The MTA is opting for an 18-month shutdown of the L train between Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan to repair tunnel damage caused by Hurricane Sandy.
Work is set to begin in January, 2019.
"The decision to do the work under a full 18-month tunnel closure instead of a one-track, three-year closure, was made based on a detailed operational review, and only after significant community engagement in order to consider all adverse impacts," the MTA said in a statement. "Serious consideration was also given to consequences of unplanned outages that would occur if one track was closed for three years."
New York City Transit president Ronnie Hakim told MTA board members Monday that the 18-month option "is the least risky way to do a project of this nature and the amount of work that needs to be done."
The MTA held several community meetings around Brooklyn and Manhattan to discuss the options with residents prior to Monday's announcement. Hakim said the majority of the feedback gathered during those meetings favored the shorter closure.
The tracks, signals, and power cables in the Canarsie tunnel were flooded with corrosive salt water during Sandy. An MTA video (see below) says the worst damage occurred to the tunnel's concrete duct banks, which contain cables and circuits and are now "literally falling into the tracks.”
The MTA said the work will also include other improvements such as new stairs and elevators at the Bedford Avenue station in Brooklyn and the 1st Avenue station in Manhattan.
What has yet to be determined, though, are the specifics of how the 225,000 people who ride the L train under the East River each day will get between the two boroughs. The MTA has said it will beef up bus and train service. "Everything is on the table at this juncture," said Hakim.
The lack of specifics drew ire from City Hall. First Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris said in a statement Monday that the MTA shouldn't announce the closure before it comes up with alternate service plans. "New Yorkers deserve clarity from the MTA on how it intends to minimize inconvenience and keep people moving throughout the duration of the construction," he said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio echoed that ire during an unrelated event. "The 18 months is a very big concern," he said. "We're going to have some very serious conversations with the MTA about whether it has to take that long and how it's going to be handled."
(The MTA has said it will financially incentivize the contractor to finish the work early, and pointed out that the rehabilitation of the Montague Tunnel finished early.)
But many of the ideas that are being discussed, including closing 14th Street to private traffic and instituting a bus-only lane over the Williamsburg Bridge for the duration of the tunnel shutdown, are beyond the purview of the MTA. Mayor Bill de Blasio said of that last option: "we're looking at that very seriously."