Hi there. How are you doing? While we miss seeing you on the trains and buses, THANK YOU to those who've been heeding our COVID-19 guidance and staying home if you can. It's your actions that make for a healthier system for our real heroes—healthcare workers, first responders, transit workers and more. And for those of you who do HAVE to travel this weekend, remember there's no L between 8 Av in Manhattan and Broadway Junction in Brooklyn. Use these alternatives.
So how are we doing? Across our whole system, we are focused on ensuring we can deliver reliable service for those who need it (see above) in light of COVID-19. Finishing the L Project will help us do that. And as we make progress, we're doing a few things differently to keep our construction and engineering teams as safe as possible. Read on for more details.
Stay home, and stay safe this weekend.
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Keeping our distance. Working with our contractors, we've implemented additional safety measures to protect the health of our construction project teams because of COVID-19.
Photo: Trent Reeves / MTA / March 14, 2020
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Proceed with (even more) caution: Our new coronavirus construction protocols
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As you've learned from the L Project, our construction jobs require a diverse team of project managers, field inspectors, engineers, electricians, site managers, designers and more. This means that we have teams both in the field and in offices.
We've taken proactive measures to protect these workers in light of coronavirus, specifically named "COVID-19." As part of the MTA's efforts, we're closely monitoring the situation and are making changes as things shift. Here is an inside look at how we're managing the L Project differently right now:
Changes for all projects
- Any non-essential team members are working remotely
- Regular communications are sent from MTA Construction & Development team to all contractors with specific construction industry-related information from the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), New York State and New York City Departments of Health on protections from coronavirus and reminders about OSHA compliance
- Dedicated MTA hotline was created and is available for contractors, staffed 24/7
- Smaller work teams were created
- Project teams now submit daily safety report focused on coronavirus safety compliance
Changes within field offices
- On-call cleaning services were set up in addition to regular office cleaning
- Physical distancing was put in place between desks for remaining essential staff
- Team meetings have been shifted to conference calls
Changes to worksites
- Daily safety inspections now take place for coronavirus protocol compliance
- Shift start times are staggered to limit and maintain worker distancing
- New personal protective equipment (PPE) has been issued, including gloves and eyewear
- Sanitizers are stocked on each worksite
- New portable wash stations were added with soap and disposable towels
- Additional trash removal and cleaning of portable restrooms has been scheduled
- Coronavirus is a daily discussion item for all "toolbox talks" (team meetings at the beginning or end of shifts)
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We're updating our dedicated coronavirus and COVID-19 webpage daily with updates on service status, planned construction changes, our customer service facilities and more.
Click the button below to get the latest.
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L Project service calendar
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 The no-L-service-weekend is here. If you have to travel this weekend—thank you grocery store workers, home healthcare aides, police officers, doctors and more—remember that there is no L service between 8 Av and Broadway Junction. Plan your trip with these alternative subway and bus options.
More technical details are in the construction rundown below, but here's the big picture of what we're doing:
- Connect negative and positive feeder cables from the new Avenue B substation to the circuit breaker house to both Q1 and Q2 tracks
- Connect power cables from the new Maspeth Avenue and Harrison Place substations in Brooklyn to the tracks, following the prior successful energization of low tension electric service
- Restore the contact rail section gap at Bedford Av on both Q1 and Q2 tracks
- Install negative equalizers between Q1 and Q2 tracks
- Cutover the radio antenna cables to the new system on both Q1 and Q2 tracks
- Complete the new emergency alarm and telephone system cutover from the old system for both Q1 and Q2 tracks
- Complete final inspections for Bushwick Av-Aberdeen St, Halsey St, Morgan Av and DeKalb Av Stations for accessibility and station platform renewal project
Made it all the way through this list? Feeling hopeful that we're getting to that light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel moment? Us, too. 🎉
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Glamour shot of the week: Zooming out
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We haven't had a shameless tunnel shot in awhile. Rails, walls, fiber-optic monitoring, racks and cables, all done or in final testing.
Photo: Trent Reeves / MTA / March 14, 2020
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Construction look-ahead: Week of 3/21/2020
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Big weekend for L Project progress as noted above. Here are some details on what we'll be doing:
- Review and act on the final checklist through the tunnel and 1 Av, and at the two fan plants
- Continue progress at Bedford Av: install new turnstiles, relocate MetroCard machines, repair steel columns, repair mosaic, make fixes on the platform and powerwash it, pour concrete for one of the new stairs
- Chop and pour for a new discharge pipe connection near Avenue A north side
- Install pump room door lock
- Pull negative cable at N 7th St and Avenue D
- Terminate the old cross-track negative equalizer and the old positive return cables
- Remove the temporary power gap jumper and communications cables
- Install final devices, plates and covers at the pump room
- Continue working on the negative equalizer and prepare to connect both tubes: chop for the negative cables and the equalizer crossover
- Pour new concrete in chopped areas
- Install new flood doors and planks
- Install conduit for fiber, fare machines at Bedford Av and fire alarms at 1 Av
- Cutover for the new radio antenna
- Cutover for the traction power
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