BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — While the impending weekend shutdown of the 2/3 trains between Brooklyn and Manhattan will be inconvenient, locals said that at least they have alternate options that their North Brooklyn neighbors won't benefit from when the L train shuts down.
Weekend service between the two boroughs will be shut down for more than a year starting in the spring while the MTA repairs the Clark Street tube under the East River, which was damaged during Hurricane Sandy, the agency announced Friday.
“Fortunately Brooklyn Heights has alternatives, which the Greenpoint and Williamsburg neighborhoods don’t have,” said Peter Bray, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association.
Instead of taking the 2/3 at Clark Street, residents can take the A/C at the nearby High Street station, the 4/5 at the Borough Hall station or the R at the Court Street station if they want to get to and from Manhattan on weekends.
► READ MORE: Here Are Your Alternatives for 2/3 Service
Unlike the looming L train “apocalypse” — which will shut down that line between Brooklyn and Manhattan completely for 18 months starting in 2019 — residents in Brooklyn Heights will continue to have access to the 2/3 on weekdays.
“I don’t think that anybody can be thrilled by having to put up with this type of reduction in service, but I don’t think there’s any realistic alternative,” Bray added of the repairs.
Sandy flooded the 1.2-mile-long tunnel with 500,000 gallons of saltwater that corroded the wiring and damaged the tracks, signals and electrical equipment, according to the MTA.
Brooklyn Heights resident Jane Ziegelman, who often visits family in the Upper West Side often, said she wasn't happy about the change, but that she can “deal with it.”
“This is my main line,” the 54-year-old said. “The other station is at Cadman Plaza West, at High Street, so it’s not a total tragedy, but this station is a lot more convenient.”
Business owners also said the service reduction will have a minor impact on a mostly local customer base on weekends.
“I think it would be naive to think there won’t be some effect on business,” said Tommy Byrnes, co-owner at Jalapa Jar, the breakfast taco spot inside the Clark Street station.
“We’ve gotten some people in sweatpants tell us they’re coming in from Manhattan to check out our breakfast tacos — what we serve is conducive to the weekend recovery kind of meal.”
But the restaurant owner said most customers come from the immediate area on weekends and that the High Street station, which is just three blocks away, is a good alternative for Manhattan-based taco lovers.
At the end of the day, Brooklyn Heights residents are resilient in the face of subway shutdowns, Bray said.
The neighborhood dealt with Sandy-related closures on the R train’s Montague Street Tunnel for 18 months in 2013 and 2014.
“The neighborhood has been through it before," he said, "and we accommodated ourselves."
