East Village Gets New L Train Entrance On Avenue A

EAST VILLAGE, NY — East siders can now enter and exit the L train at Avenue A during weekdays, the MTA announced Monday.

Two new stairways down to the Brooklyn-bound L train at Avenue A and 14th Street are open to straphangers on weekdays as the MTA sieges ahead on tunnel repairs.

"Today is all about delivering something for the community in the form of a new entrance that will shorten people's commutes on a day to day basis," said Janno Lieber, the MTA's chief development officer.

The Avenue A entrance will eventually include ADA-elevators on the north and south sides of 14th Street by June, according to MTA officials. Street level work on the sidewalks at the intersection are expected to be mostly done by January, with work zones reduced to areas near First Avenue and where the elevators will go.

"This is good news for my community — good news for this whole area, East Village and Stuyvesant Town," said Council Member Keith Powers, who noted the Avenue A entrance, which broke ground back in 2017, will be his new subway stop.

But while Avenue A's entrance opens, officials plan to shutter the Brooklyn-bound First Avenue entrance for its own reconstruction beginning Nov. 11. on weekdays under a phased timeline that will jump between the north and south entrances at First Avenue and Avenue A to finish all the work by June. The north side entrance at First Avenue and 14th Street will now be open for Brooklyn-bound straphangers on nights and weekends under the timeline.

A.J. Miller, a Stuyvesant Town resident since the 70s, said she and her neighbors have been plagued by the street-level noise and construction while the work has been ongoing, saying it's been a "nightmare."

But, she's "delighted" there will be new entrances at Avenue A.

"It's about time that we got a little love here," she said.

"I'll be really thrilled when the elevators are up and running," she said. "Those will really be a boon."

Miller also awaits the Eighth Avenue-bound entrance at Avenue A — the last to open under the MTA's phased timeline for the east side stops.

The work is a part of the larger L train repairs project, which is expected to be done in April after officials chose a different way of fixing the tunnel, wrecked by salt water during Superstorm Sandy in

The MTA is revamping the First Avenue station with upgrades and the new entrances — where the transit authority says there's been a 60 percent spike in commuters since 2000.

The First Avenue station at the L will have two elevators and four stairways at Avenue A, and the First Avenue station will be reconstructed with new tiles, lighting and turnstiles. A substation at Avenue B will help power more trains across the river along the L.

All the work is expected to be finished by next June, according to the MTA.