Commuters dreading the L train shutdown, the most impactful capital project in MTA history, will get their say in how to plan around the closure.
The MTA and the city’s Department of Transportation have planned four public workshops to get community feedback before work on the Canarsie Tunnel begins in 2019.
Input will help shape alternative service plans while the L train to and from Manhattan is shuttered for 18 months to allow for the MTA to make critical Superstorm Sandy-related repairs.
“The public is strongly encouraged to participate in these workshops, which are expected to solicit meaningful input on alternate travel options for customers who will be affected by the repairs,” the MTA wrote in a recent press release announcing the news. Representatives from both agencies will be on hand.
Proposals from planning experts and transit advocates have called for a variety of space-efficient methods of moving people on the streets above the subway line that carries 250,000 people between Manhattan and Brooklyn each weekday. They want more bus lanes — including a lane over the Williamsburg Bridge — and more bike infrastructure at key areas. There’s also been a chorus of support for closing 14th Street to private vehicles to create seamless bus service on the road under which the L train runs.
Here are the dates, times and locations for the workshops:
— Feb. 9, 2017, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Eastside of Manhattan
Town and Village Synagogue
334 East 14th St., New York
— Feb. 16, 2017, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.: Williamsburg
The Williamsburg H.S. for Architecture & Design
257 N. 6th St., Brooklyn
— Feb. 23, from 7p.m. to 9 p.m.: Westside of Manhattan
Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
328 West 14th St., New York
— March 2, 2017, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.: East Williamsburg/Bushwick
Progress High School
850 Grand St., Brooklyn
