My Solution to Dealing with the Future Closure of the "L" Line

As many of you know, the 14th Street - Canarsie Line "L"  will require extensive work on it's under river tunnels. This work will require shutting down one or both tubes at once and will delay thousands of passengers on a daily basis.  The "L" line has increased ridership in the past several years and is one of the busiest line in the city.  Unlike other lines, the "L" line is somewhat isolated and there is no relatively speaking, no other line nearby.   Likewise,  recently, in the news, there are plans to make the former trolley terminal, at Essex and Delancey Streets into an underground experimental park.  What a waste.  If it is possible to get streetcars and not buses back into this terminal, an easy transfer to the J, M, Z and F routes would be obtained.   Won't this cost Billions and take 20 years to build, if approved?  The first critical issue is:  Can the Williamsburg Bridge, as currently constructed, carry streetcars and is there enough clearance for pantographs and wires?    This is the key point.  If yes, then......

1. Does temporary trolley track exist and is it cheap to buy?  This type of track only lasts for about a year or so and does not go down deep into the pavement and may be held to the street or roadbed by metal non slip plates.
2. Is a supply of second hand streetcars are available that are in relatively good condition?  Perhaps second hand Czech made trams formerly from the eastern block are available.
3. Is the pathway clear from the bridge portal in Manhattan to the former trolley terminal?  When streetcars crossed the Williamsburg bridge until 1948, trolleys did not run via the subway tracks but on their own right of way.  If temporary flat tracks can not be built on the auto roadway, can streetcars run on the subway tracks on the bridge without disrupting traffic?  Is there a Federal law that prohibits light rail and heavy rail on the same tracks?
4. In the Williamsburg area and beyond to the north and east, would residents object to having temporary tracks built on some of the local streets?  This track may interfere with bicycle traffic.  Would the local residents object to wires and poles on the streets?
5. A selection of temporary streetcar routes, that run near the L train can run into the Delancey Street terminal.  This terminal had at least five local Brooklyn trolley routes running into it.
6. How much does this all cost, even using second hand cars and temporary track and wires?
7. Why not buses into the trolley terminal?  There may be a air quality problem and their are tight clearances near the loops.
8. Will the automobile drivers object to sharing the bridge roadway with streetcars?

What do you think of this?  Also, as brought up in subchat today, a few trolley stations existed on the bridge for the convenience of local residents, such as the one at Driggs Avenue

Another Look at the Delancey-Essex Street Trolley Terminal at the foot of the Williamsburgh Bridge

 These series of photographs were available at the New York City Transit Museum website in their archive division.  My attempt here is not to "steal" them but just to present to you some photographs that are not that well known.    I believe about a year ago plans were announced to make the former trolley terminal, at the southern side of the Essex Street subway station in Manhattan, on the Lower East Side into an underground park lighted by natural light conveyed through fiber optics.  Other transportation facilities in Manhattan, such as the former "High Line", an elevated freight line on the west side.  Please look at these photographs and you will see that the former trolley terminal has many characteristics in common with an ordinary subway station and is similar to the trolley terminal at Newark station in New Jersey.  These photographs come from the Lundin Collection.

In these photographs, you can see the overhead wire support apparatus and the shiny tracks.

In my humble opinion, such a resource should not be wasted.  If the city wanted to construct a light rail line across the Williamsburgh Bridge today, how much would such an underground terminal cost if built from scratch?  I believe that west of the trolley terminal provisions were made to join the trolley tracks to the BMT Jamaica Line downtown to Canal Street or for a new trolley subway tunnel perhaps north of Delancey Street.

    Many areas in northern and eastern Brooklyn are experiencing a real estate boom with the "L" train severely overcrowded.  I would:

1. Bring streetcars across the bridge.  I would not use heavy light rail vehicles but very light streetcars.  Their tracks can be in the regular roadway without requiring deep construction.
2. Some bus lines in the area near Washington Plaza would be converted to streetcar so they can make the trip across the bridge.
3. If possible, some streetcars should use the less used tracks south of the station to the area around Canal Street.
4. By converting some bus routes in Williamsburgh or Greenpoint to streetcar, a one seat ride can be provided to Essex Street were transfer can be made to the J, M, Z or F trains without going into the street or having a smelly diesel bus terminal on the surface.

