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NYC subway tunnel used by 225,000 people a day will shut down for 18 months in 2019

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Mii

Banned
My hope is they take advantage of the full shut down to upgrade all the L stops in Manhattan to modern metro standards from the rest of the world. I wouldn't mind an extra stop going towards 10th Ave as well.
 
Holy shit that's HUUUUUUUGE.

If possible at all, they should add another track, an express track.

An express track within Manhattan doesn't make a ton of sense - the L train's eventually going to connect with the 2nd Avenue line at the 1st Avenue stop (that's the supposed plan, anyway), meaning it would only have one 'skippable' stop in Manhattan. An express track in Brooklyn would be a good thing, sure, but that's not the portion of the train that's getting shut down.

I'm so curious to see how this is going to affect Brooklyn real estate. It's going to be a big deal. The hardest hit will probably be to East Village businesses, though.
My hope is they take advantage of the full shut down to upgrade all the L stops in Manhattan to modern metro standards from the rest of the world. I wouldn't mind an extra stop going towards 10th Ave as well.
They'd have announced that if they were doing it, but I agree that it'd be very nice. Extending the 7 down to 14/10 while they were at it would be a pretty good thing too.
 
Be super interesting to see how this affects the Brooklyn real estate along that line.

For people familiar w/ the line, if you normally take that to Manhattan are the only options the bus or a much longer subway ride?

A lot of bus to JMZ lines I imagine
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Good luck to those that use this line daily. MTA construction is a nightmare and I doubt they will complete the necessary repairs in 18 months.

I do like the idea of shutting down 14th street to traffic and making it exclusively to buses and bikes.
 
Be super interesting to see how this affects the Brooklyn real estate along that line.

For people familiar w/ the line, if you normally take that to Manhattan are the only options the bus or a much longer subway ride?

Not necessarily longer, depends on where on the L you live. More transfers perhaps.

You can take the G to the EM or ACF, or walk to the JMZ. Or the bus. And this is really if you live in Williamsburg.

Those further in the L can transfer to a bunch of other lines to Manhattan as well.
 
Man, that sounds even worse than the disaster with the DC Metro. I grew up in Brooklyn along that line and it was pretty crucial to get me to school and back. If you live any farther along the line than Livonia ave. you're kind of fucked too because there's no other train lines that run to that area in Brooklyn.
 
Good luck to those that use this line daily. MTA construction is a nightmare and I doubt they will complete the necessary repairs in 18 months.

I do like the idea of shutting down 14th street to traffic and making it exclusively to buses and bikes.

Sadly, Mayor de Blasio is way too beholden to the taxi companies to let this happen. Dude is waaaaay too pro-motorist.
 

Ovid

Member
I'm surprised they went with the 18 month shut down.

I think this is the right call. Having the L train run on the same track would be a disaster if any track issues popped up (fires, electrical, etc).

From time to time one train would run from Broadway Junction to Rockaway Pkwy. That was annoying.

Can they do bus routes to accommodate?
Yes, they plan to create a shuttle across the Willamsburg.
 
Yes, they plan to create a shuttle across the Willamsburg.

If it's anything like the times the G has shut down, shuttles honestly shouldn't be THAT bad most of the time (insofar as they send one like every 2 minutes) but they won't be able to fully accommodate rush hour traffic.

Basically, if you use the L's easy transfer to nearly every other train line for your commute, nothing else is really going to be a workable substitute. Move to the 7, I guess, or to somewhere directly off of the train you were transferring to.
 

CHC

Member
The R train tunnel repairs were finished ahead of schedule.

My guess is the repairs should take 1 year, but they know there will be delays and it will actually take 14-16 months. That still gives them a buffer to say "look how fast we finished! you're welcome!"

Could be but then again.... 2nd Avenue subway.
 
Could be but then again.... 2nd Avenue subway.

