Flushing-bound 7 trains will skip three Queens stops until May 2027
Girder replacement at 61st Street-Woodside is on pace to wrap up next May, two years later than the MTA first planned.
Riders heading toward Flushing on the 7 train should get three Queens stops back in May 2027. That is when the MTA expects crews to finish swapping out steel girders at 61st Street-Woodside, according to Jamie Torres-Springer, who leads the agency’s construction and development arm. Until then, Flushing-bound trains will keep bypassing 61st Street-Woodside as well as 52nd Street and 69th Street.
The finish date comes two years late. The agency originally targeted May 2025 but ran into structural problems at the station that it had not anticipated. Replacing the added girders pushed the price of the project to $343 million, up from $315 million.
Why the 61st Street-Woodside station needs new steel
61st Street-Woodside is among the busiest stations on the elevated line, and the girders holding up its tracks and platforms are more than 100 years old. Once crews began replacing the platforms, Torres-Springer said, they discovered badly deteriorated steel in the main supports underneath. The agency is taking on that repair, he said, so the structure keeps standing for decades.
He tied the damage to exposure to the elements and to salt, which causes corrosion. “Steel rusts and corrodes,” he said, warning that neglecting it creates “real potential for danger.”
What 7 train riders can expect until May 2027
Service toward Flushing at 61st Street-Woodside was suspended so construction could go forward. Crews wrapped up the Manhattan-bound side of that station in May, along with the work at 52nd Street and 69th Street, according to Torres-Springer. What remains on the Flushing-bound side is on pace for completion next May, he added.
The MTA is rebuilding nine stations along the 7 line, and these three stops are part of that larger effort. The line carries riders through some of the most crowded parts of Queens, with Corona, Jackson Heights, Woodside and Sunnyside among the communities it serves. Structural repairs are only one piece of the program. The stations are also getting accessibility improvements to meet federal ADA requirements, and at least three of them will receive elevators.
Quick answers
When will Flushing-bound 7 trains stop at 61st Street-Woodside again?
The MTA expects Flushing-bound service to return at 61st Street-Woodside, 52nd Street and 69th Street in May 2027.
Why was the 61st Street-Woodside project delayed?
Crews discovered unexpected structural damage in the station's century-old steel girders. The extra repairs added two years and raised the cost to $343 million.
