JERSEY CITY -- Construction is set to begin on a $4.04 million project to add a handicapped-accessible entrance to the Grove Street PATH station.

A federal judge in 2011 ordered the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the PATH system, to make the Downtown Jersey City station accessible to the disabled. The decision came as the result of a lawsuit filed against the bi-state agency by two nonprofits 10 years ago.

Construction on the new entrance, to be located on the southern side of Columbus Drive just east of Grove Street, is expected to be completed by the summer of 2017, a Port Authority official said.

The plaintiffs' attorney, Robert Stulberg, of Manhattan firm Broach & Stulberg, told The Jersey Journal his clients are "gratified" to see their "persistent efforts" to make this station accessible are coming to fruition.

"As a result, disabled people who cannot use stairs or escalators will be able to take the train to and from one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods in the PATH system," Stulberg said.

The new entrance will have an elevator from the street to the mezzanine, and then a vertical-lift platform from the mezzanine down to the train platform.

Last week workers installed partition walls to allow them to construct the new entrance. Most of the sidewalk on that side of Columbus Drive remains open.

Two nonprofit groups representing the disabled sued the Port Authority shortly after the bi-state agency constructed the Marin Boulevard entrance to the station in 2005. At the time, the plaintiffs said Port Authority officials had ignored their requests to make the station accessible to the disabled.

Port Authority spokeswoman Cheryl Ann Albiez explained the expected two-year construction timetable by saying that, aide from weather constraints, crews will work during non-peak hours to "minimize" disruption to the PATH system.

Albiez added that nightly construction will be limited because the PATH station is located close to residential buildings.

Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at tmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.