By Yepoka Yeebo
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — The MTA plans to overhaul safety and amenities along stretches of the East Side blighted by construction of the Second Avenue subway.
Following years of complaints from businesses and residents affected by the project, the MTA plans to repave sidewalks, install light fixtures, increase sidewalk space in front of stores and install maps to direct pedestrians to open businesses, the New York Post reported.
The work is part of the agency's plan to become "good neighbors."
"These are simple things that will make people happy, so people can actually be in that area and not hate every day they live there," Michael Horodniceanu, of the MTA's Capital Construction Company, told the newspaper.
Horodniceanu said the improvements would be rolled out over the next eight weeks.
The first block to be overhauled will be the stretch between East 92nd and East 93rd, where pedestrian space is limited by concrete barriers and chain-link fences around the construction and blasting zones. Shopkeepers on the stretch have seen revenue plunge and customers disappear.
"The businesses have been losing both foot traffic and vehicular traffic since this began," Barry Smith, who runs GGMC Parking on East 92nd Street, told the Post.
"People avoid the area just because it's so unattractive."
