April 27, 2019: MTA announces start date for L train shutdown

L train riders, be warned. You have exactly six months until all hell breaks loose. The MTA announced that the line will officially cease running between 8th Avenue and Bedford Avenue for 15 months on April 27, 2019 (a Monday, in case you were wondering) so that the Canarsie Tunnel can be repaired from damaged sustained during Hurricane Sandy. For many, however, the L-pocalypse has already begun; the line was not running between Manhattan and Brooklyn for most October weekends, weeknight service has been suspended through November, and more weekend suspensions are to come in February, March, and April.

Elected officials just got a briefing from ⁦@MTA⁩ about this informational ( I dunno, “van” let’s call it?? ) that will be making stops along key routes to tell people how they can navigate the shutdown of the L Train. pic.twitter.com/dd71wAqMd1

— Zack Fink (@ZackFinkNews) October 30, 2018

Somehow, the MTA thinks that the addition of roaming info buses and meetings starting in January will lessen the blow of being stranded for over a year. In a press release, the agency says, “Customers will be able to meet in person with MTA NYC Transit and NYCDOT team members to plan their routes, through a series of open houses, pop-up events or one of the three mobile information centers – two vans and a bus – which will make stops to meet with customers.” Of course, the Twitter-verse is already pondering why the cash-strapped MTA has decided to spend money on these “mobile information centers.”

Here are some other takeaways from the announcement:

• Alternative service options–five additional bus routes, a new M14 Select Bus Service on 14th Street, and a ferry service–will begin on Sunday, April 21, 2019, “to allow for customers to sample and become acclimated to new travel options.”
• The addition of 1,000 new roundtrips/week on the A, E, F, J, Z, M, and G lines will begin on April 28, 2019.
• Construction for the project is on schedule.

As for those pre-shutdown shutdowns, overnight and weekend closures in February, March, and April are as follows:

• February 2-3
• February 9-10
• February 16-17
• February 23-24
• March 2-3
• March 9-10
• March 16-17
• April 27-28

As 6sqft has previously reported, about 275,000 of the L train’s 400,000 daily riders are expected to be affected by the temporary shut down.

RELATED:

• MTA will add 1,000 new roundtrips each week during the L train shutdown
• MTA will run a temporary ferry service during L train shutdown
• MTA to launch 14th Street Select Bus Service to help move 50K more daily riders during L train shutdown