August 2008
PCAC staff visits LIRR and NYCT stations at Shea Stadium to review ADA issues.

As part of PCAC’s current research project on ADA, PCAC staff paid a visit to the Shea Stadium/USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center/ Flushing Meadows-Corona Park complex.  At this major event center both the LIRR and NYC Transit have stations, neither of which is ADA accessible.

The current construction of a new Mets stadium (to be known as Citi Field) has focused attention on this shortcoming.  Members of the LIRRCC and NYCTRC have questioned the lack of ADA provisions at the stations in light of the celebrity and increased ridership that the new venue is likely to create. 

The Passerelle walkway shown above (a product of the 1939 and 1964 World Fairs) connects Flushing Meadow-Corona Park with Shea Stadium and the LIRR and NYCT stations.  Riders from the LIRR must pass along this walkway, through the subway station passage, in order to enter the stadium area. Alternatively, riders on the 7 subway line walk on the Passerelle to access the park and tennis complex.    

The solution will require not only financing and design creativity, but coordination between the two transit agencies and the NYC Parks Department.  In anticipation of next year’s opening of the new stadium, LIRR plans to offer paratransit service from Woodside station to the stadium as a temporary solution.