Smith & 9th Soon To Be Smith & Nope

Straphangers who use the Smith & 9th Streets station will be, well, strapped, beginning this weekend when a major construction project on the F and G lines results in long-term service changes and partial station closures.

Starting Monday, there will be no Manhattan-bound F train service at the Smith & 9th Streets station, forcing riders to take the G to Carroll and transfer to the F, or walk the 8 blocks to the Carroll Street station.

"This is definitely going to hold me up," said Robert Rodriguez, who commutes to the Smith & 9th station everyday. "I already take 3 trains to get here, and I work nights. I'm going to have to take 4 trains to get home?"

"This is going to get a lot of people upset," he said.

The service changes are hitting the Slope hardest: Manhattan and Queens-bound service from 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway will be completely suspended, forcing commuters to head to Church Avenue and then doubleback to ride Manhattan or Queens-bound trains. 

Additionally, Manhattan and Queens-bound trains will stop on the express track at Seventh Avenue and Manhattan-bound F and Queens-bound G trains will stop at a temporary platform at the 4th Avenue & 9th Streets station.

The MTA says station's are expected to return to original service in May 2011, though future phases of the project will completely close the Smith & 9th Streets station from May 2011 through spring 2012 and suspend service on Coney Island-bound F or Church Avenue-bound G trains at 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway stations from fall 2011 through 2012.

According to MTA spokesperson Deidre Parker, the extended closures are necessary to get the job done.

"This is a complete reconstruction of the structure," said Parker. "We are rebuilding the northbound local tracks, so they will be out of service full time."

The service changes are the result of a $275.5 million engineering and construction project to rehabilitate the elevated steel and concrete Culver Viaduct structure, which both the F and G train lines run along.

The MTA said it will also work to rehabilitate signals and switches, as well as the entire Smith & 9th Streets station and the historic archway at the 4th Avenue & 9th Streets station.

Regardless of reason, commuters at the Smith & 9th Streets station were far from pleased.

Frank Klimek stops at Smith & 9th 5-days a week before continuing on the F into Manhattan for work.

"This is going to be a total inconvenience," he said.

Sebastian Grouard, a Park Slope parent who stops at Smith & 9th often, said the timing was terrible.

"The fact that they do this in the middle of winter is disruptive," he said. "In warmer weather you can walk or bike" the extra blocks.

In a statement to Patch, Councilmember Brad Lander expressed concern that shuttle bus service was not being offered to compensate for the long-term service changes, especially at Fort Hamilton Parkway, where alternative bus service is not available.

"While this is a necessary project, the fact that shuttle bus service is not being provided is a real hardship on transit riders, and we hope the MTA will consider implementing alternative service," he said.

The area of construction begins where the F and G trains go above ground, at the tunnel portal south of the Carroll Street station and ends at the portal south of Fourth Avenue, but service cuts and changes to stations from Jay Street-MetroTech to Church Avenue will occur through fall 2012. In preparation for the project, service between these stations will be suspended this coming weekend and replaced by a free shuttle bus.

2:54 p.m.: This article was updated to include remarks from an MTA spokesperson.