This Week: Speak Up for an L Train Shutdown Plan Grounded in Reality

Large numbers of L train riders are bound for 14th Street. Image: MTA
Large numbers of L train riders are bound for 14th Street. Image: MTA

On Thursday, Manhattan Community Board 2 will be discussing the L train shutdown, and people who are counting on a viable replacement plan have to make their presence felt.

With much of the L scheduled to go offline for tunnel repairs just over a year from now, DOT and the MTA need to figure out how to move as many people as possible in a limited amount of street space. To get it right, the city has to ensure that car traffic doesn’t bog down more efficient modes of travel.

But a contingent of West Village residents refuse to accept that large numbers of New Yorkers will need streets that prioritize bus service, bicycling, and walking. Despite all evidence to the contrary, they just don’t believe that many people travel crosstown on the 14th Street corridor. One of them, attorney Arthur Schwartz, is threatening legal action to bully DOT into watering down its plan to keep people moving.

If anything, DOT and the MTA should be fortifying their bus priority measures, not weakening them. This CB 2 meeting will be an important moment to speak up for an L train shutdown plan grounded in reality.

Thursday’s CB 2 action is one of several important community board meetings this week. Highlights below. Check the full calendar for more info on these and other events.

  • Today: DOT presents plans for protected bike lanes on Atlantic Avenue from Logan Street to Rockaway Boulevard to the Brooklyn CB 5 transportation committee. More details here. 404 Pine Street United Community Centers, 613 New Lots Avenue. 6 p.m.
  • Also today: The Queens CB 6 Economic Development Committee will hold what looks to be a gripe session on the “economic impact” of Queens Boulevard bike lanes. Rego Center Community Room, 61-0 97th Street, Rego Park. 7:30 p.m.
  • Wednesday: Bronx CB 5 will vote on the DOT plan for the next phase of its Grand Concourse reconstruction project. Davidson Community Center, 2038 Davidson Avenue. 5 p.m.
  • Thursday: The Manhattan CB 2 Transportation Committee takes up the L train shutdown. Greenwich Village Elementary School, 116 W. 11th Street. 6:30 p.m.
  • Also Thursday: State senators Liz Krueger and Brad Hoylman convene a panel of officials and experts to discuss NYC’s transit crisis. CUNY’s Proshansky Auditorium, 365 Fifth Avenue. 6 p.m. More details and RSVP info here.
  • Sunday: Join the TransAlt Queens Committee to march for protected bike lanes in Sunnyside. 41-15 Skillman Avenue. 1:30 p.m. Details here.

Watch the calendar for updates. Drop us a line if you have an event we should know about.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Map: RPA

This Week: Planning for a 14th Street With No L Train

By Streetsblog |
The looming L train shutdown will disrupt travel for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and demands a serious response. This week you can speak up for a robust plan to keep people moving sans L train at a workshop in Manhattan, where advocates are calling on DOT and the MTA to implement transitways on 14th Street and Delancey Street.