By Robert Pozarycki
Commuters in Ridgewood and Middle Village will have to spend the next two weekends without M train service.
The MTA will be conducting track replacement work along the Myrtle Avenue Line between Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue and Myrtle Avenue-Broadway in Bushwick between 9:45 p.m. on Friday night, Dec. 14, and 5 a.m. Monday morning, Dec. 17. The work will continue the following weekend, Dec. 21-24, during the same time frames. (The track work is weather permitting.)
As a result, M train service will be suspended between Middle Village and Bushwick in both directions. Shuttle buses will replace M trains and make stops near the affected stations, which include Fresh Pond Road, Forest Avenue, Seneca Avenue and Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues in Ridgewood; and Knickerbocker Avenue and Central Avenue in Bushwick.
The shuttle buses will connect commuters to the L train at Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenues and the J train at Myrtle Avenue-Broadway.
Track replacement work requires the use of cranes to lift track panels and other materials onto the elevated line. In an email to Community Board 5 that QNS received, the MTA indicated that one of the cranes would be parked on the dead-end block of 65th Place between 68th Avenue and the M line, adjacent to Mafera Park and several homes.
The crane will be parked adjacent to Mafera Park, but parking will still be permitted adjacent to homes on the opposite side of the street, the MTA noted. Neighbors, however, will still face some inconvenience by the construction, which will take place “continuously around the clock” from 10 p.m. Friday until 5 a.m. Monday each weekend.
It was noted that MTA crews will begin preparatory work at the crane site as early as 6 a.m. on both Fridays to allow for the placement of the crane and work materials.
For more information on this and other weekend service changes, visit mta.info.
