East 79th Street Station Reconstruction

Description

The East 79^th Street Station serves GCRTA’s Red Line and was the last “key” station to be rebuilt in compliance with the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA).  The single island platform is accessed via a series of ramps and stairs down the hillside replacing the stairs from the East 79^th Street bridge.  The existing concrete platforms were removed and replaced with new, corrosion-resistant FiberSPAN™ FRP panels to accommodate 3-car Red Line trains.

The new FRP platform is 10’-2” wide x 254’ long and consisted of 13 FiberSPAN™ FRP panels.  The FRP panels were supported by longitudinal steel girders and were fabricated with a crowned profile to facilitate drainage.  Tactile warning tiles were factory-installed along with the non-slip overlay prior to shipping.  The FRP panels were designed to support a variety of appurtenances including light poles, benches, signage, and trash receptacles.

The erection contractor was able to use smaller equipment compared to what would have been required for precast concrete panels and managed to set all the FRP panels in about 5 hours.  A few additional hours were spent securing the FRP panels to the steel girders.  All work was easily completed within the allotted 12-hour rail shutdown.