MTA Commits To Air Quality Monitoring During L Train Shutdown

EAST VILLAGE, NY — The MTA has committed to monitoring air quality along shuttle bus routes during the L train shutdown, according to the transit agency and an elected official.

Transit leaders plan to run some 80 buses per hour over the Williamsburg Bridge and through Manhattan during the 15-month shutdown as an alternative for displaced L train riders. Residents and local leaders have long-feared the influx of diesel emissions into their neighborhoods and have called on the MTA and the city's Department of Transportation to conduct detailed air quality tests throughout the L line closure.

A coalition of Manhattan and Brooklyn elected officials took those concerns to NYC Transit President Andy Byford last week and in a letter urged the MTA for the tests and to make the air quality data publicly accessible.

On Tuesday, the MTA announced plans to monitor for the stew of particulate matter released in diesel emissions commonly referred to as PM 2.5.

"Officials are committing to monitor the air for particulates typically caused by diesel emissions, known as PM 2.5, and making results publicly available," the MTA said in a statement. "This is in addition to the air quality monitoring already in place for the project’s construction sites."

State Senator Brad Hoylman, who was among the politicians pushing for the tests, discussed the air quality monitoring with Byford Tuesday and touted the transit agency's move toward greater transparency on the mitigation plan's health impacts.

"This is a win for our local communities because public trust depends on having the relevant data available," said State Senator Brad Hoylman, whose district includes the East Village, West Village and Chelsea.

"Byford has committed to air quality data to establish a baseline reading and will proceed with readings during the L train tunnel shutdown to give our constituents piece of mind. I’m extremely grateful."

The MTA will consult with "experts in ambient air monitoring" and pepper the shuttle bus routes with monitors during the shutdown, said Hoylman.

Elected officials hope the agency will regularly publish the data to its website in an easy-to-digest format, but the MTA is still hashing out the details of how and where it will publish the data, Hoylman noted.

The MTA did not immediately respond to a request for additional information on the air quality minoring.

The shuttle bus routes are part of a mitigation plan designed by the MTA and Department of Transportation to help straphangers navigate the shutdown, which will kick off on April 27, including ferry service, new bike infrastructure and increased subway service on neighboring lines.

In an environmental review of the plan, the Federal Transit Administration determined that the project will not cause "significant air quality impacts" and noted that the mitigation plan would divert displaced riders from personal vehicles and cabs "resulting in fewer total vehicle volumes."

But skeptical locals insist that the monitoring should be done as a courtesy to those living in the communities bearing the brunt of the L train shutdown.

"As someone who lives right along a road where dozens of buses will be flying by every day, I think this is an important gesture," said Lauren Gross, who lives on E. Houston street on the Lower East Side. "It's a crucial olive branch that they're actually hearing people's concerns."

Photo courtesy of Daniel Barry/Getty Images