MTA announced on Monday the final decision on the anticipated shutdown of the Canarsie Line to repair damage from Superstorm Sandy.
Rather than closing Carnarsie Tunnel for three years, MTA has opted for the painful-but-quick 18 month plan, but the legion of L train riders who rely on the L will be left without a subterranean travel option between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Perhaps the hardest hit would be Williamsburg, an area that has no other convenient train options.
"I think there might be some positive effects on the weekend, but on weekdays, it's going to be miserable for anyone who has to get above 14th Street in Manhattan,” Judson Harmon, a Williamsburg resident, told DNAInfo.
MTA averages 255,000 people use the L daily to travel between Manhattan and Brooklyn, according to The Verge. The L’s Canarsie Tunnel was one of nine underwater tunnels that flooded during Superstorm Sandy, according to a previous statement by MTA.
Metro reached out to MTA on Monday and asked about alternatives that will be offered for L train-reliant New Yorkers when the tunnel closes in 2019. We are awaiting a response.
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"During rush hour, they have to be able to handle that volume, otherwise it's just going to fall to pieces," resident Damian Haase said, DNAInfo reported.
Some residents and business owners are concerned that the closure will affect an already crumbling economy. The average sale price of a condo in Williamsburg dropped 13 percent in the last year, according to the Real Estate Board of New York's quarterly findings published earlier this month.
"If they shut that down for 18 months, most of the people, they're gonna leave,” said another Brooklynite, Manuel Rodriguez. “This neighborhood is booming.”