Tonight’s forum will be attended by representatives from both the public and private sectors. (URBAN-X)
Feb. 19, 2019 By Laura Hanrahan
Commuters worried about upcoming work on the L train will be able to learn more about the impending disruptions and consider the state of transportation citywide tonight at a public forum in Greenpoint.
The forum, hosted by venture start-up accelerator URBAN-X, will take place at 7:00 p.m. inside 29 Norman Avenue.
The event follows the MTA’s Feb. 13 announcement of its updated mitigation plans for the 15 to 20 month period of construction work on the Canarsie Tunnel, which lacks many of the transportation alternatives and improvements as previously planned for the initial L train shutdown plan.
Work on the tunnel, which is set to begin on April 26, will cause partial nighttime and weekend shutdowns along the L line, with trains running between Manhattan and Brooklyn every 20 minutes.
Some lines will see increased service to accommodate displaced riders, but many of the prior mitigation plans, like running shuttle buses between Brooklyn and Manhattan and enforcing HOV hours on the Williamsburg Bridge, have been done away with.
Many commuters and transit advocates have since urged the transit authority to reconsider its decision and implement a more robust mitigation plan, fearing overcrowded subway platforms and exorbitant wait times with the updated project.
Representatives from both the private and public sector will be attending tonight’s forum to discuss how resident’s daily commutes will be affected. Attendees include Benjamin Solotaire of Council Member Stephen Levin’s office; Phil Jones, East Coast Senior Director of Lime, a dockless bikeshare program; Toby Moskovits, CEO of Heritage Equity Partners; and Kate Slevin, Senior Vice President, State Programs and Advocacy at Regional Plan Association.
The forum will also touch on how transportation within the city can be reimagined overall and will consider ideas for alternative solutions, all centered around the question of,”How can we use the shutdown to create and inspire change around sustainable mobility?”
The discussion will be moderated by Greg Lindsay, the urbanist in residence at URBAN-X. Doors to the forum will open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free and registration is available online.
For those who cannot attend in-person, the forum will be filmed and put up on the URBAN-X Youtube page following the event.
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