The hotly-anticipated new Jay St.-Metro Tech station opened today, fixing the failure of transport design that senselessly hit many commuters with a double fare. Since 1933, the Jay St./Borough Hall and Lawrence St./MetroTech Stations have stood nary a block away, but transferring from the A/C/F to the R meant traipsing across Willoughby while grappling with the fact that the world sometimes doesn't make sense.
Finished early and under-budget, the new 175-foot underground passageway links the two stations, making the transfer free and warm, just in time for these unseasonably freezing temperatures. The $164 million project also overhauled the Jay St. station, adding elevators, disabled accessibility, and a whimsical insect-themed Arts for Transit mosaic.
Borough President Marty Markowitz shouted "Mazel Tov!" when he cut the ribbon at the station opening event this morning. He declared Jay St-Metro Tech a "station worthy of all Brooklyn and all Brooklynites," adding that it's "no secret Brooklyn is now a tourist destination by its own right." So we now have a station worthy of them, too. Now if only the MTA could ride this getting-stuff-done wave and overhaul ex-MTA headquarters at 370 Jay St, the crumbling eyesore right on top of the new station. Hey, we can dream.