The 2nd Avenue subway gets more flack than it deserves; it's not like it was slowly and ineffectively being worked on for 30 years, the project was completely abandoned and unfunded for decades (because the city went bankrupt) and work was only resumed fairly recently.
 

Ovid

Member
I noticed that the OP doesn't mention that the L will not run in a Manhattan as well (between 8th Ave. and 1st Ave).

It's basically a Brooklyn only line for 18 months.
 

pj

Banned
Could be but then again.... 2nd Avenue subway.

Well, I think that situation was more an issue of funding than competence in execution.

Daddy warbucks is footing the bill for this L train business. They already plan on basically gutting and redoing the entire tunnel, and they have experience in repairing sandy damage, so it's unlikely that there will be any big surprises.
 
Wow, that's a long time needed to fix it. Thankfully, people have a few years to plan ahead. And at least folks won't be taking Ls on the daily for a while.
 
If anything, and I speak from experience here in my country (Holland), those 18 months will become years and years.

They neglect the fact that you have hundreds of years of old construction above your heads.
 

Mahonay

Banned
Well are all preparing our assholes for this here.

I live off the J, so I'll still have easy access to a train, but it will be absolutely fucking packed.
 

pj

Banned
If anything, and I speak from experience here in my country (Holland), those 18 months will become years and years.

They neglect the fact that you have hundreds of years of old construction above your heads.

Why would they neglect that and how does it matter here?

Most of the stuff being done is in tunnels under the river. They're basically going to strip them to the walls and redo everything inside. What's above is irrelevant.

The stuff like new entrances and elevators is a minor "'while we're at it" thing
 
What are the odds that this'll actually result in short-term investors panicking and property actually becoming affordable in Brooklyn again?
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
What are the odds that this'll actually result in short-term investors panicking and property actually becoming affordable in Brooklyn again?

0%.

The G was a shitshow and rent went up in Greenpoint and LIC at the time. Not as critical as the L train, but still. Just take the L to the G and then transfer to downtown brooklyn or LIC to get into Manhattan. It'll be a pain in the ass for sure, but if you live far enough out in BK it's already a pain in the ass to get to Manhattan.
 

Mahonay

Banned
0%.

The G was a shitshow and rent went up in Greenpoint and LIC at the time. Not as critical as the L train, but still. Just take the L to the G and then transfer to downtown brooklyn or LIC to get into Manhattan. It'll be a pain in the ass for sure, but if you live far enough out in BK it's already a pain in the ass to get to Manhattan.
It won't get "affordable" but prices will absolutely go down. It's still years out and I have friends in realty that are choosing not to show stuff off the L train nearly as much.

Anything off the JMZ train is just going to get higher which sucks for me.
 

xkramz

Member
Great.... the M and J train are pack as it is already. Now I gotta deal with a worse commute to work and back home.
 
Why would they neglect that and how does it matter here?

Most of the stuff being done is in tunnels under the river. They're basically going to strip them to the walls and redo everything inside. What's above is irrelevant.

The stuff like new entrances and elevators is a minor "'while we're at it" thing

Because there is always more work to be done than is initially thought. After that comes the budget, which has to be discussed as well once the time period gets pushed and pushed even more.

I don't see the 18 months being viable. I hope I am wrong for some of you guys.
 

Gallbaro

Banned
Be super interesting to see how this affects the Brooklyn real estate along that line.

For people familiar w/ the line, if you normally take that to Manhattan are the only options the bus or a much longer subway ride?
For the white areas or is the only direct line and the reason those areas gentrified in the first place, direct access to the village.

Brown people still have transfers to the A M J Z trains at Broadway junction.


Also as a reference the R tunnel shutdown came in under schedule, so there or hope for 18 months.
 

Mahonay

Banned
For the white areas or is the only direct line and the reason those areas gentrified in the first place, direct access to the village.

Brown people still have transfers to the A M J Z trains at Broadway junction.
That's an interesting way to simplify it.
 