This is my opinion but I do not know if this is doable from a practical and engineering standpoint.

Nostrand Avenue Trolley - North Section - 1912-1951

Source:  B.Linder & Edward B. Watson, New York Division Bulletin, Vol. 20, No. 2, April, 1977, pp.2-5.

  The Nostrand Avenue trolley in Brooklyn was a long route, running from the underground trolley terminal at Delancey Street in Manhattan to Nostrand Avenue and Avenue U in Brooklyn.  It was a busy line that started its' life with horsecars on Junuary 5, 1871 and was electrified on May 10, 1894.  The line did not always go to Delancey Street via the Williamsburg Bridge.  The bridge years were from 1904 to 1923 and from 1931 to December 5, 1948.  The track diagram was very complicated and there were certain "derivative" lines such as the Nostand Shuttle, Nostrand-Culver, Nostrand-Prospect Park, and the Holy Cross Cemetery Line that are associated with the trackage.  Perhaps if we have time, these "derivatives" will be explained.  Thank you, B. Linder for your historical work.

The north section is only shown here.

Delancey Street Trolley Terminal - Part II

These great shots, taken by Docjayva were taken from the Manhattan Bridge facing south towards the Brooklyn Bridge and shows the New World Trade Center under construction and at Delancey Street at Orchard Street.  Even though the big picture shows the Brooklyn Bridge and not the Williamsburg Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge is still relevant to our discussion.  When the Williamsburg Bridge opened between Manhattan and Brooklyn in 1903, transit planners at this time wanted to build a loop transit line connecting all three lower Manhattan bridges, namely the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges.  It was not clear if the Manhattan portion of this loop would be elevated or subway and local politics delayed the decision.  Eventually, the Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges were linked by way of the Centre Street subway. Regarding the Brooklyn Bridge, plans were made to link the elevated train trackage to the Chambers Street station under the Municipal Building as well.  A concrete pathway was contructed south of the Chambers Street Station to link up to the Brooklyn Bridge but this construction was destroyed when the Nassau Street Loop subway was under construction.
     When constructed, the Williamsburg Bridge consisted of two separate vehicular roadways on the north and south sides of bridge and between the roadways were two sets of separate trolley tracks (four in all) that were separated by a two track elevated line. The northerly set of trolley tracks were used by Manhattan  streetcars using conduit trackage.  These cars ran from several starting points in Manhattan, such as the Post Office Line at Park Row and ended at the Brooklyn plaza of the bridge.  The southerly tracks were used by several Brooklyn trolley lines using overhead.  Since the Essex Street station did not open until 1908, for five years Brooklyn trolleys ended at a stub just east of Clinton Street on the bridge near the entrance.  According to Rogoff (1958), there was a double crossover and a single track connection to Manhattan trolleys on Delancey Street.
   Regarding elevated trains,   Brooklyn Rapid Transit elevated trains  running on Broadway (Brooklyn) did not use the bridge until 1908 when the Essex Street station opened.  Prior to this, elevated trains used a terminal at the foot of the East River which was the location of a East River ferry.  When the Essex Street station opened in 1908,  it was a stub terminal with two tracks with a center platform and two side platforms.  If you visit the station today, it looks a little out of alignment because it presently has three tracks with a center platform and one side platform for southbound trains coming off the bridge.  According to Rogoff, this station was built in 1908  with wide roof columns for future simple reconfiguration in case the line expanded, which it did.  Along the "elevated" train terminal at Essex Street is the huge trolley terminal for Brooklyn trolleys which I described in earlier post.  This terminal also opened in 1908?  and closed in 1950. The trolley terminal trackage was never connected to the subway\elevated trackage.  Currently, there are plans to convert this former trolley terminal into a underground park space.  In my humble opinion, since the "L" train is overcrowded and many districts in eastern Brooklyn have experienced recent population increases, a study should be made to see if trolleys going over the Williamsburg Bridge from different communities that have poor rapid transit coverage to the Delancey Street trolley terminal would be a help.
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