UPDATE - Roosevelt Island Tram Station Platform Repairs Delayed One Day - Only 1 Tram Cabin Operating Starts Wednesday May 16 For Up To 30 Days Says RIOC - Plan For Long Tram Lines & Hope For Best

An update to  May 8 story that:

The Roosevelt Island Tram platform renovations began last July and temporarily halted in December 

due to the cold weather.

The Tram Platform renovation project resumes next Tuesday, May 15. Expect the return of long lines waiting for the single Tram cabin in operation.

According to Roosevelt Island Operating Corp (RIOC) Public Information Officer Alonza Robertson:

Construction work on the Tram Station platforms, at both Roosevelt Island and Midtown Manhattan, will resume this Wednesday, May 16; and continue for up to 30 days reducing commuter service to one cabin. The Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation (RIOC) will operate a free, weekday roundtrip Red Bus service from 3 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. to help alleviate evening rush-hour waiting and congestion. (The work was previously slated to begin tomorrow, May 15).

This new construction completes work that began last July when RIOC contracted with Specialty Construction System, Inc. to address corrosion and water damage to both stations’ platforms at a cost of $2.15 million. The project included the installation and repair of station roofing, removal and repair of the structural slabs and metal column and building a new ADA-compliant access ramp on the north ramp of the Roosevelt Island Tram Station.

New concrete slabs, which are the top surfaces of the platforms at both stations, will be waterproofed and receive new traffic coating during the next month. The project went on hiatus in December 2017 until New York City area’s daily temperatures were forecast to be above those required for the installation.

“Although uncracked concrete will typically keep out liquid water, water vapor can still penetrate quite easily,” said Stephen Noone, RIOC’s assistant vice president of Capital Planning and Projects. “Keeping water drained away from the concrete foundations and preventing it from moving through the platforms is essential to having a successful structure,” he said.

Once that work is complete, the city’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) will re-install turnstiles, ticket machine kiosks and re-program electronic emergency exit doors.

Much of the platform project construction is being done around the North Tram’s boarding and deboarding ramps on both platforms, and thus “we will be limited to only the South Tram servicing the public and because of this, waiting times will unfortunately increase,” said Armando Cordova, operations and maintenance manager for Leitner-Pomo of America, the engineering sub-contractor that operates the Tram for RIOC.

RIOC’s Director of Transportation Cyril Opperman said the Red Bus shuttle service will begin at 3 p.m., each weekday during the construction period, operating roundtrip from Midtown Manhattan to Roosevelt Island every half hour leaving from the southwest side of Second Avenue between 58th and 59th streets.

“The service is not being offered during the morning commute because the average weekday traffic congestion to Midtown Manhattan is so great, the roundtrip shuttle is not time efficient,” Opperman said.

The MTA’s F-Train and the Q-102 bus will be in operation during the 30-day platform construction period. For more information about MTA service, visit mta.info or call 511. The NYC Ferry, ferry.nyc, will also continue their service between Roosevelt Island, Astoria, Queens; Midtown and Lower Manhattan.