Grand Central Terminal Station 100th Anniversary, New York City, United States

Grand Central North, opened on August 18, 1999, provides access to Grand Central from 45th Street, 47th Street, and 48th Street. It is connected to the Main Concourse through two long hallways, the Northwest Passage (1,000 feet long) and Northeast Passage (1,200 feet long), which run parallel to the tracks on the upper level. Entrances are at the northeast corner of East 47th Street and Madison Avenue (Northwest Passage), northeast corner of East 48th Street and Park Avenue (Northeast Passage), and on the east and west sides of 230 Park Avenue (Helmsley Building) between 45th and 46th Streets. A fifth entrance is scheduled to open in early 2012 on the south side of 47th Street between Park and Lexington Avenues. The 47th Street passage provides access to the upper level tracks and the 45th Street passage provides access to the lower level tracks. Elevator access is available to the 47th Street (upper level) passage from street level on the north side of E. 47th Street, between Madison and Vanderbilt Avenues. There is no elevator access to the actual train platforms from Grand Central North; handicapped access is provided through the main terminal.
Near the north end of the passages, there is an Arts for Transit mosaic installation by Ellen Driscoll, an artist from Brooklyn.
The entrances to Grand Central North were originally open from 6:30 AM to 9:30 PM Monday through Friday and 9 AM to 9:30 PM on Saturday and Sunday. As of summer 2006, Grand Central North was closed on weekends, with the MTA citing low usage and the need to save money by the shutdown. Prior to the closing, about 6,000 people used Grand Central North on a typical weekend, and about 30,000 on weekdays.
Ideas for a northern entrance to Grand Central were discussed since at least the 1970s. Construction on Grand Central North lasted from 1994 to 1999 and cost $75 million. Delays were attributed to the incomplete nature of the original blueprints of Grand Central and previously undiscovered groundwater beneath East 45th Street. As of 2007, the passages are not air-conditioned.