New York Subway Station

The New York City Subway is one of the busiest mass transit units in the world. Specifically, the South Ferry Terminal, located in Lower Manhattan, is the gateway for tourists visiting Battery Park, the Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) estimates that over 6 million people use this terminal every year. With this many visitors and being over 100 years old, the terminal was in need of a major overhaul . The $530 million project included a rebuild of the station to add additional ADA accessibility and station entrances that would withstand the elements and corrosive environment.

One of the challenges of exterior structures in New York City is environmental elements that can cause corrosion. New York has a coastal environment being by the ocean and Hudson River as well as winter weather and snow, requiring the use of road salts and freeze inhibitors that can stain and cause rust to form on exposed metals. The project required a construction material that was not only high strength but also has excellent corrosion resistance properties. 316/L stainless steel would have been good for the corrosion but lacked the mechanical properties required. Thus the use of duplex stainless steel.

Duplex stainless steel was chosen for this project due to its high strength properties and high corrosion resistance. Stainless Structurals is the only domestic producer of 2205 duplex stainless steel structural sections. For this project we supplied a stainless steel distributor with over 30,000 pounds of laser welded channels, beams and a custom cross section out of 2205 duplex. With the proper material choice, this subway station entrance not only looks amazing, but will last a lifetime.