WILLIAMSBURG — The MTA has failed to release reports detailing damage to the L train tunnel that connects Manhattan and Brooklyn, according to members of North Brooklyn's Community Board 1.
The board has twice asked the MTA for the reports since news broke in January that the tunnel needed major repairs to fix damage done during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
The MTA has said the work could force it to shut the tunnel for between 18 months and three years.
They've received no response, board members said.
"There's no reason for us to trust them, especially when they won't show us [any details]," said Gerald Esposito, Community Board 1's District Manager.
"There has to be a report on the [2012 Hurricane Sandy damages]."
If the community had a comprehensive report of the kind of damages done to the tunnel, called the Canarsie Tube, it could get independent engineers to evaluate it and see if there are alternatives to the shutdown, he said.
In his more than 30-year tenure on the community board, Esposito said he has seen state and city government officials say they had to tear down the Williamsburg Bridge, as well as a section of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.
In both cases, independent analysis of the situation found there were alternative solutions, he said.
"If you're not telling us, I have no reason to trust you," he said, adding that because funds for repairs to the tube are coming from federal Sandy money, he's even more skeptical.
Neighborhood activists with the L train coalition have also been calling for a report on the damage done during Hurricane Sandy.
In early February, local politicians met with the MTA about the shutdown but revealed few further details about that meeting.
The MTA has said repairs won't likely begin until 2018.
MTA spokesman Adam Lisberg declined to say why the reports had not been released.
