Two entrances were reopened today at the Lorimer/Metropolitan station. (NYCT Subway)
Feb. 28, 2019 By Laura Hanrahan
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority reopened two long-shuttered station access points today at the Lorimer L/Metropolitan G station in Williamsburg as part of the L train reconstruction project.
Representatives from the MTA, including New York City Transit President Andy Byford, and from the Grand Street Business Improvement District attended a ribbon cutting this morning to formally open up the revamped station staircases at Union Avenue at Hope Street and another at Powers Street.
The MTA had been working to expand station access here and at a handful of other stations in Brooklyn as part of the prior L train shutdown plans, with the alternative plan still requiring the work to be done as a way to to provide riders better access to the trains and ease the flow of commuters trying to maneuver in and out of the station.
The agency, as part of the new L train plans, anticipates trains to run every 20 minutes between Manhattan and Bedford Avenue during evening work hours when the 15-month construction begins in April.
The headways may mean overcrowding on L train platforms, as well as an anticipated increase in the number of riders transferring to the G at the busy Lorimer/Metropolitan station, which served nearly 15,000 riders each weekday in 2017, making it the 106th most used station out of the total 424.
The reopened access points formed part of six closed staircases and one closed entrance at the Williamsburg station, which were sealed off years ago as the agency looked to cut costs across the system.
The MTA, according to reports, began closing station access points across the system in the 1970s when the subway system fell into disrepair, with more than 100 entrances impacted.
Featured Events
