Sluggish Staircase Project

We received the following inquiry from devoted BD reader "S.J." and figured we'd post it to try to get some info...

There is a staircase being rebuilt on the west side of Jerome Ave, just south of 176 street -you can see it from the front of the southbound 4 platform at the 176 street station-

This rebuild has taken over a year and it is still not finished because handrails still need to be put in place.

Is this a city project?

Why does creating a basic multilevel concrete staircase take so long?

Are they going to do the best thing and include a handrail down the center of this wide staircase so no-one has an excuse to use the wrong -left- side of the staircase to go up or down?

My 2¢.

Anyone out there have any knowledge of this project? Why is it taking so darn long?

~ErLu