When it is completed in 2019, some 160, 000 people will join the 750, 000 daily commuters already fighting like salmon to get up the stairs to Lexington and Madisonavenues during rush hour.
The plan would consolidate three libraries moving the popular Mid-Manhattan circulating library (just across Fifth Avenue at 40th Street) and the underused Science, Industry and Business branch (in a 34th Street building that runs from Fifth to MadisonAvenues) back into the main building to eliminate substantial operating costs.