Jay Street to drop 'Boro Hall' and add 'Metrotech'

This game-changer is a real name-changer.

The Lawrence Street and Jay Street-Borough Hall stations in Downtown are getting new names once the tunnel between them is completed — the R, F, A and C train station will all be bound by the name “Jay Street-MetroTech.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said that the tunnel gives straphangers new connections between the trains — and the unified name will emphasize that. Plus, “Jay Street-MetroTech” is just more accurate.

“The Jay Street station is much closer to MetroTech than it is to Borough Hall,” said Deirdre Parker, spokeswoman for the MTA. “So the entire complex, including Lawrence Street, will be called Jay Street-MetroTech when the project is finished.”

Then again, if the MTA plans to be completely accurate with its signage, it has a lot more work to do.

Some signs in the Jay Street station still read “Jay Street-Borough Hall,” while others just read “Jay Street” with green tape stuck over the “MetroTech” portion. Plus, several older signs still read “Metrotech” with a lower-case T, which is apparently wrong (though we use it as a house style due to the quirks of newspaper typography).

The tunnel project has been ongoing since early 2007, and city officials still don’t have an exact timeline on its completion. But it must be getting close — after all, strips of green tape won’t stay up forever.

acampbell@cnglocal.com