14th Street Tunnel shutdown
The 14th Street Tunnel shutdown (also referred to as the L Project, the L train shutdown, or the Canarsie Tunnel reconstruction) was the partial closure and reconstruction of the New York City Subway's 14th Street Tunnel that took place from April 2019 to April 2020. The tunnel carries the BMT Canarsie Line (serving the L train) under the East River in New York City, connecting the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan, and is used by an average of 225,000 passengers per weekday. A key segment of the 14th Street Tunnel, between the Bedford Avenue station in Brooklyn and the First Avenue station in Manhattan, would be partially closed for 15 to 20 months to allow for necessary and extensive repairs to the underwater tubes after it was flooded and severely damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Two options were proposed in 2016: a three-year construction period where one tube at a time would be closed or an 18-month closure where both tubes would be worked on simultaneously. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority ultimately chose the 18-month closure option because it would be less disruptive to passenger service. The shutdown period was later reduced to 15 months to reduce service disruption. To accommodate displaced passengers, new or expanded bus, subway, and ferry service was to be added, and a 14th Street busway would have been implemented. The shutdown plan was criticized by riders who use the L train and people living along or near 14th Street in Manhattan, as it would have had adverse effects on other subway routes and on vehicular traffic. In January 2019, it was announced that the shutdown would not be a full-time closure, but a night and weekend closure. Ultimately, the line was not closed; night and weekend service was merely reduced.[1]
Planning[edit]
Closure options[edit]
In January 2016, the Canarsie Line between the Bedford Avenue station in Brooklyn and the Eighth Avenue station in Manhattan was proposed for either of two shutdown options. One option involved shuttering the entire segment for eighteen months. The other option would allow the MTA to operate two segments of track for three years: a single-track segment between Bedford and Eighth Avenues with a capacity of 5 trains per hour per direction, and regular service between Lorimer Street and Rockaway Parkway. For both options, the Third Avenue station would be closed and new exits and elevators at the First Avenue and Bedford Avenue stations would be added. The renovations would cost between $800 million and $1 billion;[6] as of July 2018, the project budget includes $926 million.[7]: 13 During the shutdown, workers would replace damaged communications, power and signal wires, third rails and tracks, duct banks, pump rooms, circuit breaker houses, tunnel lighting, concrete lining, and fire protection systems.[8][9] Three new electric substations would provide more power to run more trains during rush hours.[10]
The closure would affect the 225,000 subway riders per weekday who travel on the 14th Street Tunnel between Brooklyn and Manhattan. This accounts for about 75% of the 300,000 riders per day who use the L train.[11] Community meetings were held to determine which of the two options would be better.[12] In an internal assessment, the MTA concluded that four out of five L train riders would be less impacted by the full-closure option compared to the partial-closure option.[13]: 13 Additionally, the single-track option would result in severe overcrowding at First and Bedford Avenues.[13]: 12 A subsequent poll conducted by transit-advocacy group Riders Alliance revealed that 77 percent of L train riders preferred the 18-month closure option.[14][15] In July 2016, it was announced that the MTA had chosen the 18-month full closure option.[10][14][16] Riders reacted with both disappointment over the closure,[14] and relief that the service disruption would be shorter.[17] The New York Post described the closure with the headline, "2019 is the year Williamsburg dies."[17]
Effects[edit]
After the shutdown was announced in 2016, some Williamsburg residents let their leases expire in 2018. As a result, housing prices began to decrease. The rate of housing vacancies in August 2018 was 25% more than the rate twelve months prior.[99] After the plans were changed to a partial shutdown, a report published in early 2020 showed that median housing rents in Williamsburg increased significantly compared to late 2018.[110]
An independently made documentary, being produced by Ian Mayer and Emmett Adler and titled End of the Line, is being made about the effects of the 14th Street Tunnel shutdown.[111][112][113] A board game, released in January 2019, also satirizes the shutdown.[114]