LIRR Opens 3 Renewed Station Buildings
Earlier today, the MTA Long Island Rail Road announced that it will be opening 3 renewed station buildings. The buildings will be located at the Brentwood, Deer Park & Northport stations. Here are more details via the press release the agency sent me:
Metropolitan Transportation Authority and Long Island Rail Road officials today announced the opening of the first phase of three newly renovated railroad station buildings – at Brentwood, Deer Park, and Northport — bringing modernized touches to improve the customer experience for more than 11,000 daily weekday riders.
These three stations are part of more than 100 projects that are slated to transform the railroad, part of an unprecedented $6.6 billion state investment. View a comprehensive list of these transformative efforts, from LIRR Expansion Project (“Third Track”), to Moynihan Train Hall, and the recently completed Double Track Project, at aModernLI.com.
“The LIRR is working hard to deliver better and more reliable service, but — as demonstrated by these station improvements — we’re also paying attention to every aspect of the customer experience,” said MTA Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber. “These upgrades were built and put in service in less than a year, which illustrates how the MTA is delivering projects faster and at a lower cost than in the past.”
“Ensuring a great customer experience is at the center of everything we do at the LIRR. Customers deserve to have upgraded facilities when they use our system — and these station renovations are giving them just that,” LIRR President Phillip Eng said. “We’re excited to continue our modernization efforts to truly make the LIRR the 21st century system it can be.”
Artwork was commissioned that references each community and enhances the architecture and beauty of these stations at Brentwood and Deer Park. Details on the artists and their respective works of art can be found below.
Brentwood and Deer Park Stations
Brentwood and Deer Park station houses, both located along the Ronkonkoma Branch, were fully renovated and upgraded with a host of customer-facing improvements. Platform improvement construction continues at both stations. Brentwood serves about 2,900 daily weekday customers, while Deer Park serves approximately 6,200 daily weekday customers.
Finished upgrades include:
- Improved ADA accessibility: a new ADA-compliant bathroom at each location.
- New architectural finishes: New terrazzo flooring, bronze storefronts, wood ceilings and exterior brick decorative walls, a new information wall, signage and stamped concrete sidewalks.
- Customer-focused amenities: new benches, USB charging stations, technology counters, digital information screens, and bicycle racks.
- Energy efficiency: new LED lighting.
Further upgrades to come:
- Improved ADA Accessibility: ADA-compliant ramps to be complete by end of year.
- Staying connected: Free public Wi-Fi; USB charging stations can also be found throughout the station and along the platforms by end of this year.
- Getting information: Digital information display totems, as well as new speakers for more clearly audible announcements by end of this year.
- Safety: New CCTV Cameras, railings, benches, and refreshed pedestrian overpasses by end of this year.
- Customer comfort: Customers at these stations will be able to take shelter from inclement weather under new structures built on the platforms by Q2 2019, as well as new trash receptacles.
Northport Station
LIRR’s Northport Station, on the Port Jefferson Branch, was built in 1927 and currently serves approximately 2,335 customers each weekday. The station building’s renovation incorporated historical restoration, to preserve the station’s history while providing modernized features and upgrades.
Finished upgrades include:
- Improved ADA accessibility: Renovated current ADA-compliant bathroom, added a second ADA-compilant bathroom.
- Complete renovation of the station building’s interior and exterior.
- Customer-focused amenities: New benches, improved wayfinding signage, Wi-Fi, and LCD display screens.
- Paver rehabilitation and sidewalk replacement.
Further upgrades to come:
- MTA Arts & Design permanent artwork.
- Better information: Electronic information display totem.
Art installation details:
At Brentwood:
ARMANDO MARIÑO
The Guardian Angel, 2018
Laminated glass
Fabricated by Tom Patti Studio
Armando Mariño’s artwork The Guardian Angel is inspired by the historic development of Brentwood and its present as a community. Featuring richly colored flowers from the country of origin of many of Brentwood’s residents, such as Mexican Dahlias, Peruvian qantu, and Salvadorean Flor de Izote, as well as native flowers of Long Island. A guardian owl representing Brentwood’s idyllic past protects the garden. Mariño feels the art serves as a metaphor for cultures living harmoniously, and he used bright, alluring colors and brushwork as an invitation to “discover the beauty of life that needs to be preserved… [flowers] always come back after a hard winter like a reminder that there is always hope for a better future.”
At Deer Park:
WILLIAM LOW
Deer Park Dahlias, 2018
Laminated glass
Fabricated by Tom Patti Studio
William Low is a painter and illustrator based in Huntington, Long Island. His scene of vibrantly colored dahlias in a pastoral field for Deer Park station creates a contemplative space in the station waiting room. The large scale flowers shift the viewer’s perspective, providing an experience of childlike wonder at the natural world.
The artwork is derived from the local area’s botanic legacy: Central Park was first landscaped with ornamental trees and shrubs that had been grown in Deer Park, and the town was well known for annual dahlia festivals. The area is still a floral site, with several wholesale nurseries near to the station. Deer Park Dahlias acknowledges this specific, but not widely known, aspect of the community.
Low’s signature style uses classic painting techniques to depict city and nature scenes with shimmering sunlight and evocative color. Drawing from real life observations, his work conveys personal experience as shared memory. He has won numerous awards including four Silver medals from the Society of Illustrators, and has illustrated several beloved children’s books. He is currently the principal in Cobalt Illustration Studios, and is a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
xoxo Transit Blogger
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