The Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (MTA) New York City Transit (NYCT) will have a full closure of the Canarsie Tunnel, which carries the L train under the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan, for massive reconstruction work starting no sooner than 2019. Work on the tunnel is expected to take 18 months.
Superstorm Sandy caused extensive damage to the tunnel's tracks, signals, switches, power cables, signal cables, communication cables, lighting, cable ducts and bench walls throughout a seven-mile long flooded section of both tubes. Bench walls in those sections must be replaced to protect the structural integrity of the two tubes.
“While the MTA always looks to avoid service disruptions, there is no question that repairs to the Canarsie Tunnel are critical and cannot be avoided or delayed,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast.
The MTA will also make improvements to stations and tunnel segments closest to the under-river section, and new stairs and elevators will be installed at the Bedford Avenue Station in Brooklyn and the 1 Avenue Station in Manhattan. Three new electric substations will be installed to provide more power to operate additional trains during rush hours.
The decision to have a full closure instead of a one-track, three-year closure, was based on a detailed operational review and after community engagement to consider all adverse impacts.
“Throughout this process we have committed to engaging the community and listening to all concerns so that we can address them as we prepare for this necessary work,” Prendergast stated. “We are committed to working with the community just as closely as we develop ways to add service to help minimize the impacts of the closure.”
Since May, four interactive community meetings have been held by the MTA in communities affected by the upcoming closure, with hundreds of riders attending. MTA officials also visited the 11 Community Boards along the L Line, all of which were overwhelmingly in favor of the full closure. Additionally, 77 percent of the comments MTA received through email, social media and at meetings were in favor of the full, shorter-duration closure.
“Approximately 80 percent of riders will have the same disruptions with either option,” remarked NYCT President Veronique ‘Ronnie’ Hakim. “Throughout our extensive outreach process and review, it became clear that the 18-month closure was the best construction option and offered the least amount of pain to customers for the shortest period of time.”
“The 18-month option is also the most efficient way to allow MTA to do the required work. It gives us more control over the work site and allows us to offer contractor incentives to finish the work as fast as possible. We think it is better to have a shorter duration of pain than a longer more unstable process – and risk unplanned closures – by leaving one track open during construction,” Hakim added.
The Canarsie Tunnel was one of nine underwater tunnels that flooded during Superstorm Sandy, all of which required major rehabilitation and repair. Some of that work was accomplished during night and weekend closures. Complete renovations took place on the R line’s Montague Tunnel under the East River, which closed for 13 months and the G line tunnel under Newtown Creek, which closed for two months.
Procurement of design and construction services for the project must begin to move forward this year to ensure that hundreds of millions of federal dollars are not lost.