4th Ave. In Sunset Park Will Close At Night For 3 Weeks, MTA Says

SUNSET PARK, BROOKLYN — A last-minute MTA closure will shut down part of Fourth Avenue every weeknight for three weeks, community board staff announced.

The transit authority will close the avenue between 58th to 60th streets starting at 10 p.m. Thursday night and will reopen at 5 a.m. That schedule will continue each weeknight for about three weeks, Community Board 7 District Manager Jeremy Laufer said.

Laufer said in an email to Community Board 7 constituents that the MTA just received word about the closure on Thursday.

"Please note we learned about this less than twelve hours before the closure," he wrote. "We are only the messenger."

(Keep up with NYC events and news by subscribing to Sunset Park's Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

The closure will let the National Grid remove a pipe underground so that the MTA can continue with its installation of an elevator at the 59th Street station.

As of now, the closure is just for weeknights, but if weekend work is necessary it will close the street from 10 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.

The MTA has previously told Patch that the elevator project at 59th Street is scheduled for completion in 2021. It started earlier this year and is one of a few projects taking place on the N and R lines in the neighborhood.

“We’re working to improve service on the N and R lines in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park with our reconstruction of the Fourth Avenue express tunnel to repair and replace its structural steel and address water seepage, as well as an elevator installation project at 59 St that will add elevators and other accessibility features to ease travel for our mobility impaired customers," the MTA said in a previous statement. "Once these projects are complete, thousands of N and R customers will benefit from increased service reliability and mobility.”

The Fourth Avenue express tunnel reconstruction will rehab the tunnel between 36th and 59th street. It began in July 2018 and is expected to be completed this summer.