There’s a light at the end of the tunnel.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared Sunday that repairs to the L train tube between Brooklyn and Manhattan will wrap up by April 2020 — months ahead of previous predictions.
“By the current plan, if we keep working seven days a week, and depriving their families of their presence, we will get it done by April. That will be 12 months in totality,” Cuomo crowed as he trudged through the dank underground with a hoard of reporters to discuss the post-Hurricane Sandy rehab work.
“That will be 12 months in totality. Without any shutdown from an original design of 15 to 18 months of total shutdown.”
Accompanied by his daughter, Cuomo took a moment during the urban spelunking to deride his detractors.
“A lot of people, when we said we were going to do this, the whole bureaucracy pushed back,” he said. “They said you can’t do it. You can’t do it. It’s impossible. We always do it the way we always do it. Yeah! News flash! Innovation works, new technology works, finding faster better ways works, and it’s a lesson for the whole MTA. This should not be an exception, this should be the rule.
“Nothing is impossible in New York,” he grinned.
The MTA’s original shutdown plan called for the entire tunnel’s bench walls to be torn down and rebuilt — and called for a 15-month total line closure, horrifying many straphangers.
Cuomo stepped in earlier this year with his own team of engineers and an alternative plan to instead erect fiberglass barriers in front of the damaged walls — allowing the MTA to continue partial service through the fix-up.
The governor on Sunday declined to answer any questions about the project’s budget, instead deferring to Janno Lieber, Head of MTA Capitol Construction.
“We’re right on budget for this whole project,” said Lieber, although he stopped short of naming a number. “I’ll have to get back to you. It’s below the original budget.”
Additional reporting by David Meyer