Governor Andrew Cuomo visited the “L” train tunnel early Friday morning ahead of a planned 15-month shut down.
The tunnel will be closed beginning early next year. It will send thousands of New Yorkers scrambling for alternate ways to travel.
“New Yorkers tend to be a skeptical bunch. This is going to be highly disruptive. Construction is going to start in four months and I wanted to make sure we get the best minds, again, on the globe to review the project,” Cuomo said.
The governor wants his own team of engineers to take a look at the MTA’s shutdown plan. He’s giving them three weeks to see if they can find a better solution.
“There’s a lot of concern about the project and I want to be able to say once again, everyone who knows how to do this has looked at it and this is the best way and the fastest way,” Cuomo said.
The “L” train tunnel was badly damaged during Hurricane Sandy. The MTA also considered another plan that would have kept the tunnel open, but service would have been severely reduced and construction work would have continued for longer.
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