Tempers are escalating over this broken stairway.
With one escalator and both elevators at the Vesey Street overpass ruined by Hurricane Sandy, thousands of lower-Manhattan pedestrians have been hoofing it up the stairs and will have to do so for months.
“It’s a pain in the butt,” Ellen Quint said after climbing the 51 stairs on the way to her job at the World Financial Center.
Upper West Side resident Jan Brodie, who has a bad knee, gingerly walked up the stairs last week.
“It wasn’t fun,” she said after reaching the top.
The elevators won’t be back until April, and the escalator may be out until May, said Melissa Coley, a spokeswoman for Brookfield Properties, which maintains the bridge.
The escalator on the west side of the bridge escaped the flood and is still working.