The MTA says its L train tunnel rehabilitation project is progressing ahead of schedule, allowing the agency to forge ahead with station and accessibility work in the coming months.
That may mean more short-term pain for you, weary L train traveler, as already infrequent nights and weekend service goes fully dead along much of the line. But the cuts are at least in service of a good cause: assuming there's not another surprise intervention, the Union Square station will soon be getting a congestion-relieving escalator, while both the L and F/M platform at 14th Street-6th Avenue will eventually be made elevator accessible.
In order for those projects to happen, the MTA will need to shutter L service between 8th Avenue in Manhattan and Broadway Junction in Brooklyn for the entirety of next weekend—starting at 10:45 p.m. on Friday, September 13th, through 5 a.m. on Monday the 16th. For three to five weeks in October and November, all L train service will end at Union Square on nights and weekends (exact dates TBA).
Those service changes come on top of already announced outages between Lorimer Street and Broadway Junction on weeknights and weekends between September 23th and October 4th. During that time, service will still run every 20 minutes between 8th Ave. and Lorimer, and between Broadway Junction and Rockaway Parkway.
“Advancing this work now at these critical stations as we had promised will help to minimize disruptions later while also getting the accessibility and ease-of-access improvements done as quickly as possible, a huge win for our customers,” Alex Elegudin, NYC Transit’s senior adviser for systemwide accessibility, said in a statement.
Just how quickly? According to the MTA, the elevator at Union Square will be operational by November. But that much-needed elevator at 6th Avenue isn't expected to be complete until the end of 2022.
Out of 472 subway stations, only 120 are wheelchair accessible. Under Andy Byford’s Fast Forward initiative, at least 50 more stations are expected to be upgraded with elevators over the next five years, making it so straphangers would be never be more than two stops from an accessible subway station. That plan is contingent on funding, which has yet to be secured.
