With the L train shutdown a little more than a year away, the MTA will host a series of meetings for those communities that will be affected, the agency announced Friday.
The 15-month L train shutdown is slated to begin in April 2019, and the MTA will hold meetings for those living in Manhattan and Brooklyn starting this month, on Jan. 24.
As the work involves a complete reconstruction of the century-old Canarsie Tunnel under the East River, which was severely damaged during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, the L train will not run between the two boroughs during the shutdown. The L train will only run in Brooklyn between Bedford Avenue and Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway.
The meetings will be an open-house format with representatives from the MTA and the city’s Department of Transportation and aim to assist straphangers, local business owners and other residents of those neighborhoods in understanding the alternative modes of travel during the extensive repair work.
About 225,000 New Yorkers use the L train to travel between Brooklyn and Manhattan on weekdays, and another 50,000 ride it within Manhattan alone, the MTA said.
Alternate plans previously announced include HOV restrictions on the Williamsburg Bridge, new protected bike and bus lanes throughout neighborhoods in both boroughs and a new busway along 14th Street.
Schedule of L Train shut down meetings with MTA
The first meeting will be held Wednesday, Jan. 24 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Progress High School (850 Grand St., East Williamsburg).
The other meetings will be:
• Wednesday, Jan. 31 from 5 to 8 p.m. at the 14th Street Y (344 E. 14th St., Manhattan).
• Thursday, Feb. 8 from 5-8 p.m. at Williamsburg Community Center (195 Graham Ave., Brooklyn).
• Wednesday, Feb. 14 from 5 to 8 p.m. at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church (328 W. 14th St., Manhattan).
