An Opportunity to Go Big
Starting in 2019, the L train will be running only in Brooklyn for a period of 18 months. Hopefully only 18 months, because MTA projects are rarely completed during their anticipated timeframes. While the shutdown is necessary in order to repair the tunnel under the East River, and the MTA is taking advantage of the service suspension to improve numerous stations along the L line, it will undeniably be incredibly disruptive to the commutes of countless New Yorkers. Numerous businesses along and near the L line will be significantly impacted as well, as both employees look for alternate methods to get to work and customers potentially choose to take their business somewhere more easily accessible by public transportation.
It is vital that the City act to mitigate the negative effects of the shutdown. The MTA is currently working on improving service along alternate subway routes that will see an increase in ridership, but this is grossly insufficient. A comprehensive approach is necessary, one that does not look at the shutdown of a subway line simply as a problem for the transit authority to address by just adjusting similar alternate options. A problem as big as this, affecting so many people, neighborhoods, and industries, is best solved by involving all these people, neighborhoods, and industries.
One of the more “radical” ideas put forth to address the shutdown in Manhattan is to create a “Peopleway” along 14th Street. This would mean closing the street to vehicle traffic, with the exception of dedicated bus lanes. Doing so would allow for sidewalk expansion, which in turn would enable the thousands of people who travel daily by subway between the East and West sides of Manhattan along this corridor to continue doing so above ground, safely and without excessive pedestrian congestion. Additionally, removing cars from 14th Street during this period provides an opportunity to add protected bike lanes to 14th Street, which currently does not even have unprotected lanes.
In addition to providing an opportunity for New York City to make drastic changes to this segment of its transportation network, the shutdown of the L train provides a unique opportunity for the city to collect data on how New Yorkers get around and their preferences. It is one thing to conduct a survey asking people what their preferred modes of transportation are. It is another to be able to actually observe and count over an extended period of time what happens when a specific mode of transportation is taken away. Increasing and improving bus, bike, and ferry access and studying the effects of doing so will not only be beneficial over the course of the 18 month shutdown, but will also provide invaluable data which can be used to inform other changes and improvements to transit throughout the city.