StoOgE

First tragedy, then farce.
For the white areas or is the only direct line and the reason those areas gentrified in the first place, direct access to the village.

Brown people still have transfers to the A M J Z trains at Broadway junction.


Also as a reference the R tunnel shutdown came in under schedule, so there or hope for 18 months.

Those hipsters barely leave brooklyn anymore though. So long as they can get between Bedford and Bushwick they'll be fine. Or they can *gasp* take the L to broadway junction and get in the city easily. Luckily the L does run both ways.
 
Not really doable in the morning if you are trying to get to work on time. This is going to be an absolute nightmare. I feel really bad for friends of mine who have to rely on the L train to get to Manhattan for work. Then again, I am worried about my own commute into the city from NJ in a few years as the Penn Station tunnel is in desperate need of repair.

Every day I cross the portal bridge I wonder if it's the day it collapses.
 

Otheradam

Member
I don't think the rents will go down at all. 18 months is not that long, although I don't think there is any way that the MTA will actually finish this in 18 months.

The only people this will have a huge impact on are the people who live off of Bedford and not close enough to Lorimer to walk. Everyone else has stops earlier they can transfer to, although it would be a bit of a hassle.

At least this will curb the amount of bros and bridge and tunnel folk coming into North Brooklyn on the weekends.
 

Azure J

Member
Legitimately glad I don't have to take the L train for anything I normally do, but good lord this is going to be rough for a lot of folks and related services.
 

pj

Banned
Because there is always more work to be done than is initially thought. After that comes the budget, which has to be discussed as well once the time period gets pushed and pushed even more.

I don't see the 18 months being viable. I hope I am wrong for some of you guys.

In general you are probably right but this is a special situation.

The work they intend on doing is "replace everything in the tunnels". I don't think there's going to be much unexpected work.

Also they've done this exact same thing before (shut down a tunnel for years to fix sandy damage), and they completed it ahead of schedule.

The federal government is paying for it, so I doubt money is much of a concern. Even if it is, they've already done this exact type of repair so they will have a good idea of what it will cost.

Plus, it doesn't start until 2019 so there's plenty of time to line up all the equipment, materials, contractors, workers, etc
 
Good luck to those that use this line daily. MTA construction is a nightmare and I doubt they will complete the necessary repairs in 18 months.

I do like the idea of shutting down 14th street to traffic and making it exclusively to buses and bikes.
Yup, construction always goes way past projection. Look at the the smith and 9st station, that was supposed to be like 1-2 years I think and then ended up being 3 iirc.
 

commish

Jason Kidd murdered my dog in cold blood!
This outage was long expected, so it's not a surprise. You can almost guarantee it will take well over 2 years because the MTA employs some of the slowest workers in the history of humankind. Sucks for those people on the L. I could never live in a place that was totally dependent on one train. Scary.
 

Gallbaro

Banned
Yup, construction always goes way past projection. Look at the the smith and 9st station, that was supposed to be like 1-2 years I think and then ended up being 3 iirc.
As I said before, I have to give the mta credit on this with. The R shutdown came in under schedule for similar work and the same funding scheme.

Do not assume this work goes over.
 
I work in Williamsburg, this is going to suck for my co-workers if they are still here by then. I drive to work everyday, so that's not an issue for me.
 

pj

Banned
This outage was long expected, so it's not a surprise. You can almost guarantee it will take well over 2 years because the MTA employs some of the slowest workers in the history of humankind. Sucks for those people on the L. I could never live in a place that was totally dependent on one train. Scary.

The people in the booths aren't the people laying track.

I dunno why everyone in this thread keeps ignoring the fact that the MTA already successfully completed a project identical to this one ahead of schedule
 
How feasible is it to bike to Queens and take the other routes there?

lol, at least I hope your rents go down significantly

Rents will keep going up 100%.

Its very easy to ride to queens, but easier just to citibike across the williamsburg bridge and hop a subway in manhattan.
 
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