Thursday, December 18, 2014

Is an Avenue A entrance for the L train in our future?


[Photo from September by EVG reader stickmanpk]

Back in September, EVG reader stickmanpk spotted a crew with a Davey drill taking some soil samples on East 14th Street near Avenue A. At the time, we thought it was something to do with the new development in the works for the former Peter Stuyvesant Post Office across the street.

Later, though, we heard this was for the MTA... to explore a new Avenue A entrance for the L train.

Now, via a reader, here's an MTA press release dated last Thursday that discusses the possibility of a new entrance here.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is seeking federal funding toward approximately $300 million in infrastructure improvements for the Canarsie L Subway Line, which runs from Manhattan to the Canarsie section of Brooklyn through neighborhoods that have seen the largest increases in population in New York City.

Proposed infrastructure improvements include adding three power substations to allow for two additional trains per hour, a 10% increase in service, which could carry 2,200 additional customers per hour. Other elements include installing elevators at the 1 Av and Bedford Av stations to make them fully compliant with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act, and adding new street-level entrances at both stations to make it easier for customers to enter or exit the stations and alleviate platform crowding that can delay trains.

“More than 49,000 customers use the 1 Av and Bedford Av stations on an average weekday, and the stations experience overcrowding during peak periods. The area around the Bedford Av station has been rezoned to allow for almost 10,000 new residential units, and ridership is expected to continue to rise,” said New York City Transit President Carmen Bianco. “We have to increase capacity on the Canarsie Line and improve customer flow at stations to meet this increasing demand, and securing federal funding for a project of this magnitude will go a long way toward achieving that goal.”

At the 1 Av station, new fare control areas at Avenue A would double capacity – a 100% increase – up to the street from each platform. The Avenue A entrances would serve 60% of the station’s ridership, thus eliminating a 500-foot walk (from First Avenue to Avenue A) for 31,000 weekday customers entering or exiting the station.

Partial funding for the Canarsie improvements has been included in the MTA’s proposed 2015-2019 Capital Program, per the release.

According to the MTA, the L line first opened as a segment on June 30, 1924, a time when men also wore suspenders without irony.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A Davey Drill and a dream

17 comments:

dmbream said...

Best closing line to an evgrieve post ever.

Anonymous said...

That is some of the best neighborhood news I've heard in a while.

Anonymous said...

An entrance and a tunnel to first ave makes sense but I can't imagine the train would make a new stop a block away from an existing stop.

Anonymous said...

This is solid news - never understood why there wasn't a second entrance for the L at Ave A. Just love the line - "eliminating a 500-ft walk".

Anonymous said...

This is excellent news and a great idea.

nygrump said...

I'd prefer they return the express bus stop at 8th street and do something about the absurd tiny stairs at 1st and Houston on the F. Its been like that for 100 years. Maybe finish the 2nd Ave subway first before taking this on and creating construction chaos. Maybe the answer is to put in an entrance on the far end of the 1st Ave station.

Anonymous said...

Now the MTA can do something far easier, and with more immediate results: Add a permanent, 7 days a week, 8th Avenue line train (A or C) to the Second Avenue Station. The city continues to approve massive residential developments within feet of this station, and yet the service remains the same as it was in the 1970's. This station is now dangerously over crowded. The trains at rush hour are so full that often, one cannot board. At the very least, they need to bring back the V train.

Shawn said...

Matt Rosen is right, that last line is the best!

Ben Kabak said...

"I can't imagine the train would make a new stop a block away from an existing stop."

Of course, it wouldn't be a new stop! Think about how long the train is and where the eastern end of it is at 1st Ave. This is a (long overdue) plan to add an entrance to the 1st Ave. stop at Ave. A.

FivePoint said...

I don't understand what the rampant confusion is about. The plan *is* to put a new entrance to the 1st ave station on Ave A. No one is talking about a brand new station.

Anonymous said...

Screw it. I'm pissed they didn't do a 'East side of 1st Ave' subway entrance, while they had the chance.
No more lines waiting just to exit up the stairs.
No more people getting hit by cars running that double red-light (Houston-1st street) at the right hand turn off-of Houston.
That one subway entrance is THE subway entrance for everybody in the East Village from First Ave, all the way to the East River.
(and it's a narrow single column stairway to boot unlike, say, Astor Place)

Anonymous said...

If there's any way we can help get this approved, let us know. I waited 4 mins in line at Bedford Ave last week to get out of the station. More exits are needed at both locations.

Anonymous said...

Can we please just finish the 2nd avenue line first. That will literally change everything.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they're putting in another bus stop because the two other places they currently stop on that block aren't enough?

Matthew has 2 T's, dumbass said...

I've dreamt of this for about 20 years !

Mark Hand The Catchman said...

A new stop should be put on Ave C... the second ave subway should be on 1st Ave... the 7 train should go past Jacob Javitz Center to Newark Airport :: Its al about ME ME ME !!!

Anonymous said...

over at the website Secondavenuesagas.com
http://secondavenuesagas.com/2014/12/17/on-the-l-train-and-taking-advantage-of-a-bad-sandy-situation/

they explain further

"As the MTA noted in its press release regarding the funding request, the work at the 1st Ave. station will start first, and it will “be coordinated with planned repairs to the Canarsie Tube, which was flooded during Superstorm Sandy.” In other words, as a few people with knowledge of the situation have said to me, without the looming Sandy shutdowns for the L train, the new station at Ave. A wouldn’t really be feasible. The GOs for the L will enable the MTA to perform the focused work needed to build out a new entrance around a tight two-track line."