great deal, not only to the 70,000 commuters who ride the IRT subway everyday, but to our city and our nation.

The most serious damage to the region's infrastructure caused by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 was the destruction of the Cortlandt Street Station of the IRT subway line under the World Trade Center. It had been (and is again) a major stop on the 1 & 9 line, the local subway route that serves Manhattan's west side and the Bronx.
Even before the WTC site was completely cleared, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority awarded a contract to rebuild the collapsed subway tunnel from Barclay Street through to Liberty Street to a joint venture of Tully Construction Co. Inc. and A.J. Pegno Construction Inc. The work, which cost $92 million, began in February and completed by September 2002.

To start with, MTA engineers developed an in-house design using original 1915 blueprints of the station as the basis for the work. Next came the clearance and demolition of the ruins. Beams from the 80th floor of the Twin Towers had pierced the street and subway box, coming to rest on the subway roadbed below. As a result of water main breaks, 26 million gallons of water had to be pumped out of the tunnel.
"If you saw the destruction inside that tunnel and the damage to Cortlandt Street, you would never have imagined that one year after our city was attacked, that the tunnel would be rebuilt and we'd be running again. But we are," said MTA Chairman Peter Kailkow.

Once the rubble was removed, a rat slab, a coating of concrete on the bottom of the tunnel to provide smooth grade, was poured, followed by waterproofing.

Concrete boxes supplied by Conesco Industries Ltd. of Little Ferry, N.J. were used as forms for the pouring of the new tunnel structure and the footings for the steel posts. The steel was provided by Michaelman-Cancelliere of Bath, Pa and erected by Budco of the Bronx. After that, tracks were lain, power, lighting, communications, pumps and ventilation installed and tested.

The new Cortland Street Station is a simple box-like structure, measuring 800-ft. by 70-ft. It took 45 miles of new cable, 6,200 cu.-yds. of concrete and 1,050 tons of steel to complete. Getting such an enormous job done so quickly and efficiently meant a 24/7 schedule using 150 to 200 workers per shift.

"I want to congratulate all the men and women who worked tirelessly to complete these important projects in record time," New York Governor George Pataki said at the reopening ceremony on September 16th. "A reconstruction effort thought to take years was accomplished in months."

The reconstruction not only allowed the 1 & 9 to ride to the end of the line at South Ferry, it also meant that the Nos. 2 & 3 trains were able to return to express service connecting the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn.