Is The L Train Air Safe?: Brooklyn Board Asks MTA For Answers

WILLIAMSBURG, BROOKLYN — Brooklyn community board members pressed MTA officials about the new L train construction plans this week, including concerns about air quality during construction and what transportation alternatives from the original plans are still in place.

A group of MTA representatives joined Community Board 1 in Williamsburg for a presentation about the updated plans to fix the Canarsie tunnel and upgrade the subway line, which originally was going to be shutdown for a full 15 months.

As it was during the MTA board's review of the new method — which will only close the line some weeknights and weekends — the dust caused by construction was one of the major topics of concern. The subway line has been shut down for each weekend in March, but will soon be open 24/7 with slower service during nights and weekends.

"Everyone who's working there, even police officers, are wearing dust masks but your paying customers are being exposed to pretty nasty stuff," one board member said.

Matt Best, a representative with the MTA Capital Construction, told the board that staff are not being advised to wear masks but some have chosen to do so on their own. Many, though, have started taking them off due to new measures taken this week to clear the dust faster, the representatives said.

The dust is worst when the first train goes through the tunnel after a period of construction, he said, since it kicks up dust that settled during the closure of the subway line. Dust this week was particularly bad because one of the tunnels went through a demolition.

The contractor's plan to clear the dust is under review by the State Department of Health, The State Department of Environmental Protection and an independent health expert, Best added.

So far, levels of dust have not reached a point where they are hazardous, though, Best said.

"My day is consumed with discussions of how we better control dust," he said. "It's not pleasant, but it is not in itself hazardous."

Some board members were skeptical though, and a few even brought up concerns that the dust would cause cancer or other illnesses like the air quality in downtown Manhattan after September 11.

"Those of us that worked downtown after 9/11 were absolutely guaranteed that the air was safe and we were all made to go back to work," one board member said. "And, it turns out now that it was not safe at all. It really is very serious."

Another focus of the meeting seemed to be the alternative transportation options that the MTA has set up for the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. weeknight hours and the weekends when the L train will run every 20 minutes during construction in the tunnel.

Some board members asked why all the alternatives set up for the 15-month shutdown weren't still being implemented, but MTA officials said the plans were adjusted to match the number of people that would need another way to get around.

"When the shutdown is only evenings and weekends...alternate subway service does in face have the capacity to handle all of the riders," an MTA representative said.

Alternate transportation options have been set up, though, the representatives said.

Service has been added to the M, 7 and G lines during the construction periods, and the L train from the Lorimer station to the Canarsie station will also have extra trains even though the other end of the line will be slowed.

There will also be two new loop buses added in Williamsburg, called the B91 and B92, which will offer a free option to get from the Bedford Avenue station and the Metropolitan/Lorimer station to Marcy Avenue to access another subway line. Those buses will run about every three minutes, the representatives said.

The slowed service periods are set to begin at the end of April or early May and will continue until the project is finished, likely in 15 months.