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MTA to Visit Canarsie This Week to Discuss L Train Shutdown

By Gwynne Hogan | May 23, 2016 5:43pm
 The MTA has scheduled two more public meetings to discuss the looming L train shutdown.
The MTA has scheduled two more public meetings to discuss the looming L train shutdown.
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DNAinfo/Ben Fractenberg

BROOKLYN — MTA representatives will visit Canarsie this Thursday, as part of continued efforts to educate neighborhoods along the L train line about the construction work that will knock off service to Manhattan for an extended period of time.

The meeting, which will be the third public hearing called to discuss the L train shutdown, will be held at the Beraca Baptist Church at 9602 Flatlands Ave. at 6 p.m. on Thursday, according to the MTA. 

In the next two to three months, before the MTA decides between a full and a partial L train shutdown, they've pledged to visit all community boards along the L train line getting feedback.

A fourth meeting is slated to be held in Williamsburg on June 9 at Swinging Sixties Senior Center located at 211 Ainslie St.

“Our outreach is giving us a better understanding of what matters most to the affected communities as we plan for this highly impactful project,” said MTA New York City Transit President Veronique Hakim, who, along with other top MTA representatives including Chairman Thomas Prendergast, has fielded hours of questions from concerned commuters.

The Canarsie Tunnel that connects Manhattan and Brooklyn flooded during Hurricane Sandy and needs extensive repairs. A full shutdown of the tunnel would mean the work would take about 18 months and during that time there would be no trains between 8th Avenue and Manhattan and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn.

A partial shutdown would take three years and would mean that service to Manhattan would operate in two segments: Canarsie to Lorimer, and Bedford to 8th Avenue. Shuttle buses would run between Bedford and Lorimer during that time. Trains running between Lorimer and 8th Avenue would only run every 12 to 15 minutes allowing for about a fifth of the current ridership.

When weighing the options DNAinfo readers voted overwhelmingly for a full shutdown, according to an unscientific poll we conducted where we got responses from nearly 1,000 people.