NORTH BROOKLYN — The MTA is planning two weekend closures and overnight shutdowns of the L train in May to allow contractors to begin preparing for the 2019, 15-month shutdown of service, officials said.
On the weekend of May 6 and Memorial Day weekend, May 27, the L train won't run between Broadway Junction and 8th Avenue, according to the MTA.
Service will shut off at 12:01 on Saturday and start back up at 5 a.m. on Monday, May 8. For Memorial Day weekend the train will stop running at 12:01 on May 27 and start back up at 5 a.m. on Tuesday, May 30.
During that time, trains will operate as normal between Broadway Junction and Canarsie.
The train will also be shutdown between Lorimer Street and Broadway Junction overnight from Tuesday, May 23 to Friday, May 26 and from Wednesday, May 31 to Friday, June 2 starting between 12:01 to 5 a.m.
For alternate service in Manhattan the M14A and the M14D bus lines make stops along 14th Street.
In Brooklyn, free shuttle buses will run along three routes: Between the Marcy Avenue J, M, Z stop and the Lorimer Street L Train station with stops at Bedford Avenue and Hewes Street, between the Lorimer Street L train stop and the Myrtle-Wyckoff station stations and between the Myrtle-Wyckoff stop and Broadway Junction.
The service outages will allow construction crews to begin work on the train line in advance of the 2019 full shutdown of service between 8th Avenue and Bedford Avenue.
They'll be installing continuously welded rail, which will make rides smoother, inspecting the communications systems along the line and performing other maintenance on tracks and the underground tunnel.
The MTA needs to fully shut off service between Brooklyn and Manhattan along the L train line for 15 months beginning in April of 2019 in order to repair the Canarise Tunnel under the East River which flooded during Hurricane Sandy.
The 15 month timeline is three months shorter of earlier projections of how long the repairs would take. The MTA awarded the $492 million contract to two companies in early April.
