The city’s Department of Transportation and the MTA today announced another round of town hall meetings to discuss the shutdown of the L Train.
In the spring of next year, the Canarsie Tunnel will be closed for 15 months while Hurricane Sandy-related repairs take place. Transportation officials released a mitigation plan late last year to, hopefully, soften the blow for 225,000 commuters who use the L Train to travel back-and-forth Between Brooklyn and Manhattan daily. Just this week, advocacy organizations urged the agencies to strengthen their plan.
Here’s part of the press release put out by the MTA and DOT today:
As part of ongoing efforts to engage communities affected by project, NYC Transit President Andy Byford and NYCDOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, as well as other agency representatives, will outline alternate service plans and take questions from members of the public. Transit and NYCDOT personnel will preview measures the agency will take to help move the roughly 225,000 customers who travel through the tunnel each weekday, as well as the 50,000 riders who use the L train just within Manhattan. NYCDOT will discuss its proposed street improvements to support travel alternatives during the closure. Changes will include HOV restrictions on the Williamsburg Bridge, the addition of Select Bus Service to 14th Street, new protected bike lanes and new bus lanes in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
There will be two town hall meetings, one in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn. The Manhattan session will take place Wednesday, May 9 at 6:30 p.m. at The Auditorium, 66 West 12th St.
The plan calls for restricting the Williamsburg Bridge to high occupancy vehicles during rush hour, sending 70 shuttle buses an hour over the bridge, creating bus-only lanes on 14th Street and adding ferry service to and from Brooklyn. You can read more details here and here.
