East New Yorkers: L Train Closure Will Affect Us, Too

• Pictured: the crowd at the Beraca Baptist Church on Thursday. Photos by John V. Santore

CANARSIE, BROOKLYN — On Thursday night, officials from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) presented southeast Brooklyn residents with the same two L Train repair options they showed Williamsburgers weeks ago — but the crowd was only interested in one of them.

At the Beraca Baptist Church on Flatlands Avenue, Patch surveyed 22 community members as to whether they preferred the L Train's underwater tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan be fully closed for 18 months during repairs, or partially closed for 36 months.

All 22 backed the full closure.

Many of those respondents said they routinely take the L Train into Manhattan. However, most said that during the Canarsie Tunnel shutdown, they would be able to take the L to the Broadway Junction, then transfer to the A, J or Z Train and take one of those lines into the city instead.

Even so, there was a general sentiment among East New Yorkers at the meeting that they've felt overlooked in the Williamsburg-centric public conversation surrounding the train.

Additionally, Assemblyman N. Nick Perry — whose district includes portions of Flatbush, Brownsville and Canarsie — earned multiple rounds of applause by calling for L line construction jobs to be given to locals.

"Certainly some of those jobs should be available to folks from Canarsie," Perry said, adding that the community "shouldn't just be inconvenienced" by the work. Instead, it should make "big bucks out of this," he said.

The Repair Options

As discussed during the MTA's first public hearing on May 5, two approaches to repairing the considerable damage Hurricane Sandy caused to the Canarsie Tunnel are being considered.

The tunnel could be shut down fully for 18 months, or partially for 36 months, according to the MTA.

Under the full shutdown scenario, trains would run approximately every 8 minutes between the Bedford Avenue station in Williamsburg and the Canarsie-Rockaway Parkway station in Canarsie. However, there would be no service across the East River, between the busy Bedford stop and the 8th Avenue station in Manhattan's East Village.

Under the 36-month plan, trains would run about every 8 minutes between Canarsie and Lorimer Street; would not run stop at Bedford; and would then share a single track in the tunnel.

According to the MTA, 40 L trains typically run through the Canarsie Tunnel every hour. In contrast, only 10 could run hourly if a track was being shared.

MTA president Veronique Hakim stressed that during repair work, the L will continue running throughout almost all of Brooklyn — despite "rumors" to the contrary.

When asked later, five community members said they previously thought the repairs would shutter the entire line.

The MTA says that each day, 225,000 of the L train's 400,000 riders travel through the tube between Manhattan and Brooklyn.

About 125,000 daily riders use the L exclusively within Brooklyn, while 50,000 use it only in Manhattan.

The MTA has promised to choose a repair plan by Fall. In recent weeks, however, the 18-month, full closure approach has gained huge momentum.

In April, the Regional Plan Association, a nonprofit made up of urban-planning experts, backed the full shutdown.

And on Tuesday, The Riders Alliance, which advocates for public transportation improvements, officially endorsed a full closure, as did Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer.

The Riders Alliance said it collected surveys from 350 people living in communities along the L line, and found that 77 percent wanted the full shutdown.

However, Nick Sifuentes, the organization's deputy director, said most of the responses came from five northwest Brooklyn zip codes (11222, 11211, 11249, 11237 and 11206) encompassing Greenpoint and Williamsburg.

Sifuentes said the Alliance wants to engage other communities, such as those in East New York and Canarsie, to make sure it's representing their L train-related interests as well.

Pictured: Sandy-damaged subway parts

The MTA has also thrown out some possibilities for alternative transit options during L Train disruptions. Among them are:

• A ferry from northern Williamsburg to 20th Street in Manhattan
• Increased capacity on the M, G, A and C lines
• A shuttle bus from Bedford Avenue to Marcy Avenue, and then over the Williamsburg Bridge to Delancey Street
• Shuttle buses running up and down 14th street in Manhattan

Speaking to East New York and Canarsie residents Thursday, MTA officials stressed, as they have many times before, that when the repair work is complete, the L line will be better than before, with technology upgrades and an additional four trains per hour.