L'pocalypse Soon: L Train Shutdown Start Date REVEALED

You'll miss this someday — courtesy of Billy Devine

Jake Offenhartz

Published Oct 30, 2018

Modified Oct 30, 2018

We rely on your support to make local news available to all

Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2023. Donate today

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

Set your doomsday clocks: The L-pocalypse is just 179 days away.

According to an email shared with Gothamist, transit officials told local electeds during a briefing on Tuesday that the L train shutdown will begin on Saturday, April 27th, 2019. The info was relayed to the L Train Coalition by a staff member working for Councilmember Stephen Levin, who represents parts of Williamsburg.

The MTA did not respond to Gothamist's request for comment. A spokesperson for Councilmember Levin could not immediately confirm details about the email.

As a reminder, the shutdown will completely suspend L train service between Eighth Avenue in Manhattan and Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn for fifteen months, as the transit agency works to repair damage caused during Superstorm Sandy. An estimated 225,000 daily L train riders will be affected, many of them left without any comparably reliable source of transportation.

To lessen the pain, the MTA and DOT have released a mitigation plan that includes increased service on the J/M/Z and G lines, additional bike lanes and ferries, a new bus network in both Brooklyn and Manhattan, and traffic restrictions on the Williamsburg Bridge and 14th Street during specific hours. Transit experts and advocates say that the plan will likely fall short ofaccommodating with the surge of stranded riders, and fear that hundreds of people will be turned away from adjacent subway lines each day.

Anyway, only 4,296 hours.

UPDATE: The MTA has confirmed that the final day of L train service ahead of the shutdown will be Friday, April 26, 2019. Ahead of that disruption, the authority will also be rolling out three "mobile information centers" to meet with customers and help them plan their routes.

Riders will also get a taste of the future misery to come in the form of partial L train shutdowns during eight upcoming weekends. According to the MTA, L train service will not run between Eighth Avenue in Manhattan and Broadway Junction in Brooklyn on the weekends of: February 2-3, February 9-10, February 16-17, February 23-24, March 2-3, March 9-10, March 16-17, and April 27th and 28th.