By Dustin Brown
The repainting of the elevated subway line by the Ditmars Boulevard stop in Astoria is not slated to begin for another two years, but merchants are already nervous about the effect the lengthy construction process may have on the vibrant shopping district.
City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) gathered local store owners for a meeting Friday with representatives of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, which is planning to repaint the length of the elevated structure that carries the N train between 41st Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard.
The MTA’s preliminary plans call for the segment between Ditmars Boulevard and 23rd Avenue to be painted over the course of 30 weekends, a prospect the store owners greeted with chagrin.
“Thirty weekends is going to kill us,” said Catherine Piecora, the executive director of the Astoria Restoration Association, a merchant group.
But others were pleased to hear the work would be confined to the weekend.
“Thirty weekends might not be a bad idea, so we all can operate at full capacity during the week,” said Tommy Demaras of Rock Health & Fitness.
Pillars from the elevated subway dig into 31st Street for most of its length, separating parking spaces on the edges of the roadway from the flow of traffic in the center lanes.
To maintain the flow during the project, the MTA plans to close half the roadway along the segment being painted, relying instead on the parking lanes to allow traffic to keep moving in both directions.
But a series of sidewalk extensions cut into the parking lanes by the Ditmars station makes them too narrow to carry traffic during construction. That would leave only one lane open for vehicles, which would force painting to be limited to the weekend when traffic is light.
But the MTA could also remove the sidewalk extensions “as a free service,” said Ashvin Shah, the construction manager, which would allow the painting to be done on weekdays over a span of 10 weeks.
Now the store owners must come together to decide which option they prefer.
“I’m going to rely on the merchants involved to make the decision,” Piecora said in a phone interview after the meeting. She plans to visit each store in the neighborhood to poll merchants about where they stand on the issue.
The sidewalk extensions by Ditmars were added in the early 1980s as a part of a beautification effort sponsored by Astoria Restoration that resulted in the installation of benches, a brick sidewalk and trees throughout the shopping district.
Although the merchants were concerned about the project’s impact on their business, they agreed with the MTA representatives that the paint job is long overdue. The current coat was applied nearly two decades ago.
“This is the most comprehensive painting job that has been done on this line since it opened in 1917,” said Joseph Raskin, the assistant director of government and community relations for MTA-New York City Transit.
The MTA plans to put the project out to bid over the summer and expects work to begin by the fall on the southern end of the structure, by 41st Avenue at Northern Boulevard.
Workers will tackle it in lengths of about 250 feet, painting half its width at any one time while the underlying roadway is enclosed by a tarp. Each segment will take six days to complete.
The existing paint, now a dull copper or brown, will be blasted off before new coats of forest green are applied.
Reach reporter Dustin Brown by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 154.
